8th September 2016 Beirut, Lebanon
It is now a year since I took up my appointment as UK Ambassador (designate) to Lebanon. It’s time to admit that, for all the wonderful experiences of my first year in this beautiful and welcoming country, there has been one big disappointment: Lebanon’s failure to elect a new President. And this is fundamental, because […]
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12th May 2016 Washington DC, USA
Corruption is the cancer at the heart of so many of the world’s problems. It erodes trust, undermines stability, and breeds injustice. It’s costly in so many ways — estimates by the World Economic Forum show that corruption sets the global economy back by $2.6 trillion. And the World Bank has estimated that corruption adds to global […]
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7th May 2016 Beirut, Lebanon
Winston Churchill famously declared in 1947 that “democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” He was speaking from the floor of the House of Commons, the parliamentary chamber reserved for any “common” man or woman elected to represent the people of Britain. […]
29th April 2016
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Annual Human Rights and Democracy Report was published on 21 April. This report is aimed at increasing awareness of the UK’s role in promoting human rights work overseas, and to encourage countries to uphold and maintain their international human rights record. The Report lists 30 human rights priority countries: these […]
22nd March 2016 Skopje, North Macedonia
On 15 June 2015, the United Kingdom marked the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta Libertatum, one of the most significant legal documents ever written. “No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way harmed, nor will we go upon him nor will we send upon […]
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4th February 2016 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Earlier this week in Colombo, we gathered together a group of civil society and human rights organisations. For different reasons, Sri Lanka and Maldives are priorities for human rights for the UK. That gives the High Commission access to the Magna Carta Fund, a strategic programme fund dedicated to tackling the root causes of human […]
12th November 2015
I recently met a group of top Turkish business folk from the financial sector. They were an impressive group and a powerful advertisement for the talent Turkey has to offer. We discussed how best to boost Turkey’s role as a financial centre. Turkey needs more inward investment. It must compete for that investment with other […]
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2nd November 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
“The human right to freedom is irrevocable. No person’s freedom can be restricted except by a court decision or in cases and procedures determined by law” is one of the guarantees of the Macedonian constitution of 1991. Unlike British history, Macedonian history does not have its own historical declarations of human and civil rights, however […]
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28th September 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
The UK Civil Service doesn’t have an official motto – but if it did, it would almost certainly be: “speak truth unto power”. It’s a maxim that’s in the blood of good civil servants, even if they know that it won’t make their lives any easier. The best politicians learn to cherish civil service advice […]
17th September 2015 Hanoi, Vietnam
Tuesday was International Day of Democracy, and the global theme chosen by the UN was “Making Space for Civil Society”. We took this literally, and made some space at my house in Hanoi for civil society representatives and activists to come and talk about the changing landscape for civil society in Vietnam, the opportunities and […]