George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen

The Right Honourable
The Lord Robertson of Port Ellen
KT GCMG PC FRSA FRSE
10th Secretary General of NATO
In office
14 October 1999 – 5 January 2004
Preceded by Javier Solana
Succeeded by Alessandro Minuto-Rizzo (Acting)
Secretary of State for Defence
In office
3 May 1997 – 11 October 1999
Prime Minister Tony Blair
Preceded by Michael Portillo
Succeeded by Geoff Hoon
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
In office
21 October 1993 – 2 May 1997
Leader John Smith
Margaret Beckett (Acting)
Tony Blair
Preceded by Tom Clarke
Succeeded by Jacqui Lait (2001)
Member of Parliament
for Hamilton South
Hamilton (1978–1997)
In office
31 May 1978 – 24 August 1999
Preceded by Alexander Wilson
Succeeded by William Tynan
Personal details
Born George Islay MacNeill Robertson
(1946-04-12) 12 April 1946
Port Ellen, Argyll, Scotland
Political party Labour
Spouse(s)
Sandra Wallace (m. 1970)
Children 3
Alma mater University of Dundee

George Islay MacNeill Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen KT, GCMG, PC, FRSA, FRSE (born 12 April 1946) is a British politician of the Labour Party who served as the 10th Secretary General of NATO from 1999 to 2004; he succeeded Javier Solana. He served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1997 to 1999, before becoming a life peer as Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, of Islay in Argyll and Bute.

Early life

Born in Port Ellen, Isle of Islay, Scotland, the son of George P Robertson, a policeman. His mother taught French and German[1] he was educated at Dunoon Grammar School and studied economics at the Queen's College, Dundee. When he was 15 years of age, he was involved with protests against US nuclear submarines docking in Scotland.[2]

During Robertson's time at Queen's College it broke away from the University of St Andrews to become the University of Dundee, of which Robertson was one of the first graduates (MA, 1968), and one of a minority of graduates that year who opted to take a Dundee, rather than a St Andrews, degree.[3][4] During his time at University he played a full part in student life. He wrote a column for the student newspaper Annasach, launched in 1967, and took an active role in student protests.[3][5][6] Robertson used his newspaper column to back the new University and encouraged his fellow students to take a University of Dundee degree (students who had started before 1967 could opt to take a degree from either the University of Dundee or the University of St Andrews).[6]

In 1968 Robertson was one of a number of Dundee students to invade the pitch during a rugby match at St Andrews involving a team from the Orange Free State to protest against apartheid.[7] The same year he organised a 24-hour work-in by students in the university library in opposition to proposed cuts by the government in student grants.[7]

Marriage

Robertson married Sandra Wallace on 1 June 1970. They have two sons and a daughter.[8]

Accident

Robertson survived a serious crash in January 1977 of his car with a Navy Land Rover, which was carrying 100 lb of gelignite and a box of detonators, and hit his car head-on in the Drumochter Pass, leaving him with two wrecked knees and a broken jaw. Robertson was wearing a seat belt at the time and attributes his survival to this factor.

Political career

Robertson first entered the House of Commons as a Labour MP in 1978, after having won the Hamilton by-election in May of that year, caused by the death of the incumbent Labour MP Alex Wilson in March of that year. He was challenged for the seat by the SNP candidate, Margo MacDonald, who came second. Robertson retained the constituency with an increased majority and obtained 51% of the overall vote. He was re-elected to Parliament at the five subsequent general elections, was Chairman of the Labour Party in Scotland, and was appointed to the Privy Council.[9] After Labour won the 1997 General Election, Robertson was appointed Secretary of State for Defence, a position he held until he resigned from the Cabinet in order to become Secretary General of NATO in 1999. He was appointed as NATO Secretary General after German defence minister Rudolf Scharping declined to be nominated for the position, and doubts were raised about the suitability of British politician and former Royal Marine Paddy Ashdown (at that time the outgoing leader of the Liberal Democrats) due to his never having held a position in government.[10][11][12]

Quote on devolution

In 1995, Robertson said that "Devolution will kill Nationalism stone dead" while he was Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland.[13] This quote was designed to assuage fears that devolution would provide a greater platform for the Scottish National Party (SNP). Robertson's quote is frequently recalled, usually in a mocking fashion, since the SNP won Scottish Parliament elections in 2007[13][14] , 2011 and 2016.[15][16]

Dunblane libel action

Robertson's three children are former pupils of the school in Dunblane where gunman Thomas Hamilton murdered 16 children and their teacher in 1996. After the massacre, Robertson, a long-time resident of the town, acted as a spokesman for the victims' families. He was also a key figure in the subsequent campaign that led to the ban on handguns in Great Britain.[17]

In 2003, the Sunday Herald newspaper ran an article entitled "Should the Dunblane dossier be kept secret?", a reference to documents relating to the Cullen Inquiry into the massacre which are to remain classified for 100 years. In a discussion board on the newspaper's website, anonymous contributors claimed that Robertson had signed a recommendation for a gun licence for Thomas Hamilton in his capacity as Hamilton's MP. In fact, Robertson had never been the gunman's MP, and the claims were totally unfounded. Robertson sued the Sunday Herald and the paper settled by paying him a five-figure sum plus costs. A subsequent action by Robertson, related to the terms of the newspaper's apology, was unsuccessful. The first case became an important test case as to whether publishers can be held responsible for comments posted on their websites.[18][19]

Independence referendum interventions

Robertson opposed Scottish independence in the 2014 referendum.

