Olly Robbins is out at the FCDO. The runners and riders:
- Nick Dyer: Currently Robbins’ temporary replacement as Interim Permanent Under-Secretary at the FCDO. Dyer has almost exclusively held roles in the now-absorbed Department for International Development and subsequently was the “aid guy” in the Foreign Office. Sources inside say he is “aid-obsessed” and on the “soft side” of the Foreign Office. One added: “There is nothing in his CV which even suggests that he’s been involved in the more hard-nosed bits of DFID let alone the Foreign Office”…
- Barbara Woodward: Formerly the UK’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York until last year. Could Beijing Barbara come back to steer the ship…
- Karen Pierce: Former ambassador to the US now serving as Special Envoy to the Western Balkans since March last year. Widely perceived as having been wronged by the appointment of Mandelson…
- Serving major ambassadors: Caroline Wilson (EU), Peter Wilson (China), Nigel Casey (Russia), Thomas Drew (France). With the exception of Casey none has been in the job for more than one year. Could they be brough back? Philip Barton came back from New Delhi after only months…
- Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby: Departing EU ambassador. Said to be highly regarded by Nick Thomas Symonds…
- Jonathan Allen: Director General, Defence and Security.
- Melinda Bohannon: Director General, Global Issues.
- Ed Llewellyn: Cameron’s former Chief of Staff, held two high profile ambassador roles in France and Italy before taking a Director General role in the FCDO. Tentatively seen as a convert to the blob by civil servants despite his political origins…
- Olly Robbins: After waging a skirmish on unsure ground against the FCDO perm sec could Downing Street simply reinstate him? Maybe Starmer could swap jobs with Robbins instead…
There were some suggestions swirling around the FCDO that the next permanent secretary should be a woman seeing as none had ever occupied the role. Sources say David Lammy was keen on the idea when he held the Foreign Secretary post…
