Defence Speakers

Patrick Mercer, Member of Parliament for Newark since 2001, previously worked as a journalist and as a soldier with the British Army.

Patrick Mercer has a reputation as a lively and uncompromising British conservative politician, whose fascinating career experiences and robust political engagement on security and anti-terrorist issues make him a formidable, direct ‘no-nonsense’ speaker.

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After nearly a decade in Parliament and before that successful work in journalism and the British Army, Patrick Mercer invariably makes an impact both privately and as a forceful public speaker.

Patrick Mercer read History at Oxford University before following his father’s example and joining the British Army, being commissioned into the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment in 1975. He completed nine tours in Northern Ireland and commanded his battalion in Bosnia, Canada and Tidworth.

He was Mentioned in Despatches in 1983 while serving in Northern Ireland and earned a gallantry commendation in 1990 and the MBE in 1992. In 1997 he received the OBE for services in Bosnia. He left the Army in 1999 as a Colonel, having been head of communications and strategy at the Army Training & Recruiting Agency.

He then became the Defence Correspondent for the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme and worked as a freelance for the Daily Telegraph; this involved him reporting from many trouble-spots, including Kosovo and East Timor where he helped design newly independent East Timor’s first national defence policy.

In 2001 he was Member of Parliament for Newark in the English Midlands, defeating the Labour candidate in a strong personal success. After serving as a back-bencher on the Defence Select Committee he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence. In 2003 he took up a senior new Opposition position as Shadow Minister for Homeland Security, a position he held until March 2007 when he resigned following a controversy over remarks made about race relations in the Armed Forces.

In 2004 Patrick Mercer introduced a Private Member’s Bill intended to give stronger legal protection to householders defending their property from burglars; this initiative received much popular support but did not proceed after the 2005 general elections.

Patrick Mercer is now known for his clear and uncompromising conservative positions on defence and intelligence issues. He supported the Iraq intervention and opposes further European Union powers, favouring a strong national UK defence effort. On domestic questions he has opposed the introduction of a national identity card scheme and favours reduced central state control of education.

Patrick Mercer now maintains a lively media profile and has written three books, including two vivid historical novels with Victorian/imperial military themes and a very well received account of the 1854 Battle of Inkerman in the Crimean War.

His novel To Do and Die was praised by Bernard Cornwell: ‘A tremendous achievement by a storyteller who knows the humour, the fear and the frenzy of men in battle.’

Patrick Mercer has firm convictions and trenchant views, drawn from his unusually varied career often spent applying policies to tough real-life military and anti-terrorist circumstances in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. He speaks fluently and with passion, including memorable and thought-provoking examples from past and present where lethal force has been used, for better or worse.

Former Chief of the General Staff and Senior Advisor at PA Consulting Group

General Sir Mike Jackson GCB CBE DSO has had a distinguished career, serving in numerous high-profile and difficult roles requiring operational leadership, strategic insight and unfailing good judgement.

Gen Sir Mike Jackson served as Chief of the General Staff (CGS) from 2003 – 2006, the culmination of four decades in the British Army. He previously served as Commander in Chief Land Command (from 2000), Commander Kosovo Force (in 1999), Commander ACE Rapid Reaction Corps (from 1997) and Director General Development and Doctrine at the MoD.

His active service included command at company and brigade level in Northern Ireland, divisional command in Bosnia, and corps commander in Macedonia and Kosovo.

Gen Sir Mike Jackson is now Senior Advisor at PA Consulting Group and has other consulting roles. He is a trenchant and authoritative commentator on military and other issues. He draws on a wealth of unique experience, combining sharp-end military action and the heavy responsibility of many life-and-death policy and command decisions.

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After four decades in military service culminating in three years as Chief of the General Staff from 2003-06, Gen Sir Mike Jackson has a distinguished strategic leadership profile and a powerful and authoritative style.

After a degree in Russian Studies he joined the Intelligence Corps in 1963, transferring to the Parachute Regiment in 1970 where he was present at the infamous 1972 ‘Bloody Sunday’ shootings in Northern Ireland. After a spell as Chief of Staff to the Berlin Infantry Brigade he returned to Northern Ireland and witnessed the grim aftermath of the heavy loss of British troops in the Warrenpoint Ambush in 1979.