In an article in The Washington Post, he wrote: "The residual United Kingdom would still be a major player in the world, but upon losing a third of its land mass, 5 million of its population and a huge amount of credibility, its global standing would inevitably diminish."[20]

In a speech to the Brookings Institution on 8 April 2014 he said: "The loudest cheers for the break-up of Britain would be from our adversaries and from our enemies. For the second military power in the west to shatter this year would be cataclysmic in geo-political terms."[21] Robertson also likened the efforts of Unionists to keep Scotland tied to the UK with those of Abraham Lincoln's fight against slavery when he stated, "they might look more relevantly at the Civil War where hundreds of thousands of Americans perished in a war to keep the new Union together. To Lincoln and his compatriots the Union was so precious, so important, and its integrity so valuable that rivers of blood would be spilt to keep it together." [22]

After NATO

Robertson has received numerous honours (including a total of 12 Honorary doctorates from various universities).

In addition, he is a Senior Counsellor at The Cohen Group, a consulting firm in Washington D.C. that provides advice and assistance in marketing and regulatory affairs.

Football

Robertson is a supporter of Hamilton Academicals.[23]

Career

Other former or present posts

Honours and awards

Orders
Foreign Honours
Organisation
Appointments
  • United Kingdom 24 August 1999 life peer as Baron Robertson of Port Ellen

Appointments

Personal
Fellowships
Academic

Honorary military appointments

Appointments

References

  1. ↑ https://www.scotsman.com/news/the-lord-of-the-isles-1-1414335
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2008.
  3. 1 2 "General Election Special 2". Archives Records and Artefacts at the University of Dundee. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "Student protests at Dundee". Archives Records and Artefacts at the University of Dundee. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "Making Contact. 12 decades of staff and student magazines" (PDF). Contact: 27. June 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  6. 1 2 Baxter, Kenneth, Rolfe, Mervyn and Swinfen, David (2007). A Dundee Celebration. Dundee: University of Dundee. p. 34.
  7. 1 2 Baxter, Kenneth, Rolfe, Mervyn and Swinfen, David (2007). A Dundee Celebration. Dundee: University of Dundee. p. 35.
  8. ↑ http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12028420.In_sickness_and_in_health_but_not_in_tow/
  9. ↑ NATO (6 January 2004). "NATO Secretary General (1999–2003) The Rt. Hon. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen". Who is who at NATO?. NATO. Retrieved 22 February 2007.
  10. ↑ Fitchett, Joseph (15 July 1999). "Paddy Ashdown of Britain Is Seen by Some As Leading Candidate for Secretary-General : Hunt for NATO Chief Moves Into New Phase". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  11. ↑ Ulbrich, Jeffrey (16 July 1999). "Secretary-general sought by NATO". Amarillo Globe-News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  12. ↑ Whitney, Craig R. (31 July 1999). "Britain Nominates Its Defense Secretary to Be Head of NATO". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  13. 1 2 Warner, Gerald (6 May 2007). "How Bulldog Brown could call Braveheart Salmond's bluff". Scotland on Sunday. Edinburgh. Retrieved 6 May 2007.
  14. ↑ Devine, Tom (11 May 2008). "Old Scotland took the high road. New Scotland is upwardly mobile". The Independent. London. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
  15. ↑ Watt, Nicholas (6 May 2011). "Tony Blair's Scottish nightmare comes true as Alex Salmond trounces Labour". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  16. ↑ "Q&A: Scottish independence referendum". BBC News. 29 May 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2011. The 2011 result has blown out of the water the claim once made by Labour veteran Lord Robertson that devolution would "kill nationalism stone dead" - ironically, Labour, the party which set up devolution - has never managed to gain the overall majority achieved by the SNP.
  17. ↑ "Robertson driven by 'a safer world'". BBC News. 4 August 1999. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  18. ↑ McDougall, Dan (October 2005). "Robertson sues over Dunblane killer allegations". The Dunbane Shootings and Gun Law. Martin Frost. Archived from the original on 14 March 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2007.
  19. ↑ Thompson, Bill (10 September 2004). "Be careful what you say on the net". BBC News. Retrieved 22 February 2007.
  20. ↑ Robertson, George (5 January 2014). "Scotland secession could lead to re-Balkanization of Europe". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  21. ↑ "Scottish independence: Lord Robertson says Yes vote 'would be cataclysmic'". BBC News. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  22. ↑ Fred Dews (7 April 2014). "Lord George Robertson: Forces of Darkness Would Love Scottish Split from United Kingdom". Brookings.edu. Brookings Institution. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  23. ↑ http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12196305.putting_on_a_front_George_Robertson_may_seem_rather_priggish__but_what_lies_behind_the_inscrutable_facade_of_the_man_deemed_to_be_the_most_powerful_Scotsman_in_the_world_/
  24. ↑ Borger, Julian (8 September 2009). "Nuclear-free world ultimate aim of new cross-party pressure group". The Guardian. London.
  25. ↑
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Alexander Wilson		 Member of Parliament
for Hamilton
1978–1997		 Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament
for Hamilton South
1997–1999		 Succeeded by
William Tynan
Political offices
Preceded by
Tom Clarke		 Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
1993–1997		 Vacant
Title next held by
Jacqui Lait
Preceded by
Michael Portillo		 Secretary of State for Defence
1997–1999		 Succeeded by
Geoff Hoon
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Javier Solana		 Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
1999–2004		 Succeeded by
Alessandro Minuto-Rizzo
Acting
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