15th September 2016 London, UK
A year ago today, to mark International Day of Democracy, I launched the Magna Carta Partnership Initiative. This consisted of a series of small projects in selected parts of the world where we judged that UK expertise could reinvigorate and promote the development of democracy, and strengthen the rule of law. Through this support, we […]
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10th November 2015
The Magna Carta was a document designed to establish peace between the rather unpopular King John of England and a group of rebel barons. Yet this piece of thirteenth-century English domestic politics still resonates around the world eight hundred years on from the events which forged it. For in establishing that no one, even the […]
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30th June 2015 Canberra, Australia
Over the last two weeks, I’ve taken part in a number of events to mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. My personal highlight was undoubtedly introducing Prime Minister Tony Abbott to an audience of over 300 people in Parliament’s Great Hall, to deliver the British High Commission’s annual Magna Carta lecture. As I said […]
19th June 2015 Sofia, Bulgaria
UK embassies around the world along with my Foreign Minister this week commemorate the 800 year anniversary since the sealing of Magna Carta in a tented encampment on the banks of the River Thames in 1215. Magna Carta has become a strong British brand – over the centuries it has come to stand for much […]
18th June 2015 Beirut, Lebanon
This week is the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. This was celebrated in the UK as the moment when the barons imposed on the monarch an agreement for greater liberties and rights, a milestone on the way to many of the freedoms we enjoy today. That journey reached a high point with the Universal […]
16th June 2015
On 15 June we celebrated the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. It is extraordinary how a document agreed in 1215 between a medieval English king and his leading subjects continues to resonate down the ages, wherever people believe in the rule of law. I recently wrote an article trying to set Magna Carta in its proper […]
16th June 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
For centuries, the Magna Carta, signed by King John at Runnymede in England in 1215, has been quoted to help promote human rights and alleviate suffering all around the world. This week, we are celebrating its 800th anniversary, and its continuing relevance today. To mark the anniversary, my colleagues at the UK Mission in Geneva hosted a […]
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14th June 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
It feels like we’ve hardly been away. I’m starting to suspect that someone has airbrushed April and May from the global calendar. The only clue that the months have been and gone is our hedge growing high enough to receive a letter from the estate agent ordering us to cut it by 10 centimetres and […]
30th March 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
As a Briton and the British Ambassador in Skopje, I take great pride in the culture and achievements of each of the four nations that make up the United Kingdom. I enjoy marking each of the national days. As a seven-eighths Englishman, however, England is closest to my heart. As we enter April, the month we […]
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27th March 2015
In 2015, England marks two major anniversaries. It will be 800 years since the signing of the Magna Carta and 750 years since the formation of the first English parliament. Anyone who is interested in seeing the document that has been described as England’s greatest export need only visit the British Library, where not one […]
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