After appointments at the Army Staff College and the Ministry of Defence he returned to Northern Ireland for a third time as brigadier commanding 39 Infantry Brigade.

In 1997 he was appointed Commander of the NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps and served in the Balkans before becoming the UK’s Commander-in-Chief, Land Command in 2000 and finally Chief of the General Staff in 2003. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in 2004. He retired from the armed forces in 2006, joining PA Consulting Group and taking on other consultancy positions.

Gen Sir Mike Jackson’s military service involved him in a wide range of morally and operationally challenging situations, most notably his high-profile disagreement in with NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander General Wes Clark in June 1999 over the response to an unexpected Russian military move in Kosovo to occupy Pristina airport. He played the ‘national card’ and referred back to London General Clark’s orders to isolate the Russian contingent (“I won’t start World War III for you”). This more subtle approach paid off – NATO asserted control over the whole of Kosovo successfully and without dangerous confrontation with Moscow.

Gen Sir Mike Jackson subsequently spoke out forcefully in defence of British troops accused of ill-treating Iraqi prisoners when the Daily Mirror published faked photographs, but also apologised publicly in 2005 when British Army abuses in Basra were confirmed. In 2006 after British troops helped free a British peace campaigner kidnapped by Iraqi extremists General Sir Mike Jackson publicly criticised the hostage’s lack of appreciation, saying that he was saddened “that there doesn’t seem to have been a note of gratitude for the soldiers who risked their lives to save those lives“.

In 2006 he used the annual Richard Dimbleby Lecture to say sharp words about the UK Ministry of Defence: “One’s loyalty must be from the bottom. Sadly, I did not find this fundamental proposition shared by the MoD.” In 2007 he criticised the way the Bush administration had handled Iraq, arguing that the US approach had been too focused on military might rather than nation-building and diplomacy.

Gen Sir Mike Jackson now has a strong public profile emphasising leadership and strategic insight. He draws on a wealth of unique experience combining sharp-end military action and the heavy responsibility of many life-and-death policy and command decisions.

His presentations are sharp and memorable, featuring remarkable personal anecdotes and thoughtful examples of both success and failure.

Principle topics:

Leadership
Risk and risk strategy
Effective management and responsibility

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

Chris Crudelli is the TV presenter, cultural explorer, best-selling author and internationally recognised kung fu master. His self-penned TV series for the BBC, “Mind, Body & Kick Ass Moves”, was a smash hit, becoming the most widely distributed documentary in BBC TV history after it was broadcast in over 180 countries worldwide.

As a best-selling author, his book, “The Way of The Warrior”, is doing well in the UK and US, and his TV shows are continuing to break new records in the UK and in the States, where they are broadcast on Discovery Travel & Leisure, and Fox FSN.

Recently, The Sunday Telegraph labeled Chris as “the most engaging personality on British TV”, the Telegraph said he is “one of the top ten martial arts practitioners alive today”, and The Sun simply stated “Chris Crudelli is a star”. But most of all, Chris is a talented and inspiring teacher and speaker who has taught thousands around the world.

Growing up in Birmingham, Chris had already witnessed a number of violent crimes by the age of seven, which inspired him to take up Martial Arts. His passion for the Arts soon developed and as a teenager he moved to China in order to study full time with the world’s most revered masters. He stayed and travelled all over Asia for over ten years, venturing to places as diverse as Mongolia, Nepal and India, studying and developing his knowledge in the Arts, and picking up two fluent dialects of Chinese along the way.

Chris also became the very first Westerner to actually develop a Chinese-style kung fu on Chinese soil. It’s called Jiufamen and is taught by Chris at his network of schools in and around South East London, and to thousands up and down the country who attend his seminars. Not only that, but Chris and his team have taught simplified versions of it to police organisations and special forces & military personnel around the world.

Aside from the seminars, Chris also leads groups on training adventures to the mountains of North Wales, and around Thailand & Cambodia. Participants are encouraged to find their mental and physical limits and, with Chris’s help, push beyond them. They’ve been life-changing experiences for many people who’ve attended.

