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Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Part of UK in Australia

18th August 2014

Churchill Lecture in Brisbane

“You know, in the end, we are all worms, but I do believe I am a glow worm” Winston Churchill once told a friend. Paul Keating, speaking in 2008 agreed “He was a glow worm and he lit up the most miserable epoch of the miserable twentieth century like no one before or after him.”

I had been invited to give the annual Churchill Lecture by the English Speaking Union of Queensland in Brisbane. Churchill sometimes gets mixed reviews in Australia: criticized by some for failings in the Gallipoli campaign in WW1, then in WW2 for letting Singapore fall and for arguing with PM Curtin about the return of Australian troops from North Africa. But most would agree with PM Menzies’ assessment at Churchill’s funeral “He was a great Commonwealth statesman who was able to warm hearts and inspire courage right round the seven seas” who “won a crucial victory… for the very spirit of human freedom.”

HE Paul Madden delivering the Churchill Lecture
HE Paul Madden delivering the Churchill Lecture

I focused mainly on the values which underpin successful societies and economies – the things David Cameron has described as a “Golden Thread” – like democracy, the rule of law, good governance, absence of corruption. I described the role that Britain and Australia can play in promoting these through institutions like the Commonwealth, and the G20 which Brisbane will host in November. The audience included distinguished judges and academics, and Fiona Simpson, Speaker of the State Parliament.

Whilst in Brisbane I joined the newly installed Governor HE Paul de Jersey and his wife Kaye for lunch at Government House. As the distinguished former Chief Justice he has already devoted many years to public service. He told me how much he was looking forward to his forthcoming trip to the UK to call on Her Majesty.

I also called on a couple of Queensland-based mining companies with significant resource investment plans, to explore the business opportunities for British engineering companies to participate. And I visited a small, high tech life sciences company that had recently set up its first business in the UK. They had opted to base themselves just north of London, with convenient access to the research hubs at Cambridge and Oxford, and the venture capital pool in the City.

About Paul Madden

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017. He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia…

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017.

He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia until February 2015. Prior to this he was British High Commissioner in Singapore from 2007-2011.

A career diplomat, he was previously Managing Director at UK Trade and Investment (2004-2006), responsible for co-ordinating and
implementing international trade development strategies to support
companies across a wide range of business sectors.

As Assistant Director of Information at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (2003-2004) he was responsible for public diplomacy policy,
including managing the FCO funding of the BBC World Service, the British
Council and the Chevening Scholarships programme. He led the team
responsible for the award-winning UK pavilion at the Aichi Expo in Japan
2005.

He was Deputy High Commissioner in Singapore from 2000-2003 and has
also served in Washington (1996-2000) and Tokyo (1988-92). Between
1992-96 he worked on EU enlargement and Environmental issues at the FCO
in London.

Before joining FCO he worked at the Department of Trade and Industry
(1980-87) on a range of industrial sectors and trade policy, including
two years as a minister’s Private Secretary.

He has an MA in Economic Geography from Cambridge University, an MBA
from Durham University, studied Japanese at London University’s School
of Oriental and African Studies, and is a Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society. His first book, Raffles: Lessons in Business
Leadership, was published in 2003.

Married to Sarah, with three children, he was born in 1959, in Devon.