I have decided that, due to ill health, the time has come for me to hand over the leadership of the Global Leadership Foundation after 17 years as the Chairman. My intention, when I set up the GLF in 2004, was to provide a means by which former national leaders could make their experience available to those in office today, and to do so discreetly and on a not-for-profit basis.

I am very proud of what we collectively have achieved in the 17 years since the formation of the Foundation, and I am extremely grateful to all who have worked so hard to help us to transform our earliest ideas into the robust, resilient, and effective organization that we see today. There is no doubt in my mind that the Global Leadership Foundation has made, and continues to make, a significant difference to the lives of countless people all around the world.  The decisions that leaders take can make the difference between war and peace; between freedom and tyranny; between prosperity and poverty. The stakes are immensely high: they are the happiness of, and security of, tens of millions of ordinary people.  Leaders of many countries can learn from our experience – and can do so in a way that enables them to create the maximum benefit for their people by owning the solutions themselves.

I am delighted to be able to hand over now to Helen Clark, a most distinguished Stateswoman, first as Prime Minister of New Zealand and then as the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.

This remains an uncertain world, and her experience and wisdom will be invaluable to the Foundation in tackling the many and varied challenges of helping leaders to govern. I have no doubt that GLF will continue in its work with the same commitment and enthusiasm, robustness and resolution, imagination and resourcefulness as it has since 2004 and I wish all connected with the Foundation everything of the best under Helen Clark’s strong leadership.