Last year, Chris also wrote and headlined his own stage show in London. Part biographical, part action sequences, Chris displayed some of the amazing mind and body tricks he’s picked up over the years, including the ability to detect lies 100% of the time simply through the sound of someone’s voice; teaching any member of the audience to become 300% stronger with a simple kung fu concentration technique; and coaching any willing participant to smash a brick with their bare hand with no pain or injury!

All impressive feats alone, but the practical application and relevance of such skills to every day life is even more interesting. Martial Arts are disciplines of problem solving for body and mind; they can help you explore aggression, competitiveness, fear, and how you respond to challenges. From Chris’s own lifelong research he teaches how ancient Martial Arts can help one learn through the body how to solve problems in life, and thus make serious change happen.

Chris says, “There’s more to Martial Arts than punching and kicking.” His travel-inspired teaching and speeches lead audiences to face challenges head-on, whilst providing humorous and kick ass anecdotes along the journey!

He is living proof that Martial Arts, when taught well, are good for you.

John Reid was born in Lanarkshire. The son of a postman and a factory worker he attended St. Patrick’s High School in Coatbridge and went on to read History at Stirling University, gaining a PhD.

Dr Reid has served at almost every level of the Labour Party, from branch to constituency. From 1979 to 1983 he was Research Officer for the Labour Party in Scotland subsequently becoming political adviser to the Labour Leader, Neil Kinnock from 1983 to 1985. He went on to become Scottish Organiser of Trade Unionists for Labour from 1986 to 1987. He was tipped for success from his first election to the Commons in 1987 and soon became a defence spokesman, where he spent seven years in opposition before joining the Ministry of Defence when Labour came to power in 1997.

He was largely responsible for the Strategic Defence Review, and was made minister for transport in 1998. He impressed PM Tony Blair with his robust performance and joined the cabinet as Scottish secretary after the establishment of the Scottish Parliament. Following Peter Mandelson’s second fall, he became Northern Ireland Secretary.

He moved from the province shortly after being forced to suspend devolution in October 2002. His trouble-shooting skills were turned instead to more purely political questions, as Tony Blair appointed him Labour Party Chairman and Minister without Portfolio.

In March 2003, he was given his fourth different Cabinet role, when he was appointed Leader of the House of Commons following Robin Cook’s resignation.

And less than three months later he became health secretary when Alan Milburn quit the government.
Reid has been a Lanarkshire MP for the past 18 years, representing Motherwell North and Hamilton North and Bellshill. Following the Boundary Commission’s decision to disband his previous seat, he was elected as MP for Airdrie and Shotts at the 2005 general election.

His 10-year ministerial career saw him undertake nine different ministerial jobs, his appointment as health secretary in June 2003 took him into his fourth cabinet job in less than a year.

1989-1990 Opposition Spokesman on Children
1990-199 Opposition Spokesman on Defence
1997-1998 Minister of Defence
1998-1999 Minister for Transport
1999-2001 Secretary of State for Scotland
2001-2002 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
2002-2003 Party Chair and Minister without Portfolio
2003 Leader of the House of Commons
2003-2005 Secretary of State for Health
2005-2006 Secretary of State for Defence
2006-2007 Secretary of State for The Home Department (Home Secretary)

Michael Portillo was born in North London in 1953. His father, Luis, had come to Britain as a refugee at the end of the Spanish Civil War, and his mother, Cora, was brought up in Fife. She met Luis while she was an undergraduate at Oxford.

Michael attended a grammar school, Harrow County, and went to Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he gained a first class degree in History. Leaving Cambridge in 1975, he worked for a shipping company for a year before moving to the Conservative Research Department in 1976, staying three years.

At the General Election in 1979 he was responsible for briefing Margaret Thatcher before her press conferences and for the next two years was special adviser to the Secretary of State for Energy.

He worked for Kerr McGee Oil (UK) Ltd from 1981 – 1983. He contested the Birmingham Perry Bar seat at the 1983 Election.

Michael returned to politics as a special adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Nigel Lawson) and in December 1984 won the by-election in Enfield Southgate, caused by the murder of Sir Anthony Berry MP in the Brighton bombing. Michael represented the seat for thirteen years but was defeated in the 1997 Election.

