Antony John Phillipson (born 13 January 1971) is a British diplomat, and as of 2021, British High Commissioner to South Africa. He was High Commissioner to Singapore from 2011 to April 2015, and from 2017 to June 2021 was the British Consul-General in New York and Her Majesty's Trade Commissioner for North America.

Career

Phillipson was educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

and

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...

. He joined the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

in 1993, working in the then Department of Trade and Industry where he rose to be

Principal Private Secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in t ...

to the Secretary of State. He then transferred to the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

(FCO) and served at

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

2002–04, as the Prime Minister's Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs 2004–07, as head of the Iran Co-ordination Group at the FCO 2007–10, and as High Commissioner to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

from 2011 to April 2015 when he was replaced to transfer to another

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to ...

appointment. He was Director of Trade and Partnerships in the

Department for Exiting the European Union The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU; also known as the Department for Brexit or Brexit Department) was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for overseeing negotiations relating to Brexit, and establi ...

until November 2017, when he was appointed HM Consul General in New York and Director General of International Trade North America. In addition to his diplomacy-related career, Antony Phillipson is a keen supporter of arts and culture, and was one of the patrons of the British Theatre Playhouse in Singapore from 2011 to 2015.British Theatre Playhouse - Patrons
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References

PHILLIPSON, Antony John
''Who's Who 2014'', A & C Black, 2014 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)
Antony Phillipson
gov.uk 1971 births Living people Alumni of Keble College, Oxford British civil servants High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Singapore People educated at Marlborough College {{UK-diplomat-stub