Deputy Permanent Representative

I joined the FCO in 1993, when I was 33, after 10 years as an investment banker with Morgan Grenfell and then Barclays de Zoete Wedd. Of those 10 years, I spent 6 in Japan, and was a Director of Barclays de Zoete Wedd Limited before switching careers.

My first FCO job was Head of Pakistan/Afghanistan Section from 1993 to 1994.

In 1995 I was Private Secretary to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.

I then did a stint in the Policy Planning Staff before serving in Washington as First Secretary covering UN, Africa and Asia from 1996 to 2000. At the start of that posting, I was seconded for 3 months to the US State Department’s East Asia & Pacific Bureau.

My next posting was to Riyadh as Director Trade & Investment for Saudi Arabia, from 2000 to 2003.

On return to London, I was Head of the Iraq Operations Unit 2003-4, then Head of Counter-Terrorism Policy Department 2004-6 and British High Commissioner to Tanzania 2006-2009.

My wife Kasia is a teacher. We met at Oxford University. We have 2 daughters and 5 sons. The eldest, who has Down’s Syndrome, is 22. The youngest is 12.