Arms Trade Speakers

After many years in high-level diplomacy Charles Crawford has a unique profile as an imaginative, dynamic and even provocative speaker who has addressed audiences large and small in English, Polish and Serbian

After an Honours degree in Jurisprudence from Oxford University he qualified as a Barrister before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

From 1985-87 Charles served as Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe’s official Speechwriter, contributing ideas/language for speeches by the Foreign Secretary (major set-piece speeches, Parliamentary debates and less formal after-dinner remarks)

His first job on joining the FCO in 1979 was to head the Indonesia Section, followed by his first posting, to communist post-Tito Yugoslavia. He returned to London in 1984 and after a year on the Aviation Desk was appointed FCO Speech-writer. He was posted to South Africa in 1987 as part of the Embassy team led by Ambassador Robin Renwick working to end apartheid.

Returning to London in 1991 he worked in the FCO Department dealing with the Soviet Union as communist rule collapsed. He then spent three years in Moscow as Political Counsellor and then served three times as HM Ambassador: in Sarajevo (1996-1998); in Belgrade (2001-2003) and most recently in Poland (2003-2007).

In 1987 he wrote the FCO’s first Guide to Speech-Writing, a dynamic text full of real-life examples on how to write speeches – and how to weed out lugubrious mistakes. Two decades later it remains a core part of the FCO’s speech-drafting training

He subsequently contributed to speeches by members of the Royal Family and successive Prime Ministers, as well as different Ministers and other senior personalities in public and commercial life

He left the FCO at the end of 2007 to start a new career as writer, consultant, mediator and trainer. In 2009 he joined the UK Conservative Party candidates list

In recent months Charles Crawford led training courses for senior EU and other officials and private clients aimed at improving their communication skills. He has written for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Independent, DIPLOMAT and Total Politics.

In 2009 his audiences included the Headmasters Conference and Conservative Friends of Poland, as well as private groups and academic gatherings

In 2010 he and other former British Ambassadors in partnership with ADR Group launched a new senior strategic dispute resolution panel, ADRg Ambassadors

Charles Crawford’s trenchant observations on public policy issues are now available to a growing readership on his blog




Such honesty has no place in modern government…it’s bloody dangerous!
Andrew Dodge (Samizdata)

The most telling critique of this delusional foreign policy comes in regular instalments in the form of a blog by the former British ambassador to Poland, Charles Crawford. It’s called www.charlescrawford.biz, and if you want to know just how much in despair many of our diplomats are, this is the place to look
Dominic Lawson (The Times, 2010)

In 2005 a humorous FCO email he wrote as Ambassador to Warsaw (a satirical speech by Prime Minister Tony Blair damning other countries’ selfishness on EU Budget issues) caused a stir when it was leaked to the Sunday Times

His FCO written work was praised at the highest levels in London, NATO and the EU for its uncompromising dynamic style:

“fabulously readable and interesting analysis, with practical application … just about the best scenesetter [No10 staff] have ever seen”

“acrobatic and eye-catching in his use of language”

As a speaker Charles Crawford draws on dramatic episodes from his diplomatic career to explain wider policy themes, paradoxes and trends. His presentations are interesting and thought-provoking, but above all memorable

He is strong on foreign and public policy issues such as:

o Communism (and Vampires)
o Dealing with extremists and war criminals
o Climate change and PPP (perverse precautionary principles)
o Amazon Space: how the Internet is changing the strategic policy context
o International negotiation (as explained by Shrek, the Joker and Clint Eastwood)
o UK/European Union relations: Too Big (not) to Fail

Journalist and adventurer Donal MacIntyre is Europe’s best known investigative reporter. He has worked for all the UK broadcasters, most famously ITV and the BBC where he has won awards for his outstanding and often dangerous work.

As a finalist of Dancing on Ice he won the nation’s heart and brought his journalism to whole new audience. MacIntyre has worked also in adventure television for Discovery and National Geographic and travelled the world living with far flung tribes and enduring the planets Wild Weather for the BBC.

His work is more diverse than any other broadcaster in the country ranging from undercover to war zone reporting to animal welfare documentaries. From live radio to live television, he has won awards across the world for his unique brand of work. Recently he has worked with the Government on fatherhood and health campaigns and he is currently an Ambassador for Born Free and Mencap.

In addition, he has won major awards as a director across Europe. He is currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Five Live and writing screenplays and novels.

Donal inspires and entertains conference and after dinner audiences with his experiences from war zones to jungles to one of the most surprising and biggest departures yet from his comfort zone – going from rank outsider to finalist on Dancing On Ice.

He talks about overcoming fear stress and anxiety, operating outside of your comfort zone, and managing risk and reward. From welcoming tribes into his home to learning to dance on ice, Donal is not afraid to take a risk and believes that we can achieve anything we want with the right mindset. Donal is inspiring and entertaining and appeals to a wide audience.

Major (Ret.) Chris Hunter, was one of the most experienced bomb-disabling operators in the British armed forces. During his 17 years in the Military he served in a variety of operational counter-IED appointments and saw active service in a number of high threat theatres including Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia and Northern Ireland.

During much of his career he specialised in overt and covert Assault IEDD’ operations in support of Police Tactical Firearms Units, close protection teams and specialist Counter-Terrorism units.

He was also deployed on a number of antiterrorist arrest operations in the UK and was the architect of the UKs EOD response to a suicide bomb attack on the UK mainland. Later, he played an instrumental role during the July 2005 London bombings when he was seconded to the British Governments COBR-A as a suicide terrorism subject matter expert.

He retired from the MOD in 2007 as the MODs senior IED intelligence analyst. Major (Ret.) Chris Hunter was awarded the Queens Gallantry Medal in 2005. He has written and presented numerous papers on counter-terrorism, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Explosives Engineers.

Topic areas include: Counter-Terrorism, Counter-IED, Internal Security & Crisis Management and C-IED related disciplines.

Julian Rush is the Science & Environment Correspondent of Channel 4 News and he has recently taken on the Defence brief as well. His flair and enthusiasm for accessible explanation, investigation and analysis of the wide range of complex subjects he covers has been recognised with several major TV industry awards.

Whether it be environmental issues like climate change, GM crops and renewable and nuclear energy, or hard science subjects like bird ‘flu, space exploration, nanotechnology, engineering, computing and the internet, medicine and obesity, Julian’s extensive experience means he is able to bring a unique insight and understanding to live events, seminars, panels, presentations and programmes about subjects that so often baffle but which affect us all.

He’s equally at home on the sofa, as bird ‘flu boffin for Richard & Judy; at a Party Conference chairing a panel of MPs discussing carbon trading; or in a Royal palace presenting to potential corporate sponsors details of the ground-breaking conservation technology proposed for the historic tea-clipper, Cutty Sark.

Adding the Defence brief is a logical extension of the extensive reporting he has already done on issues like nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, Gulf War Syndrome, military strategy and the ethics of the arms trade.

Julian won the prestigious RTS Home News Awards in two consecutive years for his investigative reporting of the causes of the Paddington and Hatfield rail crashes. In 2004 he was short-listed again for an RTS award, this time for his exclusive report that exposed the government’s “dodgy dossier” on Iraq, plagiarised from a PhD student’s thesis.

He still wants to be the first TV reporter to broadcast from space.
Julian also chairs conferences and seminars and is a highly skilled conference facilitator and after dinner speaker. He has a wealth of experience hosting events and award ceremonies, both at home and abroad.