He joined the Government in 1986, and remained a member until 1997. He was a whip, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Social Security, Minister of State for Transport, Minister of State for Local Government and Inner Cities; and as a Cabinet Minister was Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Employment, and Secretary of State for Defence. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1992.

After his 1997 electoral defeat, Michael returned to Kerr McGee as an adviser. He also turned to journalism. He wrote about walking as a pilgrim on the Santiago Way, and working as a hospital porter. He had a weekly column in The Scotsman. He had a three part series for Channel 4 about politics Portillo’s Progress, and a programme in BBC2’s Great Railway Journeys series, which was partly a biography of his late father, and radio programmes on Wagner and the Spanish Civil War.

Michael was re-elected to Parliament in a by-election in Kensington and Chelsea in November 1999 and was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer February 2000 – September 2001. Following the Conservatives’ election defeat in 2001, Michael unsuccessfully contested the leadership of the party. In 2005 Michael left the House of Commons.

Michael has made a number of television programmes for BBC2 including Art that shook the world: Richard Wagner’s Ring, Portillo in Euroland, Elizabeth I in the series Great Britons, When Michael Portillo became a single mum, and Portillo Goes Wild in Spain (a natural history programme). For BBC4 he has made several series of Dinner with Portillo, a discussion programme. In 2006 he joined The Moral Maze team on BBC Radio 4. In 2003 he began the weekly political discussion programme This Week on BBC1 with fellow presenters Andrew Neil and Diane Abbott MP. Beginning in 2004 Michael became a weekly columnist on The Sunday Times and was the theatre critic of The New Statesman between 2004 and 2006.

Michael is a member of the International Commission on Missing Persons in the former Yugoslavia (which organises the identification of massacre victims) under the chairmanship of Jim Kimsey, and sits on of the Board of BAE Systems plc.

Former RAF fast jet pilot, counter espionage officer and distinguished spycatcher Martin Smith has had a varied and interesting career, rivaled only by 007 himself. Martin relates his experiences in both Cold War and more recent hostilities in a hugely interesting and humorous style. More recently Martin has become one of the foremost advisors regarding counter terrorism and industrial espionage to companies and governments worldwide. ‘how is that hunting for the oxymoron in military intelligence can take a whole army of officers an entire career’.

Martin’s style is that of the raconteur, his stories are insightful and hilarious, poking fun at some of the craziest scenarios that paranoia, deceitfulness and circumstances have produced.

Martin gained his degree in behavioral psychology before spending nearly 15 years as a commissioned officer in the Royal Air Force, firstly as a jet pilot and then assigned to counter-espionage and counter-terrorism duties throughout East and West Europe. After being awarded the MBE for this work, he left the Service to carve out a second distinguished career, this time in the commercial sector. He joined Touche Ross Management Consultants before becoming the Senior Director of Corporate Security for Kroll Associates, the world’s foremost commercial counter-intelligence and security organisation. Martin set up the specialist consultancy The Security Company International. He and his specialist team help major corporations in the financial, manufacturing and aerospace sectors around the world to prevent industrial espionage and to put in place their fraud prevention and E-Business security strategies.

Martin has a refreshing, amusing and captivating approach to the dirty world of espionage and corporate crime; he recognises that it is viewed as something that “happens to someone else”.

On a serious note, Martin is an internationally recognised author and speaker on his subject. Over the years he has presented at all the leading world security conferences, and to the NATO Chiefs of Staff and the Directors of the European Commission. His papers have been published widely and he is the author of the acclaimed IBM-sponsored book “Commonsense Security”.

He is currently writing two new books about E-Business security and cyber-terrorism. He is a regular contributor to many international news networks in Europe and the USA that seek his advice on a variety of security-related subjects.

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.

Major Ken Hames is a British former Special Air Service’s officer,highly rated motivational speaker and specialist television presenter.

Ken Hames is a real life action man who leads from the front. He has 25 years military experience under his belt, and is almost unique in having served in The Parachute Brigade, the Royal Marines and the Special Air Service. Ken’s operational experience is vast, ranging from guarding Nazi war criminal Rudolph Hesse, in Spandau Prison to the liberation of Port Stanley in the Falklands.

