Nigel is a career diplomat who is currently the British High Commissioner to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Previously he was Foreign Affairs Adviser to Prime Ministers Cameron and May, and British Ambassador to Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Nigel joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1991. He has served in South Africa, the United States, Russia, India and Bosnia.
Nigel was posted to Johannesburg from 1993-95, at the time of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. He was Chief of Staff to two British Ambassadors in Washington DC, Lord Kerr and Sir Christopher Meyer, from 1996-98. He subsequently worked on nuclear weapons issues in London, and was part of the UK delegation to the successful 2000 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. He was Assistant to the UK Sherpa at the 2001 G8 Summit, which saw the establishment of the Global Fund to fight HIV, Malaria & Tuberculosis.
He served at the British Embassy in Moscow from 2003-2006, and was subsequently Head of the FCO’s Iraq Department from 2006-07. From 2007-2011 he served as Deputy High Commissioner in Delhi; then from 2011-2013 as British Ambassador to Bosnia & Herzegovina. He was seconded to No 10 Downing Street as Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister from 2014-16.
Nigel was made a Member of the Victorian Order (MVO) in 1995 following The Queen’s State Visit to South Africa; and a Companion of the Order of St Michael & St George (CMG) in 2017, in recognition of his services to British foreign policy.
Nigel studied Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford University. He is married to Clare and has two children, Connor (born 2003) and Katya (2005).