Kim Darroch

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
11 November 2019
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born
Nigel Kim Darroch

(1954-04-30) 30 April 1954 (age 69)
South Stanley, County Durham, England[1]
Spouse(s)
Vanessa, Lady Darroch
​
​
(m. 1978)​
Children2
EducationAbingdon School
Alma materHatfield College, Durham (BSc)

Nigel Kim Darroch, Baron Darroch of Kew,

UK Permanent Representative to the European Union
.

On 10 July 2019, following the leak of

HM Diplomatic Service
after a career spanning 40 years of public service.

Early life

Nigel Kim Darroch was born in the village of South Stanley in County Durham, England, on 30 April 1954, to Alastair Macphee Darroch and Enid Darroch.[2][3] He was educated at Abingdon School and at Durham University (Hatfield College), from where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in zoology in 1975.[2][4] Darroch was an avid fives player in his youth, representing his school and later Durham University.[5][6]

Career

Ambassador Peter Westmacott, Prime Minister David Cameron and National Security Advisor Darroch meet with President Barack Obama at the White House in January 2015

Darroch joined 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,[

British Permanent Representative to the European Union in 2007 for a four-year term.[2]

On 24 June 2011, it was announced that Darroch would replace

National Security Advisor in January 2012, with Jon Cunliffe selected as Darroch's replacement as Permanent Representative to the European Union.[2][8]

Ambassador to the United States

Ambassador Darroch and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt (right) meet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in January 2019

On 7 July 2015, the Foreign Office announced that Darroch would be replaced by Mark Lyall Grant in September 2015.[9] On 20 August 2015, the Foreign Office announced that Darroch's new role would be as the Ambassador to the United States, replacing Peter Westmacott on 28 January 2016.[10][11]

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. Downing Street said that there was no vacancy and that the UK had "an excellent ambassador to the US".[12][13] Darroch was in London the next day for consultations with May that were said to have been long-planned.[14]

Cables leak and resignation

On 7 July 2019, secret

Brexit Party employee.[15] (The most controversial item, however, according to Darroch's book, Collateral Damage, was not a cable but a confidential letter sent directly to the National Security Advisor, Mark Sedwill) where Darroch assessed the Trump administration as "inept and insecure".[16] In response, Nigel Farage said Darroch was "totally unsuitable" for office,[17] and Trump tweeted that Darroch was "not liked or well thought of within the US" and that "we will no longer deal with him".[18] The Prime Minister, Theresa May, expressed support for Darroch and ordered a leak inquiry.[19] It led to a criminal investigation into the leak by Scotland Yard.[15]

On 10 July, Darroch resigned as Ambassador to the United States. He wrote that "the current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like".

election to replace May, had declined to publicly support Darroch. Consensus among political commentators in the UK was that this made Darroch's position untenable.[21] In the House of Commons, both May and the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, praised Darroch's service and deplored that he had to resign under pressure from the United States.[20] A spokesman for the Prime Minister said that it was an ambassador's job to provide "an honest and unvarnished view" of the US administration.[20] Darroch remained in the post until the end of the year.[22]

Later career

In 2020, Darroch wrote Collateral Damage: Britain, America and Europe in the Age of Trump.[23][24][25]

On 19 September 2021, Darroch became Chairperson of non-partisan, internationalist campaign group, Best for Britain.[26]

Honours

Darroch was appointed a Companion of Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1997 New Year Honours,[27] and promoted to Knight Commander of the same order (KCMG) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.[28]

He was nominated as a

UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.[30]

Personal life

In 1978, Darroch married Vanessa, who was a teacher at the British International School of Washington while her husband was ambassador to the United States.[31] They have two children: Simon, a paleontologist based at Vanderbilt University who also studied at Durham, and Georgina, a botanist at Kew Gardens.[32][31]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 19 May 2019. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help
    )
  3. ^ "Speaker Bios" (PDF). National Governors Association. 19 February 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2019.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Gazette". Durham University Archives. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Fives" (PDF). Abingdonian. 15 (8): 367. May 1972. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  6. ^ "OA Notes" (PDF). Abingdonian. 16 (2): 71. May 1973. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  7. ^ "No. 48673". The London Gazette. 9 July 1981. p. 2.
  8. ^ "Senior Diplomatic Appointments". Number 10. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  9. ^ "National Security Adviser appointment: Sir Mark Lyall-Grant – Press releases – Government of the United Kingdom". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  10. ^ "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.
  11. ^ "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.
  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. London. 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. ^ a b Bowcott, Owen; Waterson, Jim (21 July 2019). "Brexit party activist says he obtained Kim Darroch cables". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 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. ^ Mason, Rowena; Walker, Peter (8 July 2019). "Theresa May has 'full faith' in Kim Darroch but rejects his view of Trump". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  20. ^ a b c Walker, Peter (10 July 2019). "Kim Darroch resigns as UK ambassador to US after leaked Trump comment". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  21. ^ Walker, Peter; Wintour, Patrick; Syal, Rajeev; Siddiqui, Sabrina (10 July 2019). "Boris Johnson blamed after Kim Darroch quits as UK ambassador to US". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  22. ^ Walker, Peter; Wintour, Patrick; Syal, Rajeev; Siddiqui, and Sabrina (10 July 2019). "Johnson has thrown US ambassador under the bus, say top Tories". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  23. ^ Arthey, Vin (2 October 2020). "Book review: Collateral Damage by Kim Darroch". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  24. ^ Rickets, Peter (16 September 2020). "Kim Darroch and the art of the diplomat". New Statesman. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  25. ^ Hastings, Max (13 September 2020). "Collateral Damage by Kim Darroch, review — the British ambassador ousted by Trump". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  26. ^ Annabelle Dickson (20 September 2021). "London Playbook: New York State of mind — What Scotland thinks — SpAd reshuffle". politico.eu. Politico. Retrieved 22 September 2021. NEW GIG: Former U.K. Ambassador to the U.S. Kim Darroch has a new gig — he's now chairperson of Best for Britain, the anti-Brexit campaigners now rebranding themselves as a "non-partisan" internationalist campaign group.
  27. ^ "No. 54993". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 30 December 1997. p. 3.
  28. ^ "No. 58729". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 14 July 2008. p. 2.
  29. ^ "No. 62826". The London Gazette. 14 November 2019. p. 20564.
  30. ^ Lord Darroch of Kew (26 November 2020). "Comprehensive Economic Partnership (EUC Report)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 808. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Lords. col. 49.
  31. ^ a b "Vanessa Darroch British International School Washington". Nord Anglia Education. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  32. ^ "Simon Darroch – Durham University". Dunelm USA. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.

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