26th February 2026
Different Memories, Shared Futures: Why Inclusive Remembrance Matters for Serbia and the Region
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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22nd December 2025
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17th December 2025
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2nd July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Shadow Foreign Secretary visits… in an interesting week in Canberra
Last week Shadow Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP, visited Australia as a guest of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Australian government arranged the programme for him, but we gave him an in-depth briefing at the High Commission, and I hosted a dinner to discuss foreign policy with MPs, officials […]
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1st July 2013 London, UK
Europe in the world in 2023 – what will it look like?
Ten years ago, the world was a very different place. No one had heard of Twitter and there was no Facebook. Ten years before that, we didn’t even have the World Wide Web. Given the pace of change, what will the world look like in ten years’ time, and what does this mean for Europe?
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1st July 2013 Harare, Zimbabwe
Prime Minister Cameron Praises the Achievements of Staff at the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT)
David Cameron visited the Helmand PRT on Saturday 29th June as part of a grueling three country tour also taking in Pakistan and Kazakhstan. His day in Afghanistan started at 06.30 at Camp Bastion, took in a Forward Operating Base just outside Lashkar Gah, a visit to Main Operating Base Lashkar Gar (where the PRT […]
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1st July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A T-TIPping Point?
Among the outcomes of last week’s G8 in Lough Erne, the formal launching of negotiations on an EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (or ‘T-TIP’) may prove to be one of the most historic. With the promise of new jobs and lower prices, it has the potential to make a real and positive impact for […]
1st July 2013 Vientiane, Laos
Laos through my eyes – Peter Banwell
It was almost by chance that I first visited Laos in 2008. My plan to visit Myanmar with my wife Catriona had been cancelled at the last moment due to changed advice from the Foreign Office.
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1st July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A Call to Public Service
One of the UK’s most eminent public servants, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, gave an address to students in Bucharest last month, making the case for a career in public service. Sir Suma is now President of EBRD, but before then he had a long and distinguished career in the British civil service. I worked with him […]
29th June 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
OECD at the G8 table
I wanted to sincerely thank everyone at the OECD who helped the UK host a successful G8 Summit. The setting was Northern Ireland’s beautiful Lough Erne, where on the eve of the Summit the British Prime Minister refreshed himself with a bracing swim, avoiding the nibbles of the pike that a certain recently-retired OECD Director […]
28th June 2013 USA
Chicago Blues: 5 Reasons I’ll Miss The Midwest
I’m about to leave Chicago after three fascinating and rewarding years as Consul General promoting the UK across 13 states of the US Midwest – an area bigger than western Europe and with an economy the size of Germany’s. People in Chicago often ask what a Consul General does. So here are five lasting impressions […]
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28th June 2013 Toronto, Canada
Science and the UK Spending Round 2013
On 26 June 2013, the Chancellor of the Exchequer presented the 2013 Spending Round to Parliament. The 2013 Spending Round sets out how the government will spend approximately £740 billion of taxpayers’ money in 2015-2016, and make further savings to improve the economy. What does this mean for science, research and international collaboration? Let’s take […]
28th June 2013 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
What Defines Our Relationship?
I am often asked what best defines the UK-Malaysia bilateral relationship? Is it the closeness of our business ties? Or could it be our shared history? Or is the strength of our education links? Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire’s visit to Malaysia this week suggests it’s all of these areas and many more. In the […]