Personal Details: 13 points used
Name: Caroline Anne Blakesley
Age: 47 (Born March 21st 1954)
Gender: Female - 10 points (Labour)
Ethnicity: White British/Irish
Sexuality/Family: Heterosexual, married with 3 children - 0 points
Religion: Roman Catholic - 3 points
Class: Middle Class - 0 points
Avatar: Samantha Power
Discord Username: Blakesley
Education: 35 points used
- International School of Geneva (1968-1972) - 15 points
- BA, History and Politics, Somerville College, University of Oxford (1972-1975) - 5 points
- MPP, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University (1975-1977) - 5 points
- PhD, Government, Harvard University (1977-1982) - 10 points
- Fellow, Royal Uniformed Services Institute (1982-1984) - 10 points base for entry-level academic, applying to fellowship and adjunct posts
- Fellow, The Council on Foreign Relations (1984-1985) - see above
- Fellow, Chatham House - The Royal Institute for International Affairs (1985-1986) - see above
- Visiting Lecturer in International Relations, The London School of Economics and Political Science (1985-1986) - see above
- Tenure-track Faculty, Department of War Studies, King's College London (1987-1992) - 15 points for mid-level academic
Constituency: Holborn and St Pancras - elected at 38, 10 points
Faction: Blairite
Parliamentary Career: 27 points used
- MP for Holborn and St Pancras (1992-present) - 2 points for two terms
- Shadow Undersecretary of State for Defence (1994-1996) - 2 points
- Shadow Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1996-1997) - 2 points
- Minister of State for Europe (1997-1999) - 4 points
- Secretary of State for Defence (1999-present) - 7 points (5 points base + 2 points for two years)
Biography:
Caroline Anne Blakesley was born Caroline Anne O’Leary to Thomas and Margaret O’Leary (nee Delaney) on 21 March 1954 in Dublin, Ireland. Her father, Thomas, was a diplomat with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, who eventually rose to be the chief of the Development Cooperation Division and head of the World Food Programme. Margaret, her mother, was a British-born physician who worked with the International Red Cross. Growing up, Caroline spent a great deal of time living abroad, often in Europe, but occasionally in nations with grave humanitarian crises. She graduated from the International School of Geneva in 1972.
After finishing school in Geneva, Caroline matriculated at Somerville College, University of Oxford, where she read history and politics. Proud of the historical role Ireland played in peacekeeping, Caroline focused her studies on conflict and peacebuilding – particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean, where Ireland had been extensively involved. Leaving Oxford, Caroline applied for a Kennedy Scholarship, mostly because she didn’t know what to do next. Offered the scholarship, she enrolled at Harvard University, eventually earning an MPP. During her time at Harvard, she claims that her idealism was nearly beaten out of her, as professors regularly sought to invoke the primacy of national interests over humanitarian action and atrocity prevention. However, she received an education in strategic studies and weapons of mass destruction, writing her master’s thesis on early efforts at arms control.
After completing her Kennedy Scholarship, Caroline applied to Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Service and began training after being accepted. However, during her early stages of training, she quickly realised that life as a career diplomat was not for her and left before her formal commissioning into the service, returning to Harvard to complete her doctorate in government.
After finishing her dissertation, she worked as a research fellow with the Royal Uniformed Services Institute and the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House), where she primarily focused on integrating civil wars, humanitarian emergencies, and low-intensity conflict into existing grand strategy paradigms. During this time, Caroline was also a visiting lecturer at the London School of Economics. Eventually, she was hired into a tenure-track position at King’s College London in the Department of War Studies. While she primarily taught in the Department of War Studies, she also taught in the Defence Studies Department, which was affiliated with the Royal College of Defence Studies in Belgravia.
As she was teaching in London, she started contributing her ideas in Labour policy circles, an effort which took on greater urgency following the collapse of the Soviet Union. She became close with colleagues at the Centre for European Reform, where she fielded ideas on defence policy in Europe, and the Institute for Public Policy Research. This led to her running into a contemporary of hers from Oxford, Tony Blair, then Shadow Employment Secretary, whom she began to quietly advise on foreign policy and security issues. In 1992, Caroline was encouraged to stand in the election for Holborn and St Pancras by leaders in the modernising movement, who recognised the need to get more women into Parliament. With the backing of some of the senior players in the Labour Party, she was selected and elected in the subsequent election.
Entering Parliament, she joined the Defence Select Committee relatively rapidly, using her position to serve as a firm proponent for NATO operations in Bosnia. After two years in the House, John Smith passed away and she took up a role advising Tony Blair’s campaign on foreign affairs. After his election, her work with Blair paid off and she joined the Labour frontbench as shadow undersecretary for defence before becoming a shadow minister on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office team. Returned in 1997, she became Minister of State for Europe. As Europe Minister, she advocated for NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. She is reported to have repeatedly told Tony that, “You must do this. If Clinton won’t, you must lead.” Some journalists noted that her fingerprints seemed to be all over the Doctrine of the International Community articulated by Blair.
After the conclusion of the Kosovo campaign, Caroline was promoted in the November 1999 reshuffle to replace George Robertson (who became NATO Secretary General) as Secretary of State for Defence. Her appointment was panned in the press for her lack of experience, with some suggesting that she received this appointment as a result of her close relationship with the Prime Minister. Nonetheless, she noted her long history of defence scholarship and working with the Armed Forces while she was at King’s. She advocated for Britain’s intervention in Sierra Leone and continued on well in the role. She was returned to Parliament after the 2001 election.
In 1981, while completing her PhD studies, she was reunited with George Blakesley, who was completing a degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology while on leave from his duty as a surface warfare officer in the Royal Navy. The couple married in 1984 and made their home in London, with George serving in a strategy role at the Ministry of Defence. They have three children: Arthur “Artie” (born 1985), Samantha (born 1987), and Bennet “Benjy” (born 1990).
