23rd May 2011
I don’t usually write about my holidays in this blog, and I won’t make an exception now. But by way of illustrating what terrific places there are to go on holiday in the UK, check out the photos below of Lundy Island, in the south west of England, where I recently spent a few days […]
18th May 2011 Bucharest, Romania
An exhilarating week for me, with plenty of networking during and on the margins of the Leadership Conference and opportunities to interact with other colleagues, locally-employed by the Foreign Office, from all around the world. I was impressed with the support that the Foreign Office received from the Prime Minister who gave recognition to the […]
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23rd April 2011
It seems that even here in Bolivia there is Royal Wedding fever. I have given a number of interviews recently to television and other media. And there is intense interest in our competition to find a Bolivian couple who are also getting married on 29 April to join us at the Residence to celebrate their […]
18th April 2011 Bucharest, Romania
The Foreign Office’s annual gathering of heads of mission, called the FCO Leadership Conference, will be dedicated this year to diplomatic excellence. I am privileged to attend this key event in May and to have a first-hand account of what the Foreign Secretary, top British diplomats from missions all across the world, and other colleagues think about […]
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7th April 2011 London, UK
After starting the week in Washington where I discussed the shared European and US economic and security interests with senior US officials and opinion formers, I travelled to the UN in New York. As it was my first visit as a Foreign Office Minister I wanted to find out how the UK team works to […]
10th March 2011
The UK’s Minister for Europe David Lidington has used the speech in the Netherlands to restate the argument for enlarging the EU. The UK has always supported the EU’s enlargement because we know this is in our national interest. It creates a bigger single market for our goods and services. It promotes competition and innovation. […]
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10th March 2011 London, UK
http://youtu.be/DkRMwxLsowM I am visiting Denmark today; yesterday I was in the Netherlands. I’ve met with members of the Governments of both countries as well as business leaders and Parliamentarians. The UK has important bilateral political, economic and trade relationships with both the Netherlands and Denmark, and in my visits I’m keen to explore how we […]
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10th March 2011
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) was set up in the United Kingdom in 2006 as a national law enforcement agency. It has a terrific logo and website and acts as a repository for expertise on combating serious crime in the UK. So it’s a privilege to have two top counter-corruption experts from SOCA in […]
7th March 2011
I’m giving a press conference at a seminar for young eastern European mayors at the Ukrainian provincial town of Vinnitsa when a journalist leans forward. Why, he asks, are there are so few women amongst the mayors invited to the event? After the organisers have explained that they had to invite young mayors from those […]
18th January 2011 London, UK
At the end of last week I was in Hungary for the first meeting of Europe Ministers under the Hungarian Presidency of the EU. Whilst there I discussed how to encourage more Britons to apply for the many interesting and challenging jobs available in EU institutions with Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič. You can hear […]
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