Speeches recovered from the Conservative party’s online archive More…
I do not need to tell this audience that space has come to underpin all aspects of daily life.
From a security and resilience point of view - and I define these terms broadly, to include everything from the ability to project power abroad, protect citizens and respond to disasters, to ...
It is well-know that the UK's Counter Terrorism Strategy is a good framework, accepted across the political spectrum and now understood by all parts of government and other relevant authorities.
But terrorists actively seek to innovate to counter the capabilities of our security forces by adopting methods that are ...
Let me start with a simple statement of fact. Neither the government nor the private sector can completely control or protect the country's information infrastructure.
This is not just my view. It was one of the opening sentences of the US Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, when he ...
In November 2001, in a speech to Harvard University, former US President Bill Clinton said '[we] live in the age of interdependence [where] borders don't count for much or stop much, good or bad, anymore'.
Clinton was not subscribing to the view put forward by globalists that states are ...
David has outlined the key problem this country faces – poor government. This is not new, it is something we have experienced for over ten years.
But at a time when, day after day, the world is increasingly complex, turbulent and uncertain, poor government can actively damage this country’s interests ...
Those of you who have heard me, William Hague and Liam Fox speak in the last year will know that we no longer believe a straightforward Defence Review will be sufficient. Recent experience has shown that the next Review should go much wider than the role of just defence or ...
For over three years the Conservative Party has warned of an approaching crisis in the global nuclear non-proliferation regime.
This crisis has been mounting as the result of the actions of countries like Iran and North Korea, the thriving nuclear black market, the growing nexus between proliferation and non-state actors ...
For a number of years the Conservative Party has said that on entering office it will conduct a Strategic Defence Review, and has criticised the Government for relying on a Review that is now over ten years old to underpin the operations and capabilities of the Armed Forces.
Time has ...
The impression one gets from the existing Cyber Security Strategy is that the Government lacks conceptual understanding of cyberspace.
But if a strategy is to set direction and guide others, it should be grounded in the fullest possible understanding of the environment and the risks that that environment poses.
There ...
What is in the 'in tray' for the next government? Keynote address to Cityforum's Information Intensive Society Roundtable - 'Balancing security with privacy'.
Many in this audience will be aware of the Conservative Party's policy paper, 'Reversing the rise of the surveillance state', which was published in September. This ...
I am delighted to have the opportunity to talk to such a distinguished audience. It is also an audience which represents some of the key allies of the United Kingdom - allies that are very important to the UK not least in helping to tackle the common threat of international terrorism ...
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am going to talk to you about our approach to national security.
In July the terrorist threat level was lowered - for the first time since 7/7. This is testament to the work of the police, security services and armed forces.
I pay tribute to them ...
I am delighted to have been invited to deliver the inaugural annual lecture to the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals.
As people in this room will know, Livery Companies have always occupied a unique position at the heart of the United Kingdom's trade, commerce and professions.
Some continue to ...
The argument is often made that the collection and retention of personal data is necessary for the efficient running of public services, and to aid our security services and police in the fight against terrorism and serious organised crime.
The argument that then flows from this widely accepted thesis is ...
This is a very timely roundtable. We have witnessed recently the wide range of security challenges to major cities around the world which their governing bodies have to cope with.
Terrorism of course attracts attention which other risks do not, though it is the case that much of the planning ...
When many people talk about the private security sector I think they still have two overriding perceptions: that these companies are involved to a large extent in combat activities abroad, and that many of these companies are mercenary or that, even if under government contract, their activities are verging on ...
'Risk' is a concept that has been adopted by all parts of the national security establishment - the intelligence and security services, the police, even the armed forces.
The US Quadrennial Defence Review of 2001 described the management of risk as 'the single most important strategic tenet' of national security thinking ...
In November last year I was in India when members of Lashkar-e-Taiba attacked Mumbai. I had planned to travel to Mumbai and stay in one of the hotels that was attacked - the Taj Mahal Palace - during my time in India. Obviously this leg of the visit did not go ahead ...
A couple of years ago - even a year and a half ago - I don't think I would have been asked to speak about security and the economy.
The backdrop is, of course, the banking crisis; a crisis which shows how quickly things can change - how quickly, in this interconnected ...
At the beginning of January, I was in Syria and Lebanon as the crisis in Gaza continued to unfold.
For someone British, it was instructive to compare the coverage of the conflict there with its coverage in the UK's mainstream media. The news reports broadcast in the Middle East ...
It was instructive to compare the coverage of the conflict there to its coverage in the mainstream media here in the UK.
The news reports in the Middle East made use ...
Until now, I think we have always tended to assume that our resource supplies would be constant. When you got home after work, did you stop to think that your fridge might not be full? Or that your bedroom light might not turn on when you flipped the light switch ...
Addressing the Conservative Party Conference today, Shadow Minister for Security, Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, said:
"Conference.
It's great to be here in Blackpool.
The Conservative Party should always have a conference in the North. But I would say that — I'm from Leeds.
We live in an unquiet world. It ...
