Kim Darroch

His Excellency
Sir Kim Darroch
KCMG
Her Majesty's Ambassador to the United States
Assumed office
January 2016
Monarch Elizabeth II
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
County Durham, England[1]

Sir Nigel Kim Darroch KCMG (pronunciation: /ˈdærək/; born 30 April 1954) is a senior British diplomat, who since January 2016 has been Her Majesty's Ambassador to the United States.[2]

Early life

Darroch was born in County Durham on 30 April 1954. He was educated at Abingdon School and at Durham University, from where he graduated with a BSc in Zoology.[2]

Career

Darroch joined the Foreign Office in 1976 after graduation,[2] and was appointed to the Diplomatic Service in 1980[3] to serve as a First Secretary in Tokyo from 1980–1984.[2] 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 1987–89, 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.[2]

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 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 term of four years.[2]

Sir Kim served as the British government's second National Security Advisor from January 2012 to September 2015. On 24 June 2011, Number 10 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.[2][4]

Ambassador to the United States

On 7 July 2015, Number 10 announced that Sir Kim would be replaced by Sir Mark Lyall Grant in September 2015, with Darroch moving to a different diplomatic post.[5] On 20 August 2015 the Foreign Office announced that his new role would be as HM Ambassador to the United States, replacing Sir Peter Westmacott from January 2016.[6]

In November 2016, following the U.S. presidential election, 2016, 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 potentially be influenced by the British government. The following week, Trump tweeted advocating that Nigel Farage should serve as British ambassador to the United States, a proposal which was rejected by Downing Street who said that there is no vacancy and indicated that the UK has "an excellent ambassador to the US".[7][8] Darroch was in London the next day for consultations with May which were said to have been long planned.[9]

Honours

Darroch was appointed a Companion of Order of St. Michael & St. George (CMG) in the New Year Honours 1997,[10] and as a Knight Commander (KCMG) in the Birthday Honours 2008.[11]

References

  1. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Darroch, Sir (Nigel) Kim. Who's Who (online edn, Nov 2015 ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  3. The London Gazette: no. 48673. p. 2. 1981-07-09. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
  4. "Senior Diplomatic Appointments". Number 10. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  5. "National Security Adviser appointment: Sir Mark Lyall-Grant - Press releases - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2015-07-08.
  6. "Change of Her Majesty's Ambassador to the United States of America - News stories - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. Cowburn, Ashley (22 November 2016). "Theresa May meets with British ambassador to the US following Donald Trump remarks". The Independent. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  10. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 54993. p. 3. 1997-12-30. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
  11. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58729. p. 2. 2008-07-14. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
Government offices
Preceded by
Unknown
Director-General, Europe of the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office

2003–2004
Succeeded by
Nicola Brewer
Preceded by
Sir Stephen Wall
Head of the
Cabinet Office European Secretariat

2004–2007
Succeeded by
Jon Cunliffe
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Sir John Grant
UK Permanent Representative to the European Union
2007–2011
Succeeded by
Sir Jon Cunliffe
Preceded by
Sir Peter Westmacott
British Ambassador to the United States
2016–
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Government offices
Preceded by
Sir Peter Ricketts
National Security Advisor
2012-2015
Succeeded by
Sir Mark Lyall Grant
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