Lord Anthony St John

Lord Anthony Tudor St John, 22nd Baron St John of Bletso, joins Orion Nuclear as a Director. Lord St John has served in the House of Lords since 1978 as a Crossbench peer, where he has been a leading voice on technology policy, artificial intelligence, energy security, environmental protection, fintech, and UK-Africa economic relations. Over his decades of service, he has contributed to numerous Lords Select Committees—including Communications, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Information—and has played a long-standing role in legislative work at the intersection of technology, regulation, and international affairs.

Beyond his parliamentary work, Lord St John has held a significant portfolio of leadership roles in international business. He has served as Non-Executive Chairman of Integrated Diagnostic Holdings plc, a London-listed diagnostics group; Non-Executive Chairman of Yellow Cake plc, a specialist uranium company; and Non-Executive Director of several listed and private companies across the natural resources, maritime, financial services, and technology sectors, including Gulf Marine Services plc, Smithson Investment Trust plc, Airport Holdings Mauritius, Strand Hanson Ltd, KneoWorld UK, and others. His commercial career also includes senior roles in corporate finance at Smith New Court and Merrill Lynch International, with a focus on Southern Africa and Asia, as well as earlier experience as an oil analyst with County NatWest Securities and as an internal auditor and legal adviser at Shell South Africa.

His parliamentary tenure includes service on the Joint Committee on Registration of Overseas Entities, the EU Sub-Committee on Energy and Internal Affairs, and the European Union Sub-Committee A on Economic and Financial Affairs, Trade and External Relations. He has been Vice Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary South Africa Group and a member of the Lords Space Economy Select Committee, as well as multiple all-party groups focused on Africa, Zimbabwe, endangered species, and technology policy. His special interests span Southern Africa, foreign affairs, environmental protection, fintech, artificial intelligence, wildlife conservation, and education.

Lord St John also served the Royal Household for nearly twenty-five years as an Extra Lord-in-Waiting to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a position he held from 1998 until 2022. His longstanding charitable commitments include trusteeships supporting youth development, poverty reduction, African education initiatives, environmental broadcasting, neurological research, conservation programs, and technology-access charities such as Citizens Online and the Nick Maughan Foundation. Additionally, he has been a long-time Member of Global Advisory Board of the TUSK Trust.

Born in London in 1957, he was educated in South Africa at Bishops Diocesan College and the University of Cape Town, where he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, and at the University of South Africa, where he graduated as a Bachelor of Laws. After completing his legal articles in Cape Town, he qualified as an attorney. He continued his education at the London School of Economics and received an LLM focused on Chinese and maritime law. He was also qualified as a Registered Representative of the London Stock Exchange.