George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen
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 was the 10th Secretary General of NATO from 1999 to 2003; he succeeded Javier Solana. He was 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, on 24 August 1999.[1][2]
The Lord Robertson of Port Ellen
Early life[edit]
Born in Port Ellen, Isle of Islay, Scotland, the son of George Philip Robertson (1916–2002), a policeman, and Marion Isabella Robertson née MacNeill (1913–1996). His mother taught French and German.[3] His maternal grandfather Malcolm McNeill was the police sergeant at Bowmore during World War One, and wrote about the kindness of local people in shipwreck tragedies of SS Tuscania and HMS Otranto.[4] Robertson was educated at Dunoon Grammar School and studied economics at Queen's College, Dundee. When he was 15 years of age, he was involved with protests against US nuclear submarines docking in Scotland.[5]
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.[6][7] 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.[6][8][9] 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).[9] Robertson is now the Chancellor of the University of Dundee.
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.[10] 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.[10]
Personal life[edit]
Robertson married Sandra Wallace on 1 June 1970. They have two sons and a daughter.[11] Robertson supports Hamilton Academical football club.[12]
Traffic collision[edit]
Robertson survived a serious car crash on 19 January 1976[13][14] when a Navy Land Rover, which was carrying 100 lb (45 kg) of gelignite and a box of detonators, hit his car head-on in the Drumochter Pass, one mile south of Dalwhinnie leaving him with two injured knees and a broken jaw. In May 1976 the driver of the Land Rover was found guilty of careless driving.[13] Robertson was wearing a seat belt at the time and attributed his survival to this.[15]
After NATO[edit]
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.
In August 2021, he criticised the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, saying that "We never really took Afghanistan and the conflict there with the seriousness that it demanded."[23]
