The Mais Lecture has been hosted since 1978, on a mostly annual basis, by Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), part of City, University of London.
The lecture is named in honour of Lord Mais, the 645th Lord Mayor of the City of London (1972–73), and Pro-Chancellor of City University (1979–84). He played a key role in establishing City University's Centre of Excellence for Banking and Finance, now the Centre for Banking Research, part of the wider Bayes Faculty of Finance.
The lecture is regarded as a leading event for the banking and finance community of the City of London, having hosted a number of prestigious speakers including successive Prime Ministers, Chancellors of the Exchequer, and Governors of the Bank of England, and notably the forum in which successive Chancellors and Shadow Chancellors have set out their economic philosophy and policies.
Notable milestones In January 2021 Anneliese Dodds, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, became the first woman to deliver the Mais Lecture.
In March 2026 Rachel Reeves, delivered an unprecedented second Mais Lecture – almost precisely two years to the day after her first – this time as Chancellor, having been Shadow Chancellor at the time of her first. In a further family connection, her husband, Nicholas Joicey, was speechwriter for Gordon Brown when the Chancellor delivered his Mais Lecture in 1999.
Eight of the 15 Chancellors since its inception have delivered a Mais Lecture, including all three Labour Chancellors.
While three Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom have delivered the Mais Lecture, Tony Blair is the only one who was neither Chancellor nor Shadow Chancellor when he did so.
Mark Carney delivered his Mais Lecture in 2014, while he was Governor of the Bank of England, he subsequently became Prime Minister of Canada in 2025.
List of Mais Lectures
Lecture Date Delivered by Title First 9 Feb 1978 Gordon Richardson Reflections on the Conduct of Monetary Policy Second Nov 1979 Lionel Robbins Objectives of Monetary Policy: Past and Present Third May 1981 Geoffrey Howe The Fight Against Inflation Fourth Mar 1983 Friedrich Hayek Science and Ethics Fifth 18 Jun 1984 Nigel Lawson The British Experiment Sixth May 1986 Roy Jenkins The International Finance Scene: Can Sense be Plucked Out of Danger Seventh May 1987 Robin Leigh-Pemberton The Instruments of Monetary Policy Eighth May 1988 Michel Camdessus The IMF in a Changing World Ninth May 1989 Samuel Brittan A Restatement of Economic Liberalism Tenth May 1990 Gordon Pepper Monetary Policy: A Post-Mortem and Proposal Eleventh May 1992 Economic and Monetary Union: The Case for Central Bank Independence Twelfth Jun 1993 Peter Lilley Benefits and Costs: Securing and Future of Social Security Thirteenth May 1994 Kenneth Clarke The Changing World of Work in the 1990s Fourteenth 22 May 1995 Tony Blair The Economic Framework for New Labour Fifteenth Oct 1996 Michael Heseltine Achieving Competitiveness in a Global Economy Sixteenth 24 Jun 1997 Edward George Monetary Policy in Britain and Europe Seventeenth May 1998 Hans Tietmeyer Financial and Monetary Integration: Benefits, Opportunities, and Pitfalls Eighteenth 19 Oct 1999 Gordon Brown The Conditions for Full Employment Nineteenth May 2000 Jonathan Sacks Markets, Governments, and Virtues Twentieth May 2001 Valery Giscard d'Estaing The New European Debate: The Euro-zone and the Greater Europe Twenty-first Apr 2003 Ernst Welteke Reflections on European Monetary Policy Twenty-second 12 May 2004 Otmar Issing The Euro: the First Five Years Twenty-third 17 May 2005 Mervyn King Monetary Policy: Practice Ahead of Theory Twenty-fourth 29 Oct 2008 Alistair Darling Chancellor Reveals His Plans to Maintain Economic Stability Twenty-fifth 13 May 2009 Axel A. Weber Reflections on the Financial Crisis Twenty-sixth 24 Feb 2010 George Osborne A New Economic Model Twenty-seventh 13 Jul 2011 Paul Volcker The World of Finance and the National Interest Twenty-eighth 8 May 2012 Patrick Honohan The Experience of Financial Integration – Ireland, Britain, Europe Twenty-ninth 18 Mar 2014 Mark Carney One Mission. One Bank. Promoting the Good of the People of the United Kingdom. Thirtieth 7 Oct 2015 Olivier Blanchard Rethinking Macro (Stabilisation) Policy Thirty-first 12 Jun 2017 Brian Griffiths Restoring Trust in the Banking System Thirty-second 29 Oct 2018 José Manuel Barroso The European Union and the Changing International LandscapeThirty-third13 Jan 2021Anneliese DoddsThe challenges of the post-Covid, post-Brexit UK economy – a response [delivered virtually]Thirty-fourth24 Feb 2022Rishi SunakA new culture of enterpriseThirty-fifth5 Jun 2023Odile Renaud-BassoHow to green the global economyThirty-sixth19 Mar 2024Rachel ReevesEconomic Growth in an Age of InsecurityThirty-seventh27 Mar 2025Isabel SchnabelFinancial literacy and monetary policy transmissionThirty-eighth17 Mar 2026Rachel ReevesThe Active and Strategic State
See also Mansion House speech Hayek Lectures Henry Thornton Lectures Contrarian Lectures Gresham College John Locke Lectures Richard Dimbleby Lectures
References
External links The Mais Lecture 1978-2012 The Mais Lecture: ten years on (Nigel Lawson at London School of Economics)