The Rt. Hon. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen KT, GCMG, hon FRSE, PC

The Rt. Hon. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen

Former NATO Secretary General 1999-2003

Lord (George Islay MacNeill) Robertson is Special Adviser to BPChairman of BP Russian Investments Ltd and Senior Counselor at the Washington DC based Cohen Group (USA).  He was NATO Secretary General from 1999-2003 and UK Defence Secretary from 1997-1999.  He was Member of Parliament for Hamilton and then Hamilton South from 1978-1999. 

 He was born in Port Ellen, Isle of Islay, Scotland and educated at Dunoon Grammar School and the University of Dundee (MA Hons in Economics in 1968). 

 From 1969-1978 he was Scottish Organiser with the GMB trade union and senior negotiator in the Scotch Whisky Industry.  From 1979-1993 he held senior parliamentary Opposition roles including 11 years on Foreign Affairs and was Chief Spokesman on European Affairs (he was named Parliamentarian of the Year in 1992).  In 1993 he was elected to the Shadow Cabinet and served as Principal Opposition Spokesman on Scotland (the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland).   

 He was appointed the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defence in 1997. In October 1999 he took up appointment as the 10th Secretary General of NATO and Chairman of the North Atlantic Council and was elevated to the House of Lords.  

 Lord Robertson was appointed to Her Majesty’s Privy Council in 1997.  In 2004 he was personally appointed by the Queen as one of the sixteen Knights of the Thistle (KT) and awarded the GCMG (Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George).  In 2011 he was appointed Chancellor of that OrderHe was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s top civilian honour, in 2003, and has been awarded the highest national honours from many countries.  He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2003 and has fourteen Honorary Doctorates.  He is Honorary Professor of Politics at the University of Stirling and Visiting Professor at Kings College, London.  He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Defence Studies. 

 He is Chairman of Western Ferries (Clyde) Ltd., and Vice Chairman of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.  He was Deputy Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Audit Committee of TNK-BP (BP’s £50 bn market cap Joint Venture in Russia) from 2006-2013.  He has also served on the Boards of Cable and Wireless plc, where he was Executive Deputy Chairman and Chairman of CW International 2004-2007, the Smiths Group plc, Monaco Telecom SA and the Weir Group plc. 

 He is an Elder Brother of Trinity House, Chairman of global road safety charity the FIA Foundation, a Trustee of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust and the British Forces Foundation and a Prime Ministerial appointee to the Advisory Board of the First World War CommemorationHe is on the Councils of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Centre for European Reform and the European Council on Foreign Relations as well as the International Advisory Board of the Atlantic Council of the US. He served as Joint President of the Royal Institute of International Affairs 2001-2011 and now serves as a Senior Adviser.  He Chaired the Ditchley Foundation from 2009-2017.  He chairs the Ohrid (Friends of North Macedonia) Group. He co-chairs a joint Commission on Franco British Defence post Brexit with former French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.  He served as Honorary Regimental Colonel of the London Scottish (Volunteers) from 2000 to 2016 

 He is married to Sandra, has three grown-up children, five grandchildren and lives in Dunblane, Scotland.  He plays golf and takes photographs (he has published two books of photographs, including “Islay and Jura: Photographs by George Robertson”).  He has earned a Licentiate Distinction of the Royal Photographic Society.