Cathy Ashton
The Diplomat
People, composure and the difficult conversation held well.
Cathy Ashton is a seasoned diplomat with extensive experience in foreign affairs, particularly in managing delicate geopolitical situations. This interview reveals her thoughtful approach to leadership, characterized by a commitment to dialogue and collaboration in addressing global challenges.
“I find it quite hard actually when I travel around because, again, a couple of things strike me. One is how irrelevant we are. You know, we're not part of the conversation in many parts of the world. People don't ask what the UK thinks. I go to conferences where Britain just doesn't come up at all.”
“Mine is that all prime ministers need in the House of Lords a cadre of people of the right age and energy to be persuaded to become whips and ministers because whereas there may be, as you know, Rory, five or six ministers for a department in the Commons in the Lords as one.”
“Bearing in mind that the Taliban is not, as you know, one thing, it exists in different forms with different leaders more radical than others, more pragmatic than others.”
“There's a real risk of that, Rory. You're right, and that's partly because we don't have a response to it. And then what? You know, we don't know what to do. We're not doing much around the challenges, for example, in Sudan that we've seen. We don't have answers.”
The Rest Is Politics: Leading — 35. Cathy Ashton: Dealing with Putin and Lavrov, Kosovo–Serbia, and 'radical humility'
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