I am a former British diplomat who resigned over the Iraq War after giving secret evidence to the first official so-called Butler inquiry into the war (I was the UK’s Iraq and Middle East expert at the UN before the 2003 invasion).  The publication of the evidence in 2006, at the request of parliament, led to calls for a full public inquiry into the war.  I later testified to that full inquiry, called the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry (you can see my somewhat bitter reflections about the whole saga here). 

After my resignation, I founded the world’s first non-profit diplomatic advisory group, Independent Diplomat (ID), which advises democratic countries and political movements all over the world on diplomacy.  That work has involved me in struggles for liberation, self-determination and democracy in Myanmar, Western Sahara, Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, Kosovo, to name a few.  ID worked with the Marshall Islands to recruit and lead the hundred-country strong  ‘High Ambition Coalition’ which came together at the 2015 Paris climate conference to demand, and achieve, the most important outcomes in the resulting agreement, including the commitment to 1.5°C and net zero by 2050.  ID was also the first to bring a delegation of actual refugees to talks on the new UN refugee agreement, the UN Compact.  Please contact ID directly (not me) if you want further information.