Ambassador to France from February 2012 to January 2016.
22nd July 2013 Paris, France
At this time of year with the holidays coming, it’s good sometimes to have some positive and cheerful things to talk about, and I think sports between Britain and France is one of them right now.
Read more on A great sports summer for our two countries | Reply
27th June 2013 Paris, France
We are here in the Embassy today for a special event where we have representatives of the British security industry, presenting their products to French clients and looking to develop partnerships. This is a growing industry, which is producing products intended to help keep people safe, to help fight crime and terrorism, and it’s an […]
Read more on British companies display innovative security technology in Paris | Reply
11th June 2013 Paris, France
I recently spent two days in Lyon, where there is a whole range of areas where Britain and France are working together. First of all, I went to Interpol, which is a century-old cooperation between police forces, where we have senior members of staff working on secondment from the British police to ensure the best […]
6th June 2013 Paris, France
The subject we’ve been working very closing with the French on in the last few weeks has been Syria, which has of course been very prominent in the media. And it’s a terrible human disaster: apart from its dangerous regional implications, we believe that 80,000 people may have been killed over the last two years. […]
Read more on The 3 lines of our cooperation with France on Syria | Reply (1)
23rd May 2013 Paris, France
We’ve just had David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, in Paris for his first visit here to President Hollande since his election. They travelled down together from the European Council in the same train, and they were able to have a bilateral meeting as they were travelling.
Read more on The Prime Minister’s first visit to the Elysée | Reply
8th May 2013 Paris, France
We’ve been holding in London the second International Conference on Somalia – the first one was in February 2012. This time, it’s been co-chaired by the British Government and by the new President of Somalia. I used to work on the Somalia problem two years ago when I was National Security Adviser with David Cameron, […]
Read more on The Somalia Conference: Helping a country rebuild itself | Reply (1)
1st May 2013 Paris, France
We’ve just had the publication of the French White Paper on defence and security, the “Livre blanc”. It’s been a great privilege for me to be part of the commission that was put together to advise the Government on writing this White Paper.
Read more on Working with France on its Defence White Paper | Reply
11th April 2013 Paris, France
Earlier this week, we were waiting for the arrival of David Cameron here in Paris, on what was going to be his first visit to President Hollande in the Elysée, when we had the sad news of Baroness Thatcher’s death. And David Cameron decided he had to go home straight away from Madrid, to get […]
Read more on The death of an important British political figure | Reply (1)
20th March 2013 Paris, France
The big theme for me this week has been the economic and high-tech co-operation between Britain and France. In terms of economies, we had Boris Johnson, the Major of London, in Paris last week. He gave a number of media interviews but also a big speech to businessmen here, in which his main theme is […]
7th March 2013 Paris, France
In the lead up to International Women’s Day on Friday, we are featuring the stories of women who work for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as guest posts across the FCO bloggers’ network. Kara Owen is my Deputy Head of Mission here in Paris and I’m delighted to have her as a guest blogger today […]