China 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

Hamish McRae is one of Europe’s leading futurists. He is the author of the acclaimed work on the future “The World in 2020: Power, Culture and Prosperity” and was named Business and Finance Journalist of the Year 2006 at the British Press Awards.

He is associate editor and the principal economic commentator of “The Independent” and “The Independent on Sunday”.

Since the publication of “The World in 2020″ he has been in demand world-wide as a speaker on the future.

His other books include “Capital City – London as a Financial Centre”, co-authored with Frances Cairncross, and “Wake-up Japan”, co-authored with Tadashi Nakamae. Awards include Financial Journalist of the Year in 1979, a special merit award in the first Amex Bank essay awards in 1987, 1996 Columnist of the Year in the Periodical Publisher’s Awards – and in 2005 the David Watt Prize for outstanding political journalism. He is a visiting professor at the School of Management at Lancaster University and a council member of the Royal Economic Society.

His current areas of work include the shift of power to the economies of Asia and the impact of the new technologies on the world economy. He is now working on a new book on global best practice.

He was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh and has an MA in Economics and Political Science from Trinity College, Dublin. He was deputy editor of “The Banker” and editor of “Euromoney” before becoming financial editor of “The Guardian” in 1975. In 1989 he moved to “The Independent” where he is now associate editor.

`A charismatic and innovative speaker. I can only recommend him.’
Deutsche Telekom

`An engaging and entertaining speaker, credible and authoritative.’
BBC

‘Thank you for your excellent talk at our chief executives’ conference, it contributed greatly to the success of the occasion. You certainly stimulated lively debate both for the rest of evening and beyond.’
Islandsbanki

`Hamish successfully stimulated group discussion after an excellent presentation. He is a pleasure to work with’
Scottish Enterprise

Will Hutton is executive vice chair of The Work Foundation, the most influential voice on work, employment and organisation issues in the UK. Regularly called on to advise senior political and business figures and comment in the national and international media, Will is today one of the pre-eminent economics commentators in the country.

He began his career in the city, as a stockbroker and investment analyst before moving to the BBC, where he worked both on radio, as a producer and reporter, and on TV as economics correspondent for Newsnight. Prior to joining The Work Foundation, Will spent four years as editor-in-chief of The Observer, for which he continues to write a closely-watched weekly column.

Will’s best-known book is probably The State We’re In, which was seen at the time as setting the scene for the Blair revolution. Since then he has published The State to Come, The Stakeholding Society and (with Anthony Giddens) On The Edge, a groundbreaking analysis of globalisation. His most recent book is The Writing on the Wall: China and the West in the 21st Century and his forthcoming book is an exploration of the terms, definitions and basis of the perception and reality of fairness in business and social terms.

Outside The Work Foundation, Will is a governor of the London School of Economics, where he is also a visiting professor. He is an honorary fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford, a member of the Scott Trust and a fellow of the Sunningdale Institute. In 2004, Will was invited by the European Commission to join a High Level Group on the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy and act as its “rapporteur” for the final report.

Andrew Neil is a publisher, editor, writer, broadcaster, public speaker and business consultant on media matters working out of London, New York, Edinburgh and France. His knowledge of global political and economic affairs is recognised as foremost in the reporting world.

Since 1996 he has been Publisher (chief executive and editor-in-chief) of Press Holdings, owners of The Business in London and The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and Evening News in Edinburgh.

He is chairman of BusinessEurope.com (a pan-European site for the European business executive) and The Scotsman.com (an online portal to all things Scottish).

During his career he has been UK Editor of The Economist, Editor of The Sunday Times, Executive Chairman of Sky Television, Executive Editor of Fox Television News of America and a leading anchorman on British political television programmes.

His first job (1971-72) was as political adviser to the Secretary of State for the Environment in Edward Heath’s Conservative Government in London. He then became a correspondent for The Economist in 1973, where his first major assignment was to cover the Ulster “Troubles” from Belfast.

Andrew became American correspondent of The Economist in 1979, working out of New York and Washington. He covered the Iranian hostage crisis and the 1980 presidential election as White House correspondent for the magazine and also wrote on Wall Street and US business. He returned to London in 1982 to become UK Editor of The Economist.

