The Balkans Speakers

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

Carl Bildt is the current Foreign Secretary and former prime minister of Sweden from 1991-1994, and European Union envoy to ex-Yugoslavia from 1995-1997. He became Special Envoy for the Balkans and Chairman of Sweden’s opposition party, the Moderate Party.

With the issue of a “Greater Europe” being a topic of intense debate, thanks to the proposed expansion of the EU and of NATO in Europe, Carl Bildt’s vast experiences in East and West enable him to comment authoritatively on the Europe of the future.

With his unchallenged leadership and negotiation skills in highly adverse situations, he offers a privileged insight to those who want to place their business advantageously for the future.

In 1991 Carl Bildt was elected Prime Minister and formed a government in coalition with three other non-socialist parties. He held the position until 1994 and became the Leader of the Opposition, a position he still holds today. In June 1995, Carl Bildt became the European Union’s Special Representative for former Yugoslavia and Co-chairman of the International Conference on the former Yugoslavia. In December at the Peace Implementation Conference he was appointed High Representative by the international community, with responsibility for the implementation of the civilian parts of the Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a position which he stepped down from in 1997.

Carl Bildt was elected a Member of Parliament in 1979. Since 1981 he has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Moderate Party. He was also a Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs from 1982 to 1986, and has been a member of the Royal Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs since 1982. In 1986 he became the Chairman of the Moderate Party, a post he still holds today.

Carl Bildt is a very informative and charismatic keynote speaker. With keen observations that reflect his dedication to the process of political and economic integration in Europe, he shows the qualities necessary for any business to prosper in the “Greater Europe”.

His topics include:
• The Greater Europe after Bosnia and Herzegovina, and now Kosovo
• The future of Europe and its position in the world

His publications include :
1. Landet som steg ut i kylan (1972, The Country that Stepped out into the Cold)
2. Framtid i frihet (1976, A Future in Freedom)
3. Hallänning, svensk, europe (Bonniers 1991, A Citizen of Halland, Sweden and Europe)