Charles G. Crawford

Charles Graham Crawford (born 1954) is a British former diplomat, non-practising barrister, communications consultant, and writer.

Biography Crawford was educated at St Albans School; St John's College, Oxford (BA); and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (MA). He also passed Part II Bar Exams to qualify as a barrister and is a member of Lincoln's Inn. He never practised as a barrister, instead joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1979. His diplomatic career featured extensive policy work in London and at Post on the transition in central and eastern Europe from communism to democratic pluralism. He was appointed CMG in 1998 for his ambassadorial work in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Crawford speaks (to varying degree) Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Russian, French and Afrikaans. He is married to Helen née Walsh and they have three children.

Career

During his FCO career he was known for an unconventional style. In Belgrade he borrowed two kangaroos from a local zoo for a commercial reception. He attracted local controversy in Sarajevo, Belgrade and Podgorica for his high-profile work in support of democratic forces and against ICTY war crimes suspects and organised crime. In 2003 he intervened on behalf of a large group of Newcastle United supporters, in Belgrade for a match against Partizan Belgrade; after the local police refused to let the fans leave their hotel, he invited them all to his Residence. In an article published in the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs on the subject of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Crawford compared it to Middle Eastern peace processes; "If openly or by implication one party in a conflict is challenging the other party’s core legitimacy, if not its very right to exist, what scope is there for meaningful discussion and hard but honest compromise around a negotiating table?"

, Crawford is listed by the UK Government's Foreign Influence Registration Scheme as a paid lobbyist for the pro-Russian Republika Srpska.

Timeline

1979–80: FCO: Desk Officer for Indonesia 1980–81: Serbo-Croat language training 1981–84: British Embassy Belgrade 1984–85: FCO: Desk Officer for Air Services (notably UK/US Air Services) 1985–87: FCO: Speechwriter 1987–91: British Embassy Cape Town/Pretoria 1991–93: FCO: Soviet then Eastern Department (UK policy towards the Soviet Union, then Russia and CIS) 1993–96: British Embassy Moscow 1996–98: HM Ambassador to Sarajevo 1998–99: Mid-career development fellowship at Harvard University (Weatherhead Center for International Affairs) 1999–00: FCO: Deputy Political Director, then Director South-Eastern Europe 2001–03: HM Ambassador to Belgrade 2003–07: HM Ambassador to Warsaw 2007: Left FCO to start a private career