In 1983 he became editor of the prestigious Sunday Times of London and remained in that post for 11 years (until end-1994). He developed the newspaper into the undisputed 10-section market leader (which it remains today), breaking many scoops and putting the paper into the midst of many controversies in the process.

While still editing The Sunday Times, Neil presided over the successful launch of Sky Television, the new satellite service that brought multi-channel TV to Britain. Within a year Sky had already reached 1m homes. Today Sky, now BSkyB, is one of the most successful television ventures in the world. His task of launching Sky and seeing it through its first difficult year completed, Neil returned to being a full-time editor. He had been Executive Chairman of Sky from 1988 to 1990. Then, in the summer of 1994, Neil was seconded to New York to become executive editor of Fox TV’s first tentative steps into network news.

In late 1994, with Fox uncertain of its plans, he resigned from both The Sunday Times and Fox Television to begin a new career as an independent broadcaster, writer and media consultant.

While at The Economist, Neil began appearing regularly on British television and radio. In 1975 he presented the first network documentary special on North Sea oil for BBC TV. This led to presenting “Tomorrow’s World”, a BBC TV network science and technology series, the “Risk Business”, a BBC award-winning documentary series about business, and “Look Here”, a weekly media show for the ITV network. Neil also commented regularly on economic and political matters for a variety of programmes, including BBC TV’s “Nationwide” and BBC Radio 4’s “Today”.

As The Economist’s UK editor, Neil also began broadcasting to America from London, appearing regularly on the breakfast shows of all three US networks – CBS Morning, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today and ABC’s “Nightline”. He also became London correspondent for PBS’s “Inside Edition”, a weekly US show on the media.

In 1991 he launched his own Sunday morning talk radio show for London Broadcasting (LBC), while still editing The Sunday Times. It became the highest-rated show on LBC.

Since 1994 he has anchored the “Midnight Hour” (now called “Despatch Box”), a daily network political show for BBC TV and, between 1997 and 2001, “Late Night Live”, a topical talk show for ITV.

In January 1995 he launched the “Andrew Neil Show”, a three-times-week interview programme simulcast domestically on BBC2 and internationally to more than 100 countries on BBC World, the global cable and satellite news service.

In the autumn of 1998 he started the Andrew Neil Breakfast Show for BBC Radio Five, a network Sunday morning news programme that became the highest-rated news show on the station.

Since 1996 he has presented live prime-time special reports for BBC2 every autumn from all three British party political conferences; in the 1996 US presidential election year he also covered the San Diego and Chicago conventions; in 2000 he broadcast live from New York on US election night for BBC radio; in 2001 he anchored a daily BBC network news show on the British general election. On British election night he commented on the results for CNN.

He continues to appear regularly on TV on both sides of the Atlantic and has been a consultant to NBC News. Recent US broadcasts have included CBS’s “60 Minutes” and NBC’s “Dateline”. Included among the many world leaders he has interviewed are Ronald Reagan, Mrs Gandhi, Tony Blair, Jimmy Carter, Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger and Boris Yeltsin.

In 2002 his nightly BBC2 Despatch Box finished. In the New Year 2003 he began a new network political show for BBC1 on Thursdays: This Week with Andrew Neil; and a new afternoon political programme on BBC2 covering events at Westminster.

In October 1996 Macmillan published his autobiography “Full Disclosure”, on his Sunday Times and Sky TV years, which sold almost 60,000 copies in hard and paperback.

As a business consultant, Neil has been involved in European digital television developments and advising on the acquisition and development of a number of publications, as well as the launch of a new business daily for Asia in 1996 called “Asia Times” and a new magazine, “Asia Inc”.

Andrew Neil is much in demand worldwide as a speaker lecturing on British, American and European politics/economics, the future of the euro and the dollar and the impact of information technology on business, with special emphasis on the opportunity and challenge of electronic commerce, on which he has spoken to most of the world’s major IT companies.

In early 1998 he presided over the launch of a new broadsheet Sunday paper, “Sunday Business”, renamed The Business in January 2002, which has already become a critical and circulation success
In the summer of 2000 Neil decided to relaunch The Scotsman newspaper, Scotland’s most prestigious newspaper, which had been in decline for two decades. As a result of the relaunch, The Scotsman became the country’s highest-selling broadsheet with the biggest circulation in its distinguished 180-year history. Indeed, The Scotsman outsells the combined sales of the Scottish editions of all the London broadsheets.