Lord Robertson served as the 10th Secretary General of NATO from 1999 to 2004. He was Secretary of State for Defence from 1997 to 1999, before becoming a life peer as Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, of Islay in Argyll and Bute. Robertson first entered the House of Commons as the Labour MP for Hamilton in 1978 and won five subsequent general elections. He served as Chairman of the Labour Party in Scotland and was appointed to the Privy Council. Robertson has received numerous honours, including a total of 12 Honorary doctorates from various universities and is a Senior Counsellor at The Cohen Group, a consulting firm in Washington DC. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Scotland.