Lindy Cameron, Britain’s high commissioner to India, has been appointed the new Permanent Secretary of the FCDO. Filling the vacancy left by Olly Robbins in the wake of the Starmer-Mandelson debacle…
According to the FT, she beat two other shortlisted candidates: Dame Karen Pierce, Britain’s former UK ambassador to the US, and Dame Barbara Woodward, the deputy national security adviser. Ed Miliband is pleased:
“Lindy brings enormous experience across the fields of diplomacy, development and national security, and a reputation for dynamic leadership in postings across the world, most recently as high commissioner in India.”
She has previously been hawkish on China, warning of their “hostile activity in cyberspace” back in 2021. Will that last under a Labour government intent on a ‘reset’ with Beijing?
Former Treasury minister and adviser to Burnham in the Makerfield campaign Lord Jim O’Neill, who has turned down a role in his government, said Burnham’s first statement Commons was:
“The last thing investors wanted to hear… gilt yields have risen by a 0.25% in one day, which is a lot. We’ve not had that since Liz Truss days… If your country is under the focus of ‘can they come up with a sensible fiscal strategy’ on a day when the markets think ‘well no, you’re not showing any sign of it’ you’re going to have a tough day…if it stays like this your mortgage rate is going up.”