22nd May 2018 London, UK
Your Excellency Dr Ahmad bin Abdulla Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education. Your Excellency Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World. Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen. Welcome! Welcome – with thanks to DP World – to this iconic venue, which bears the name of Her […]
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19th April 2018 London, UK
Your Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen Welcome! And thank you for joining this celebration. Your Highness, Sheikh Nahayan Mubarak Al Nahayan, Minister for Tolerance, it is a great honour that you are here with us again this year. And the honour is all the greater because this is your fourth visit to this garden […]
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8th February 2017 London, UK
I am going to talk to you today about the relations between the Gulf and a Global Britain – an outward-looking nation thriving and prospering on the world stage. I will touch on the strength of the partnership, the shared interests which make this imperative, and, of course, the implications of Brexit. Partnership between the […]
Read more on My speech at Family Office Forum Dubai on UK-GCC relations and a post-Brexit Global Britain | Reply
21st April 2016 London, UK
Your Highness[es], Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen: welcome – from me and from my wife Kasia – to our goodly manor, this towered citadel, for this celebration of the 90th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. A particular and very big thank you to you, Your Highness Sheikh Nahayyan bin Mubarak Al Nahayyan, and to […]
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7th February 2016 London, UK
As we approach the fifth anniversary of the civil war in Syria, the most urgent humanitarian catastrophe of our time continues. A quarter of a million lives have been lost. The international community must significantly step up its efforts and act now to support the 18 million people in Syria and neighbouring countries who are […]
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4th October 2015 London, UK
I arrived in the UAE in 2011, not long after the Global Financial Crisis, with many questions unanswered about the future of Dubai’s economic model. The recovery has exceeded most expectations (though His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum sets his own extraordinarily high standards – see below). It has been a privilege in […]
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2nd September 2015 London, UK
Yesterday I returned to the UAE. The Middle Eastern destination I have frequented the most since becoming a Member of the UK’s Parliament. I am delighted to be back and witness yet again the generosity of the Emirati culture and the common ties which bind us; from regional security matters to growing commercial ties covering […]
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29th March 2015 London, UK
In 2015, England marks two major anniversaries. It will be 800 years since the Magna Carta was sealed 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 but […]
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8th March 2015 London, UK
20 years ago, the fourth “World Conference on Women” met in Beijing from 4-15 September 1995. The conference launched a historical document to promote and protect women’s rights around the world: The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The declaration stated that all participating governments would work to advance the goals of equality, development and […]
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2nd February 2015 London, UK
Ten years ago, the UN General Assembly designated 27 January the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Why? The Nazis’ murder of six million Jews, along with several million other concentration camps victims, is not the only example of humanity’s capacity for brutality on a huge scale. Indeed, sadly, […]