FORMER Home Secretary Lord Brittan of Spennithorne will be the main speaker at the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner.

Almost all 600 tickets for the event, at the National Railway Museum in York on March 30, have now been sold.

Lord Brittan, then Leon Brittan, joined the cabinet in 1981 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, became Home Secretary in 1983 and was Trade and Industry Secretary between 1985 and 1986.

He was knighted in 1989, was a member of the European Commission between 1989 and 1999 and, for much of the time, served as vice-president.

He is currently vice-chairman of UBS Investment Bank and a consultant to commercial law firm Herbert Smith and a non-executive director of Unilever.

During his time in the House of Commons, Lord Brittan, who is based in London but regularly visits his home in the Yorkshire Dales, was Conservative MP for Whitby and Richmond, North Yorkshire.