Tag: obama

14th March 2014 Washington DC, USA

by Andrew Preston

Development Counsellor

We Stand #withSyria in DC

Saturday will mark the third anniversary of the start of the conflict in Syria. For me, Syria has been a big part of my working and personal life this week and for the last few years. In my day job we’ve been working with the US and others on ways to secure better access into Syria for […]

Read more on We Stand #withSyria in DC | Reply (1)

17th June 2013 Beirut, Lebanon

Tom Fletcher

by Tom Fletcher

Former British Ambassador to Lebanon

Briefs, Blackberries and Brush bys: What Can the G8 Do For Lebanon?

G8 leaders meet today and tomorrow in Northern Ireland, under the UK’s chairmanship. I’ve been lucky enough to be at five G8 Summits. For foreign policy junkies like me, they are an antidote to usual international conferences. The number at the table is small enough for a crunchy discussion. There is greater proximity to leaders. […]

Read more on Briefs, Blackberries and Brush bys: What Can the G8 Do For Lebanon? | Reply

15th February 2013 Washington DC, USA

Rosalind Campion portrait

by Rosalind Campion

Counsellor for Global Issues

Valentine’s Night with the Obamas

Last year I bemoaned the lack of romance bought by spending Valentine’s Day evening with the otherwise charming British Government’s Chief Scientist, Sir John Beddington. (Of course in reality I secretly enjoyed it. Though that’s not something I admit to Layla.) But this year, Layla and I agreed we would determinedly avoid any event connected […]

Read more on Valentine’s Night with the Obamas | Reply

22nd January 2013 Washington DC, USA

Rosalind Campion portrait

by Rosalind Campion

Counsellor for Global Issues

An Inauguration to Remember

Inauguration Day is a four-yearly highlight of the Washington calendar – and indeed, the calendar of most US citizens. It is the day when the newly elected president is sworn in for the next four years. Full of pomp and circumstance, bugles, marching bands, songs, prayers, and lots of US flags, “What are you doing […]

Read more on An Inauguration to Remember | Reply

11th May 2012 Washington DC, USA

Rosalind Campion portrait

by Rosalind Campion

Counsellor for Global Issues

An Evolving Debate in Europe and America

Something I always dread happened the other day. A lunch guest bounced up to me enthusiastically and asked me how I felt about the President’s announcement.  I was uncharacteristically but completely nonplussed.  I’d been in back to back meetings all morning in Sacramento (hearing a rather different view from that of the Bay on economics and innovation […]

Read more on An Evolving Debate in Europe and America | Reply (2)

26th March 2012 Washington DC, USA

James Barbour

by James Barbour

Press Secretary and Head of Communications

Prime Ministerial March Mayhem

UK in the USA

While most of America may have spent last week focussed on brackets and upsets, we had our own bit of March Madness here in DC: an official visit from Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha, as well as the Chancellor and Foreign Secretary. And what a visit it was. I was on the […]

Read more on Prime Ministerial March Mayhem | Reply

20th March 2012 Washington DC, USA

by Peter Matheson

Economic Counsellor

The US and Great Britain: Different processes for shared goals

On March 21st at 12:30 London time (8:30 on the East Coast), the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, will unveil his 2012 Budget to the British Parliament. The word ‘Budget’ comes from the French term ‘bougette’, meaning little bag. But rather than thinking about ‘little bags’, whenever I mention the Budget to American friends, they […]

Read more on The US and Great Britain: Different processes for shared goals | Reply (1)

19th March 2012 Washington DC, USA

Rosalind Campion portrait

by Rosalind Campion

Counsellor for Global Issues

The essential relationship — faster, higher, stronger

It was pretty much impossible to look at a newspaper, news programme, tweet or blog last week without being met by numerous photographs of David Cameron and Barack Obama sharing a joke, or their quotes about the essential relationship shared by the US and UK. They even wrote a piece together for the Washington Post. […]

Read more on The essential relationship — faster, higher, stronger | Reply

3rd February 2012 Washington DC, USA

by Peter Westmacott

Former Ambassador to the United States of America

A Uniquely American Breakfast

Yesterday morning I had breakfast with three thousand people. It’s not every day that I can say that. This was the 60th annual National Prayer Breakfast, a key date in the political calendar of this city and country. It was a remarkable occasion. The sheer scale of the event was dizzying. So was the guest […]

Read more on A Uniquely American Breakfast | Reply

2nd February 2012 Washington DC, USA

by Peter Westmacott

Former Ambassador to the United States of America

A Pivotal Period in Britain’s History

It has been a whirlwind three weeks since my arrival in Washington. I’ve visited the White House to present my credentials to President Obama and watched from the House gallery as he delivered his State of the Union address. I’ve travelled outside of D.C., seeing the South Carolina Republican primary at first-hand and meeting with […]

Read more on A Pivotal Period in Britain’s History | Reply