Augustus James Ulysses "Gus" Jaspert (born 1979) is a British diplomat who was previously the

Governor of the British Virgin Islands The Governor of the Virgin Islands is the representative of the British monarch in the United Kingdom's overseas territory of the British Virgin Islands. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The r ...

. He was sworn into office on 22 August 2017. He left office on 23 January 2021, and was succeeded by John Rankin who was sworn in after completing a 14-day COVID-19 quarantine.

Career and background

From 2001 to 2007 Jaspert worked for

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has ...

as Lead Manager for Children's Services. He then spent two years at

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...

as part of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit, followed by three years at the Home Office as Head of Drugs and Alcohol and Head of Policing. From 2012 to 2014 he worked at

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...

as Private Secretary to the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

, after which he spent a year studying at the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

, an institution which grooms public servants who "have the potential to reach the highest ranks". He then spent two years in the Cabinet Office as Director of Security and Intelligence, National Security Secretariat, before taking up appointment as Governor of the British Virgin Islands. He graduated with a first class degree in History and German from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 2001, and in 2015 was awarded a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

with distinction in International Security and Strategy from

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

Governor of the British Virgin Islands

Shortly after being sworn into office as Governor, the British Virgin Islands was struck by

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread destruction across its path in September 2017. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Maria two ...

. Jaspert declared a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

16 days after being sworn in, thus becoming the first ever Governor of the British Virgin Islands to exercise that power under the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

. Governor Jaspert has been widely praised for his quick response which possibly saved the territory. Shortly before demitting office Jaspert launched a corruption inquiry in the Territory, appointing Sir

Gary Hickinbottom Sir Gary Robert Hickinbottom (born 22 December 1955), is a retired British judge. In 2008, he became the fourth solicitor to be appointed a High Court judge, after Michael Sachs in 1993, Lawrence Collins in 2000, and Henry Hodge in 2004. Leg ...

commissioner. Sir Gary's report concluded that governance in the Territory had been "appallingly bad", and that it was "highly likely" that serious dishonesty had taken place. Jaspert was widely criticised and defamed in one Government-linked online news site, yet the findings of the report confirmed Jaspert had been correct.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaspert, Augustus Living people Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of King's College London Governors of the British Virgin Islands 21st-century British diplomats 1979 births