The Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom.
The heads of British diplomatic missions are persons appointed as senior diplomats to individual nations,or international organizations. They are usually appointed as ambassadors,except in member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations where a high commissioner is appointed. The head of mission to an international organization is usually a permanent representative. For some nations a consul or consul-general is appointed.
Sir Timothy Mark Hitchens,is a British diplomat and a former Assistant Private Secretary to the Queen Elizabeth II,in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom,1999–2002.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor. Its stated priorities are to reduce re-offending and protect the public,to provide access to justice,to increase confidence in the justice system,and to uphold people's civil liberties. The Secretary of State is the minister responsible to Parliament for the judiciary,the court system,prisons,and probation in England and Wales,with some additional UK-wide responsibilities,e.g.,the UK Supreme Court and judicial appointments by the Crown. The department is also responsible for areas of constitutional policy not transferred in 2010 to the Deputy Prime Minister,human rights law,and information rights law across the UK.
The government of the United Kingdom,officially His Majesty's Government,abbreviated to HM Government,is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the prime minister who selects all the other ministers. The country has had a Labour government since 2024. The prime minister and his most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee,known as the Cabinet.
Mark Philip Sedwill,Baron Sedwill,is a British diplomat and senior civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service to Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson from 2018 to 2020. He also served as the United Kingdom National Security Adviser from 2017 to 2020. He was previously the United Kingdom's Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010 and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan in 2010. He was the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from February 2013 to April 2017.
Sir Julian Beresford King is a British diplomat and civil servant who served as the final British European Commissioner from 2016 to 2019 prior to Brexit,having previously served as the British ambassador to Ireland (2009–2011) and France (2016).
Sir Alexander Wykeham Ellis is a British civil servant,currently Ambassador designate to Spain,scheduled to take up his post in Summer 2024. He has previously been High Commissioner to India,Ambassador to Brazil and before that Portugal,and Deputy National Security Adviser for the Integrated Review on diplomacy,development and defence. Ellis was previously the Director General of the Department for Exiting the EU. He had previously been Britain's ambassador to Brazil from July 2013 to January 2017.
Sir Simon Lawrance Gass is a British civil servant. He chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee from 2019 to 2023 and served as the British Prime Minister's representative on Afghanistan from 2021 to 2022 concurrently. Between 2018 and 2019,he was the Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies. During his diplomatic career,he served as British ambassador to Greece and to Iran. In May 2023,it was announced he was stepping down as Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and succeeded by Madeleine Alessandri.
Sir Timothy Earle Barrow is a British diplomat who served as Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union from 2017 to 2020 and as the British Ambassador to the European Union from 2020 to 2021. He served as National Security Adviser from 2022 to 2024.
Simon Gerard McDonald,Baron McDonald of Salford,is a British former diplomat who was the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service until September 2020. He was the last professional head of the Foreign &Commonwealth Office before the creation of the Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office. He has been the Master of Christ's College,Cambridge since September 2022.
Brian John Davidson is a British diplomat who is the British Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau as of July 2021.
Sir Thomas Drew is a British diplomat who was the Director General,Defence and Intelligence,at the Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office and has previously been British High Commissioner to Pakistan.
Peter Michael Alexander Wilson is a civil servant whose most recent post was to serve as Director General Europe in the FCDO. He has also served as British Ambassador to Brazil,British Ambassador to the Netherlands,Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,and Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Moazzam Tufail Malik is a former British civil servant and diplomat. He is Managing Director at the World Resources Institute,and Chair at the Muslim Charities Forum,an umbrella NGO for faith based charities in the UK.
Sir Richard Peter Moore is a British civil servant,currently chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and formerly Director General for Political Affairs,at the Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office,and previously the British ambassador to Turkey.
Nicholas Westcott is a Professor of Practice in the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS University of London. Prior to this,he was director of the Royal African Society from 2017-2023. He was formerly a member of Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service,serving as British High Commissioner to Ghana and as managing director for Africa and the Middle East in the European External Action Service. He has also published a number of books and articles on African history and international affairs.
Nigel Philip Casey is a British diplomat,who has been His Majesty's Ambassador to the Russian Federation since November 2023. He served as the British Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina from September 2011 until 2013,and then as the British High Commissioner to South Africa from April 2017 until April 2021. From May 2021 to 2023,was concurrently the Foreign Office's Director for Afghanistan and as the Prime Minister's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
