Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 22:50, 8 July 2019

His ExcellencySir Kim DarrochKCMG
British Ambassador to the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 January 2016
Monarch	Elizabeth II
President	Barack Obama Donald Trump
Prime Minister	David Cameron Theresa May
Preceded by	Sir Peter Westmacott
United Kingdom National Security Advisor
In office 23 January 2012 – 7 September 2015
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Sir Peter Ricketts
Succeeded by	Sir Mark Lyall Grant
Her Majesty's Permanent Representative to the European Union
In office July 2007 – 23 January 2012
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown David Cameron
Preceded by	Sir John Grant
Succeeded by	Sir Jon Cunliffe
Personal details
Born	Nigel Kim Darroch (1954-04-30) 30 April 1954 (age 70) County Durham, England
Education	Abingdon School
Alma mater	Durham University

Sir Nigel Kim Darroch KCMG ( /ˈdærək/; born 30 April 1954) is a senior British diplomat, who has served as the British Ambassador to the United States since January 2016.

Biography

Darroch was born in the village of South Stanley in County Durham (North East England) on 30 April 1954. He was educated at Abingdon School and at Durham University (Hatfield College), from where he graduated with a BSc in Zoology in 1975.

Darroch married in 1978 Vanessa, currently a teacher at the British International School of Washington. He has two children, Simon, a geologist based at Vanderbilt University who also studied at Durham, and Georgina, a botanist.

Career

Darroch joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1976. He was appointed to the Diplomatic Service in 1980 to serve as a First Secretary in Tokyo from 1980 to 1984. He served in a number of posts, including as desk officer for the Channel Tunnel project and co-secretary of the UK-French Channel Tunnel Treaty Group, as private secretary to David Mellor and then The Lord Glenarthur as the FCO's Minister of State from 1987 to 1989, and as Counsellor for External Affairs at the British Permanent Representative to the European Union for a year before being promoted to Director as head of the FCO's press office in 1998.

In 2000, Darroch moved back to policy work as Director of EU Comd, and in 2003 promoted further to be Director-General, Europe. In 2004, he transferred to 10 Downing Street, as Head of the Cabinet Office European Secretariat, where he served as the Prime Minister's principal advisor on European affairs. After three years, Darroch was appointed to replace Sir John Grant in Brussels, as British Permanent Representative to the European Union in 2007 for a four-year term.

He served as the British government's second National Security Advisor from January 2012 to September 2015. On 24 June 2011, it was announced that Darroch would replace Sir Peter Ricketts as National Security Advisor in January 2012, with Sir Jon Cunliffe selected as Darroch's replacement as Permanent Representative to the European Union.

Ambassador to the United States

On 7 July 2015, the Foreign Office announced that Darroch would be replaced by Sir Mark Lyall Grant in September 2015, with Darroch moving to a different diplomatic post. On 20 August 2015, the Foreign Office announced that his new role would be as the Ambassador to the United States, replacing Sir Peter Westmacott from January 2016.

In November 2016, following the US election, a memo by Darroch to Prime Minister Theresa May was leaked in which he said the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, could be influenced by the British government. The following week, Trump tweeted that Nigel Farage should serve as British ambassador to the United States, which was rejected by Downing Street, which said that there is no vacancy and that the UK has "an excellent ambassador to the US". Darroch was in London the next day for consultations with May that were said to have been long planned.

On 7 July 2019, secret diplomatic cables from Darroch to various members and officials of the UK government, dating from 2017 to 2019, were leaked to the Mail on Sunday, including statements such as the Trump administration was 'inept and insecure'. The leak may cause serious diplomatic damage. On 8 July 2019 Donald Trump tweeted that Sir Kim was "not liked or well thought of within the US" and that "we will no longer deal with him".

Personal

Darroch lists his recreations as squash, skiing, sailing and cinema.

Honours

Darroch was appointed a Companion of Order of St. Michael & St. George (CMG) in the 1997 New Year Honours, and as a Knight Commander (KCMG) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

See also

• List of Old Abingdonians
• List of Durham University people
• List of heads of missions of the United Kingdom

References

1. "Order of Precedence and Date of Presentation of Credentials". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
2. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
3. ^ "Darroch, Sir (Nigel) Kim, (born 30 April 1954), HM Diplomatic Service". Who's Who (UK). Retrieved 19 May 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
4. "Speaker Bios" (PDF). National Governors Association. 19 February 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
5. "Gazette". Durham University Archives. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
6. ^ "Vanessa Darroch British International School Washington". Nord Anglia Education. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
7. "Simon Darroch - Durham University". Dunelm USA. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
8. "No. 48673". The London Gazette. 9 July 1981. p. 2.
9. "Senior Diplomatic Appointments". Number 10. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
10. "National Security Adviser appointment: Sir Mark Lyall-Grant – Press releases – Government of the United Kingdom". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
11. "Change of Her Majesty's Ambassador to the United States of America – News stories – Government of the United Kingdom". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
12. Wilkinson, Michael; Alexander, Harriet (22 November 2016). "Donald Trump recommends Nigel Farage for British ambassador to the United States – but No10 tells him 'there's no vacancy'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
13. Wintour, Patrick; Elgot, Jessica; Borger, Julian (22 November 2016). "Ministers rejects Donald Trump's call to appoint Nigel Farage ambassador". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
14. Cowburn, Ashley (22 November 2016). "Theresa May meets with British ambassador to the US following Donald Trump remarks". The Independent. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
15. Oakeshott, Isabel (6 July 2019). "Britain's man in the US says Trump is 'inept': Leaked secret cables from ambassador say the President is 'uniquely dysfunctional and his career could end in disgrace'". Mail on Sunday. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
16. "Trump administration is 'inept and insecure', says UK ambassador". BBC News. 7 July 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
17. Michelle Kosinski; Schams Elwazer; Stephen Collinson (7 July 2019). "Cables from UK's ambassador to the US blast Trump as 'inept,' 'incompetent'". CNN. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
18. "Trump sharpens attack on UK ambassador Kim Darroch over emails". BBC News. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
19. "No. 54993". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 30 December 1997. p. 3.
20. "No. 58729". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 14 July 2008. p. 2.

External links

• UK Government press release announcing Darroch's appointment to UKREP

v t e National security advisers to the prime minister
Ricketts (2010–2012) Darroch (2012–2015) Grant (2015–2017) Sedwill (2017–2020) Quarrey (acting) (2020–2021) Lovegrove (2021–2022) Barrow (2022–present)

• 1954 births
• Living people
• People educated at Abingdon School
• Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham
• Alumni of Durham University
• Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
• Permanent Representatives of the United Kingdom to the European Union
• Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the United States