He is an accomplished Mountain Guide and skier and represented Great Britain in cross-country skiing. He played rugby for the Combined Services, is an expert in the great outdoors in all survival disciplines and is a keen amateur opera singer

Following an impressive 25 year military career, Ken Hames has brought a unique slant to the many documentaries that he has created and presented for television. Ken’s third series of ‘Beyond Boundaries’ was set in the Andes range in Ecuador and followed his highly acclaimed BBC1 documentary ‘Ex Forces and Homeless’ , his next broadcast series will be ‘Beyond Boundaries – Where Are They Now’.

Ken has created and presented series like, ‘Mission Africa’ – a 15 part series for prime time BBC1 where Ken took a group of young apprentice builders from the UK to Kenya to build the first eco lodge and game reserve to protect the endangered species that live there working closely with the Born Free Foundation. This was then handed over to the local Samburu tribe as a sustainable business that also protects the wildlife.

Ken created and is the expedition leader on the ground breaking ‘Beyond Boundaries’ series for BBC TV. This is now a successful brand with it’s own live event, bringing disabled people from all over the world together with their friends and families. Each series, Ken takes a different group of highly disabled people and motivates them to achieve seemingly impossible expeditions. He trains and inspires them into a team and the end result is life changing.

‘Desert Darlings’ was broadcast on Channel 4 in spring 2003. Ken took couples across the Namib Desert, placing their sometimes fragile relationships under the extreme pressures of an expedition. His first series for Channel 4, was the award winning, ‘Jungle Janes’, where Ken’s challenge was to turn a group of British women, none of whom had any expedition experience, into a cohesive team fit enough to take on the gruelling jungles of Borneo. It was enjoyed by millions who found this journey an inspiration. The first documentary was a television series, called ‘The Trek’ broadcast by Meridian. In 1994, with the help of Diana, Princess of Wales, Ken was able to take twelve disadvantaged youngsters to the heart of Africa on a 500-mile trek over desert and mountainous terrain, The process transformed their lives and Ken still monitors their progress.

These documentaries have proved Ken’s extraordinary ability to inspire and motivate even the most unlikely candidates. His unique skills enable him to take any rabble of individuals and finish with a winning, cohesive team, using sound leadership and thorough training are just some of the tools he uses. Ken is passionate about empowering people to transform their lives for the better.

Ken presented the highly praised series, ‘Greatest SAS Missions’ for Five in 2004, CBBC’s ‘Bring it On’, ‘Hero Factor’ for the Discovery Channel in 2002, ‘Battle Stripes’ for Sky in 2000, ‘Future Fighting Machines’ for the US in 2003, Channel 4’s ‘Shattered’ and ITV’s ‘Celebrity Fit Club’. Ken was also involved from the earliest of stages in the design and development of ITV’s ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’.
A powerful and charismatic speaker, Ken’s experiences in the cutting edge of the military and at the forefront of some of history’s most significant expeditions combine with those in the business arena to provide a fascinating insight into pressure, survival, teamwork, leadership and motivation. Ken is an action man who leads from the front. He is an accomplished Mountain Guide and skier and represented Great Britain in cross country skiing. He has played rugby for the Combined Services and is an expert in the great outdoors in all survival disciplines.

Testimonials

• Thank you for your fantastic presentation. The feedback was excellent. People will not forget ‘Lead, follow or get out of the way’

Martin Goodman, Office of the Director – IBM

• Your speech was an inspiration to our audience. You have given IGF members a renewed sense of motivation and desire to succeed.

Paul Foulkes
Director of Global Financing – IBM

• Ken’s motivational style lifts people’s horizons. He was an absolute inspiration to our delegates.

Carole Nicholl, Director
Lehman Brothers

• Ken Hames is the master practitioner in the field of motivation. He has the unique ability to inspire other to seek personal transformation and high achievement.

Diana, Princess of Wales

• In his leadership master class Ken gave my senior managers a renewed sense of purpose and direction. He is current, credible and inspirational and is particularly adept at getting results in a short timeframe. I continue to use him to keep my leaders at the cutting edge.

