10th March 2014 Paris, France
I’ve talked before about the events in Kiev, at a time when they reminded me of the fall of the Berlin wall, and the extraordinary surge of freedom and independence that happened after that in Eastern Europe. Since then, things have got more difficult, because we’ve had what is obviously an intervention of Russian armed […]
Read more on Bringing Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table | Reply
24th February 2014 Paris, France
The events in Ukraine over last week have been absolutely extraordinary, and they’ve made me think back to that period in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin wall, and the liberation of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
11th February 2014 Paris, France
We are now in the Bicentenary year for the Residence – 200 years ago, the Duke of Wellington bought this house from Pauline, the sister of Napoléon. To celebrate that, we are running a series of events through the year, highlighting both the past and the future of UK-French relations.
Read more on Celebrating London and Paris, past and future | Reply
30th January 2014 Paris, France
This week we are holding the next in a series of summits between Britain and France, with President Hollande travelling to the UK. The summit is being held on an airbase in the south of England to emphasise the importance of the defence and security work that we do together.
20th January 2014 Paris, France
I was extremely pleased and very proud to receive a New Year’s Honour for my contribution to consular services in France, a career which spans over more than 25 years! I didn’t know anything about the nomination until a few weeks before the official publication so it also came as a huge surprise.
Read more on Offering a reassuring friendly voice at the end of the line | Reply (2)
20th January 2014 Paris, France
A very Happy New Year to everyone, and I wish you the best of good fortune in 2014. This is going to be a year of commemorations: we shall have the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Channel tunnel by President Mitterrand and Her Majesty the Queen ; the 70th anniversary of D-Day, with […]
17th January 2014
Given the challenges for the global economy and a desperate need to create jobs and shared prosperity, the pressure on the OECD to deliver Better Policies for Better Lives will be as intense as ever in 2014. A key framework for our efforts this year is the ‘New Approaches to Economic Challenges’ project, about which I’ve […]
13th January 2014 Paris, France
We’ve just had in Paris a meeting of a group of countries who are trying to help move forward the Syrian problem which William Hague, our Foreign Minister, was here to attend.
Read more on The Friends of Syria core group meeting in Paris | Reply
18th December 2013 Paris, France
This Christmas time I’ve been thinking about what was achieved in 2013 and what we have to look forward to in 2014. When I look back at 2013, it was a bumper year for UK-French relations.
9th December 2013 Paris, France
France has taken the decision to increase its force levels in the Central African Republic to deal with the awful outbreak of killing between the communities there. Personally I have had a lot of experience over the years of dealing with this kind of chaos and violence, I think of the Balkans for example.
Read more on UK air transport assistance to France for Central African Republic | Reply (1)