Early roles
Fletcher joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and held diplomatic posts in Nairobi and Paris,and is the co-founder of 2020 (a progressive think tank). He was also private secretary to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ministers Baroness Amos and Chris Mullin. [6] While in Kenya,he took part in a charity boxing match with the mayor of Nairobi,who had t-shirts printed saying "Fletcher goes home on a stretcher". [7]
Between 2007 and 2011,Fletcher was a foreign policy and Northern Ireland adviser to prime ministers Tony Blair,Gordon Brown and David Cameron. [1] In his memoirs,Brown called him "indispensable and indefatigable". [8] In his book For the Record ,Cameron wrote:"There was one man who would prove essential:Tom Fletcher. Tom became my support,sounding board and source of information about virtually every country on Earth." [9]
Ambassador to Lebanon
From 2011 to 2015 Fletcher served as British Ambassador to Lebanon,where he tweeted and wrote blogposts (Dear Lebanon [10] and Yalla Bye [11] ). He said:"The smartphone from which I tweet is also the device which terrorists can use to track me. For security reasons I always have to tweet from the car on the way to the next place. If I tweet from the place I am,I have to leave immediately." The BBC made a documentary,The Naked Diplomat,about his work, [12] which involved initiatives on refugee education,job creation [13] and border security. [14] [15]
In partnership with the Banque du Liban,Fletcher led the launch of the UK Lebanon Tech Hub,an international accelerator using London as a platform for Lebanese technology businesses to grow internationally. [16] By December 2018,the hub had helped to grow 91 start-ups,raising more than $64 million in venture funding and creating more than 2,000 jobs in Lebanon and the United Kingdom. [17]
Fletcher donated blood after a terrorist attack against the Iranian embassy in Beirut in 2013. [18]
Arab News described him as "the anti-diplomat" because of his steadfast refusal to live up to the stereotype expected of the ambassadorial profession. [19] He was commended by many commentators for his viral online farewell,which resurrected the old Foreign and Commonwealth Office tradition of the valedictory despatch. [20] In December 2015 he was given the Lovie Special Achievement award [21] for his use of social media while serving in Lebanon.
United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator
In October 2024 Fletcher was nominated by Keir Starmer to succeed Martin Griffiths as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. [2] He was the sixth Briton in a row to hold the role,despite efforts by some countries to have the United Nations secretary-general,António Guterres,appoint someone of a different nationality. [1]
Fletcher garnered controversy in May 2025 for his erroneous claim on BBC Radio 4 that 14,000 babies would die in 48 hours [22] due to malnutrition caused by Israel withholding aid from the Gaza Strip. This was shown to be false and unsubstantiated—though only after his incorrect claim had gone viral, [23] leading him to face criticism,calls for his resignation and accusations of antisemitism,including claims of blood libel from the Israeli Foreign Ministry. [24] [25] [26] [27] The United Nations has since withdrawn his comment,saying that Fletcher misquoted the 12 May IPC report. [28] [29] Fletcher expressed regret at his lack of "precision" in his erroneous claim,but maintained that Israel is still using food and humanitarian aid as a weapon of war,constituting a war crime. [30]
