Does Sport Matter to Diplomacy?

Transcript Does Sport Matter to Diplomacy? Jeremy Browne MP Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Simon Anholt Independent Policy Advisor John Steele Chief Executive Officer, Youth Sport Trust Chair: Mihir Bose Writer and Broadcaster 30 May 2012 The views expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of Chatham House, its staff, associates or Council. Chatham House is independent and owes no allegiance to any government or to any political body. It does not take institutional positions on policy issues. This document is issued on the understanding that if any extract is used, the author(s)/ speaker(s) and Chatham House should be credited, preferably with the date of the publication or details of the event. Where this document refers to or reports statements made by speakers at an event every effort has been made to provide a fair representation of their views and opinions, but the ultimate responsibility for accuracy lies with this document’s author(s). The published text of speeches and presentations may differ from delivery. Transcript: Does Sport Matter to Diplomacy? Mihir Bose: I have with me a very distinguished panel to talk about sport and diplomacy. As you're aware, in two months’ time the Olympic Games are coming to this country. What you probably don't know is that what we are welcoming is a friendly invasion of a foreign power. It has no army. It has no state, but it has specified all sorts of rules which will apply through to the height of the Olympic village, and who the sponsors can advertise in London during the Games. No sponsor hostile to the Olympic movement; they’d all signed up by the previous government, may I say and quite rightly so in some ways. And the Olympic movement of course thinks of itself like the Vatican of sport. Stalin may have said of the Pope, ‘how many divisions does the Pope have?‘ The Olympics says, ‘how many sponsors do you have?’ Which is probably a more important question these days. But the question is, how does sport fit in with diplomacy? Can it actually help diplomacy? It's very interesting, in recent years we've seen politicians play an active role in getting international events. Tony Blair played a huge role in Singapore. Vladimir Putin got Socci which used to be the summer camp for a certain Josef Stalin and had only one ski lift, the Winter Olympics. And the World Cup of 2018 despite the fact that Prince William went to plead for England and even I'm told promised somebody some wedding day tickets but FIFA didn't vote for him. Anyway. Enough of me talking about this. I would like to introduce the panel to you. Our first speaker will be Jeremy Browne who is Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He was the Liberal Democratic Shadow Spokesman on Foreign Affairs. And his responsibilities, I'm told, extend from South East Asia, the far East, Caribbean, Central America, human rights, consulate policy, migration... no wonder William Hague can swan round the world, because this poor chap is doing all the work. Next speaker will be John Steele, who used to be a Chartered Surveyor but then went into the oval ballgame, played rugby with great distinction, and also managed rugby, managed Twickenham in a very controversial, high profile part of his career, and is now of course running the Youth Sport Trust which will have a big role to play in how legacy works after the Olympic Games. And our final speaker of the panel is Simon Anholt, who is an independent policy advisor on national, regional, advising national, regional, city governments. He's created three major international surveys in 2005, the Anholt Nation Brand Index. But I was talking to him just before and he regrets using the word ‘brand’. He wished he had copyrighted it, because it's used so www.chathamhouse.org 2 Transcript: Does Sport Matter to Diplomacy? often these days. And he has launched and now edits the quarterly journal, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. So without further ado, could I ask Jeremy to address us, please. Jeremy Browne: Mihir, I thank you. It's a great privilege to be introduced by a distinguished sports writer, particularly one who knows a lot about cricket. And it's good for me to be here today. What I thought I would do is inevitably when the media ask questions – and you may choose to take the same approach yourself – talking about sport and diplomacy they talk about the vexatious issues, the difficult issues that government faces, particularly on who we grant visas to to attend the Olympic Games. And there's been a lot of attention, quite understandably and rightly in recent days as well about the conditions that English football supporters will face when they go to Ukraine for 2012 European Championships. So what I thought I'd do, you may or may not choose to touch upon those issues, but what I thought I'd do is try and spend my five or six minutes primarily looking at the upsides, the benefits – in diplomatic terms – of hosting an event as prestigious and widely understood as the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games which of course are now less than two months away. And maybe I'll divide it for ease of reference into: before the Games; during the Games; and after the Games. So before the Games, I think it's almost impossible to explain fully quite how powerful the Olympic brand is around the world. Almost every single event that we do, if we call it an Olympics event, three times more people attend than if it were a normal event and more prestigious and distinguished people also attend the event. And it's a huge opportunity for us. We have the Jubilee celebrations this weekend. We had the Royal Wedding, that was just mentioned, last year. But there are not that many opportunities that a country gets where literally billions of people turn on their TVs to look at that country. And in the case of the Olympics, for a sustained period of time. And we have had many, many events right around the world to count down to 100 days to go or a year to go. And they've been a real opportunity for us. I suppose if I give you a case study – Prince Harry in Rio. You might remember him playing beach volleyball, part of our wider sort of great campaign. Rio of course, the next hosts of the summer Olympics after us. Those are pictures that are www.chathamhouse.org 3 Transcript: Does Sport Matter to Diplomacy? communicated around the world and they convey a powerful message about Britain. But we even have in sort of a lower key style a lot of the Olympic teams that are going to be based in different parts of Britain. The Japanese team is at Loughborough University, I think, for example. The Malaysians are at Bath University. So as I say, in a more low key way, we're already forging links in the first case between Japan and the East Midlands in terms of economic opportunities, the West Country and Malaysia in the wider South East Asian economy. And I think the Paralympic Games will be a huge opportunity for us as well. I think the Paralympics naturally lend themselves to being hosted in a country with enlightened social attitudes where a sort of message about the value of each individual and how people can overcome adversity to realise their full potential, I think that rings true within, as I say, a more liberal society like our own. And I think the Paralympics will be hugely successful, too. During the Olympics, it's important for us, you know, if you were to say to somebody, anyone in the world, name five global cities. Name your top five. And I think people would say New York, and maybe they would start now to look further east than they would have done a decade or two ago. But I think most people would have London in their top five. And it is important for us that our capital city is regarded, internationally, as a global hub. And for the duration of the Olympic Games will become, if you like, the world's capital city and that we can showcase what London has to offer. So for example, we are working on the assumption that we will have as many as 120 heads of state or heads of government here for the Olympics, most of whom would be for the opening ceremony, but some may come for other parts of the Games. I'd be surprised if the new Jamaican Prime Minister didn't want to come for the men's 100 metres final, but you can never take anything completely for granted in sport. Or in politics, for that matter. So we will see what happens. But think of a sort of G20 summit, the sheer size, but the opportunities that that presents. Well, this is six times more heads of government than a G20 summit. And they will have opportunities not just to go to the Games, or to go to formal receptions at Buckingham Palace, prestigious though those both are, but also wider commercial opportunities, get them into other parts of the country, meetings in practical terms with British government ministers and others. www.chathamhouse.org 4 Transcript: Does Sport Matter to Diplomacy? So that's a good opportunity.

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