4th September 2014 Brasilia, Brazil
This week Wales hosts the NATO Summit, the largest gathering of international leaders ever to take place in Britain. I grew up in the east of England under the deep shadow of the Cold War. Throughout my teenage years the risk of armed conflict between the Warsaw Pact and NATO seemed very close and very […]
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3rd September 2014
I called on Foreign Minister Julie Bishop this morning to touch base before she headed off to the NATO Summit in Newport, Wales, later this week. Australia has worked very closely with NATO and played an important role as the largest non-NATO contributor in the Afghanistan campaign. This relationship will not end with the campaign […]
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17th July 2014 Washington DC, USA
Yesterday marked 50 days to go until we host the NATO Wales Summit. In Parliament, the UK Minister’s for Europe, David Lidington, addressed Parliament on preparations ahead of the Summit, which will be the largest gathering of international leaders ever to take place in the UK. Over 24,000 room nights have been reserved in over […]
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2nd October 2013 Washington DC, USA
Earlier this month I had the opportunity to travel to NATO headquarters in Brussels to attend a course put together by my colleagues in the UK Joint Delegation to NATO. The course is designed to give staff a thorough introduction to NATO and an understanding of its place at the centre of the UK’s defence […]
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28th June 2013 USA
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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25th May 2012 USA
Chicago isn’t an easy city to impress. The undisputed commercial capital of the US Midwest (an economic area comparable in weight to Germany), the second US financial centre after New York, and President Obama’s home town, it is used to high level attention. But even The City Of Broad Shoulders paused for thought when confronted […]
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20th May 2012 Washington DC, USA
The following is a guest post by Neil Holland, First Secretary, Foreign and Security Policy Group at the British Embassy in Washington. Last time I visited Chicago I was struck by three things. First how much fun it was. Blues, good food and drink, and history. That pretty much checks all the main boxes for me. […]
19th May 2012 Washington DC, USA
The road from the previous NATO Summit in Lisbon to Chicago has had some bumps, but what the NATO/ISAF Alliance will focus on this weekend is the degree to which we have stuck the course and remained committed to Afghanistan’s future. At Lisbon, NATO and ISAF allies agreed that we would remain in a combat […]
23rd April 2012 Washington DC, USA
At the 18 April meeting of the NATO Foreign and Defence Ministers in Brussels, the British Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond announced a firm UK commitment to help fund the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) after 2014. He said “The UK contribution of £70m per annum to the funds to support the Afghan National Security Forces will make […]