28th July 2017 Skopje, North Macedonia
When Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, met Prime Minister Zaev and Foreign Minister Dimitrov in Trieste at the Western Balkan Summit, he was impressed with their energy and determination to make changes and their readiness to take bold steps. He welcomed their commitment to tackle reform challenges at home, to reset relations with neighbours and to re-energise Macedonia’s NATO and EU prospects. […]
16th June 2017 Skopje, North Macedonia
Earlier this week I had my first one-to-one meeting with Zoran Zaev since he became Prime Minister of Macedonia. It had been delayed by a week because of what we call ‘purdah’, the election-related silence in which British civil servants are not allowed to say anything which might influence voting or government formation. Given the […]
27th March 2017 London, UK
‘Blog first appeared on The State of Digital Diplomacy 2016‘ Alison Daniels & FCO Digital Team “Diplomacy is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip (103 characters).” The famous quote by Churchill is not just pithy aside it’s also an almost perfectly […]
29th November 2016 Holy See
One of the things that I have been struck by since starting in Rome in August is the difference in how the Vatican does foreign policy compared to the UK (or indeed most countries). In some ways our foreign policy structures are similar. In the Vatican the Pope decides the policy line; in London, ministers […]
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17th August 2016 Skopje, North Macedonia
For me, most of August and September will be one massive nostalgia trip. Seven years ago I packed my bags and left the Foreign Office to join the team organising London 2012. I spent three years there on secondment as Head of International Relations. And then from July to September we put on the best […]
1st August 2016 Holy See
“There can be only one” – not only the tag-line from the “Highlander” movies, but also the rules about Ambassadors accredited to each State. There can only be one official Ambassador in a country at a time. So there is always a gap between one leaving and the next arriving – which is another opportunity […]
28th June 2016
On 23 June I was given the honour, along with my family, of a farewell audience with Pope Francis. It was not the moment to discuss political or global developments, but to make reference to the depth and importance of the modern relationship between Britain and the Holy See. Characteristically, His Holiness chose to encapsulate […]
18th May 2016
The international activism and high profile of Pope Francis has generated renewed interest in the nature and practice of the Holy See’s diplomacy. Just in the last week, the Pope visited the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy – the papal diplomatic college – to meet the young priests preparing there to take up their role as a […]
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 […]
10th March 2016
Last week I accompanied the Holy See Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, on a visit to the United Kingdom. He came at the invitation of the British government, so inevitably much of his time was taken up in official meetings with a wide range of government ministers. He visited five different Departments […]