Lord Robertson was NATO Secretary General from 1999-2003 and UK Defence Secretary from 1997-99. He currently acts as Special Adviser to BP and Senior International Adviser to Cable and Wireless Communications plc, where he served as Deputy Chairman 2004-07. From 1979-93 he held senior parliamentary Opposition roles including 11 years on Foreign Affairs and in particular Europe. In 1993 he was elected to the Shadow Cabinet and served as Principal Opposition Spokesman on Scotland (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland). He was appointed Secretary of State for Defence in 1997 and in 1999 he was appointed 10th Secretary General of NATO. He is a Non Executive Director of The Weir Group plc and Western Ferries (Clyde) Ltd., and Senior Counselor at The Cohen Group (USA). He was Deputy Chairman of TNK-BP from 2006-13. He served on the Board of the Smiths Group plc, and Monaco Telecom SA. He is Chairman of the Ditchley Foundation, an Elder Brother of Trinity House, Chairman of the Commission on Global Road Safety and Co-Chairman of the UK/Russia Round Table. He is on the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Centre for European Reform and the European Council on Foreign Relations. He served as Joint President of Chatham House 2001-2011. In 2003 he was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s top civilian honour,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.