Sir Hugh Michael Robertson , (born 9 October 1962) is the Chairman of the British Olympic Association and Chairman of

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...

, the operator of The National Lottery. He was formerly a British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

who was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for Faversham and Mid Kent from

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

. He was the

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. I ...

for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs until July 2014, having previously been the

Minister for Sport A Ministry of Sports or Ministry of Youth and Sports is a kind of government ministry found in certain countries with responsibility for the regulation of sports, particularly those participated in by young people. The Ministry of Youth and Sp ...

and for the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

Education

Robertson was educated at The King's School, Canterbury. He then read Land Management at the University of Reading from 1982 to 1985, obtaining a BSc (Hons) degree, before attending the RMA Sandhurst between 1985 and 1986. In April 2014, Robertson was awarded a Distinguished Fellowship by the University of Reading in recognition of the role he played in the London 2012 Olympics. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bedfordshire in November 2017 for his contribution to sport.

Career

Robertson served as an officer in the

Life Guards Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy transf ...

from 1982 to 1995, rising to the rank of

Major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

. Robertson saw active service in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, The Gulf War and served with the UN peacekeeping force

UNPROFOR The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR; also known by its French acronym FORPRONU: ''Force de Protection des Nations Unies'') was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav ...

in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also commanded The Household Cavalry on the 1993 Queen's Birthday Parade and at the 1993 State Opening of Parliament. From 1995 until 2001, he was a banker with the investment management division of Schroders, then head of new business development for the property division.

Parliamentary career

Robertson was the

for the constituency of Faversham and Mid Kent, a large constituency in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, which stretches from the outskirts of east Maidstone to the

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are de ...

areas of The Weald and

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...

. He doubled his majority at both the 2005 and 2010 elections. Having shadowed this post in Opposition, he was appointed a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State as the Minister for Sport and the Olympics in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in May 2010. In September 2012, he was promoted to Minister of State in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as the Minister for Sport, Olympic Legacy Tourism and was appointed a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

. He took The Equal Marriage Bill through Parliament. In 2013, he moved to be Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office responsible for the Middle East, North Africa and Counter Terrorism. He was involved in

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

's Middle East Peace initiative, the

Iran nuclear deal The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; fa, برنامه جامع اقدام مشترک , barnāmeye jāme'e eqdāme moshtarak (, ''BARJAM'')), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear ...

negotiations and the Geneva Peace process to end the war in Syria. He stood down from government in the 2014 reshuffle and was knighted for his work as Minister for the Olympics during London 2012 and his work in the Middle East. In January 2015 Robertson announced that he would stand down from Parliament at the next general election.

Post-Parliament appointments

* Deputy Lieutenant of

(June 2015) * Chair of the British Olympic Association (November 2016) * Chair of Camelot Group (June 2018)

Personal life

Robertson married Anna Copson on 17 May 2002 at the Church of St. Margaret, Westminster. The wedding had to be rescheduled at short notice from 5 April after the death of

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was th ...

. They have one son.

Honours

Sir Hugh has received the following decorations: * UK Order St-Michael St-George ribbon

KCMG * General Service Medal * UNFICYP

Medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

(Bosnia) * NATO Medal Yugoslavia ribbon bar

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

(Former Yugoslavia) * Brunei Meritorious Service Medal.''Pingat Indah Kerja Baik''
/ref>

References

External links

Sir Hugh Robertson
official site
''Debrett's People of Today''

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/hugh_robertson/faversham_and_mid_kent TheyWorkForYou.com - Hugh Robertson MP
BBC Politics page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Hugh 1962 births Living people People from Canterbury People educated at The King's School, Canterbury Alumni of the University of Reading Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst British Life Guards officers British Army personnel of the Gulf War Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Deputy Lieutenants of Kent Schroders people