UK in Bahrain
IN CONVERSATION WITH A KNIGHT
As we celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, we spoke with one of the most influential figures in the historic relations between Bahrain and the United Kingdom, Lt Gen (Retd) Sir Tom Beckett. He is the Middle East executive director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and was instrumental in bringing the Manama Dialogue, the biggest annual military and political conference in the Kingdom, to fruition. He opened up about his career and historic ties to Bahrain.
S
ir Tom, you were born here in Bahrain! How long were you resident here for, and how much of an influence did your formative years in the kingdom have on your later career?
Indeed! I was born here in 1962 in Awali while my father was working for BAPCO. We left as a family in 1982 just after I turned 20, although for periods I was at boarding school in the UK because back then there weren’t really many opportunities for secondary education on the island using the UK curriculum. As for influences, you can’t live in a part of the world and not absorb some understanding of it. When, during my later career, I kept being brought back to the region, I felt I had a better understanding from having grown up here and lived in the Kingdom amongst Bahrainis and Arabs. Could you briefly summarise the highlights of your illustrious career to date? In particular, how did you get involved in the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)? Having left Bahrain in 1982, I joined the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1984 and joined the British Army where I served for 34 years. For the first part of my career until 1991, most of the army was focused on the threat from the USSR. Then in 1991 there was the Iraq invasion of Kuwait which brought a lot of the armed forces back to the region and this was my first re-exposure to the Gulf, coming into Saudi Arabia and then being part of the enormous international coalition, which restored the sovereign boundaries of Kuwait. While in the desert in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, I did get to pop back to Bahrain on two occasions which I greatly enjoyed! 16 June 2022
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