[4] He was awarded a scholarship at Oxford University and studied Classics and English at Lady Margaret Hall.

[5] From 2003-6 he was the United Kingdom's negotiator for EU enlargement, concluding the talks over Bulgaria and Romania's entry to the European Union, and chairing EU negotiations for the start of accession talks with Croatia and Turkey.

From 2015 to 2019 he led the East Stratcom Task Force, set up by EU Heads of State and Government to identify, analyse and respond to Russian disinformation.

In 2019 East Stratcom's work was recognised through the award of the medal of honour "Diplomacy Star of Lithuania", the highest distinction of the Lithuanian diplomatic service[7] He was a member of the Council of Experts of the Democratic Progress Institute,[8] a London-based NGO focused on conflict resolution, from 2015 to 2019.

His wife Lucie is the great grand-daughter of Czechoslovak statesman and economist Karel Engliš.