Robert Ford CIO EMEA
Microsoft Corporation

• Ken inspired us all with his motivational conference programme and leadership master class. We are looking forward to the next phase in our business development programme.
Simon Curry Director BT UK

• Ken did a fantastic job for us and it was an inspiration to hear him talk and motivate our leadership team. We look forward to his return.
Derek Hudson Vice President UK, British Gas

• Wherever Ken goes the atmosphere changes significantly. He is able to get results and does this with credibility as someone who is still out there ‘doing it’ so to speak. He has a unique understanding of the pressures facing business today and delivers solutions that will help managers do better.
Jerry Hagan, Director GlaxoSmithKline

• I give Ken 10 out of 10 for everything from how the audience reacted to the content of his talk. He really met our expectations and at the end of the presentation there was an audible ‘wow’ factor – it really hit the spot. Our clients really appreciated his enthusiasm for their project and the willingness to stay behind and become involved on an informal basis.
Chris Ball Senior Partner Penna PLC

• Ken, Thank you so much for speaking at the Business Direct Forum, the feedback has been excellent. The Management team were really impressed and delighted. Your positioning was spot on and we were all grateful for the amount of time you took to understand our business and current challenges.
Vodaphone HQ, Management Meeting

• We have now come to the end of our series of leadership workshops held during March and April and as one of the guest speakers on the workshops I would just like to say thank you for your time in talking to us recently your session was extremely interesting and the feedback from our leaders has been very positive.
Nigel Cann Station Director, British Energy

Rt Hon. Lord (Paddy) Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon KBE was leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. After leaving British politics, Paddy Ashdown served as the High Representative and EU Special Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2002 until 2006. In recognition of his service as High Representative Paddy was awarded the highest diplomatic service honour, the GCMG. Lord Ashdown became a life peer in 2001 and now sits in the House of Lords as a liberal Democrat peer. A regular broadcaster, including Question Time and Any Questions, he has published several books, including two volumes of Diaries

Paddy Ashdown was born in New Delhi on 27 February 1941, the eldest of 7 children. When he was 4 years old, his family returned to Britain to buy a farm in Ulster. Between 1959 and 1972 he served as a Royal Marines Officer and saw active service as a Commando Officer in Borneo and the Persian Gulf. After Special Forces Training in 1965, he commanded a Special Boat Section in the Far East. He went to Hong Kong in 1967 to study Chinese. He returned to England in 1970 to lead a Commando Company in Belfast.

In 1972 Paddy left the Royal Marines and joined the Foreign Office. He was posted to the British Mission to the United Nations in Geneva where he was responsible for Britain’s relations with a number of United Nations organisations and took part in the negotiation of several international treaties and agreements between 1974 and 1976. He was also involved in some aspects of the European Security Conference (the Helsinki Conference).

After leaving the Foreign Office Paddy worked in local industry in the Yeovil area in South-West England between 1976 and 1981, firstly with the Westlands Group (Normalair Garrett) and then with Morlands’ Yeovil-based subsidiary called Tescan. In 1981, Paddy went to work as a Youth Worker with the Dorset County Council Youth Service, where he was responsible for initiatives to help the young unemployed.

He stood as the Liberal Parliamentary candidate for the Yeovil constituency in 1979 and raised the Liberal vote there to its highest ever level. Shortly after entering Parliament in the 1983 General Elections, Paddy was appointed as the Liberal spokesman on Trade and Industry Affairs within the Liberal/SDP Alliance team at the House of Commons. He became Education spokesman in January 1987. He was elected Leader of the Liberal Democrats in July 1988 and was appointed as a Privy Councillor on 1 January 1989. In the 1997 General Election he further increased his majority in his Yeovil constituency to over 11,000. Paddy stood down as the leader of the Liberal Democrats in 1999 and retired from the Commons in 2001. He was knighted in 2000 and was made a peer in 2001.

During the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paddy was one of the leading advocates for decisive action by the international community. He argued strongly that this would help bring the conflict to an early close, and that this was in the interests of all the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina whatever their ethnic background. He visited the country many times during the conflict and subsequently. He took up his duties as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina on 27 May 2002.

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.