Desmond Patrick Neil Wigan is a British diplomat who was UK Ambassador to Somalia from 2013 to 2015. Since 13 June 2019, he serves as the

British ambassador to Israel The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Israel is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in Israel, and in charge of the UK's diplomatic mission in Israel. The official title is ''His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the State ...

, replacing

David Quarrey David Quarrey (born 1966) is a British diplomat and the British Ambassador to NATO since 2022. He was formerly acting National Security Adviser, having taken over the role while David Frost continued as the United Kingdom's Chief Negotiator to ...

Personal life

Wigan studied at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in History. He also has an MSc in Economics from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

and a Post-Graduate Diploma from the

School of Advanced International Studies The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C., United States, with campuses in Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China. It is consistently ranked one of the ...

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. Wigan is married, and has two children. His wife, Yael, is

Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli ...

, and he can speak basic

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, which he learned from his wife and from watching Israeli shows on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Career

Wigan joined the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based

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 ...

in 2000. He initially was an Advisor in charge of UK's Economic Policies in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, a position he held for two years. From August 2002 to January 2006, he was the Head of the Political Section at the British Embassy in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Wigan subsequently acted as the Head of the

Middle East and North Africa MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or a ...

Group in London between February 2006 and April 2008. He later was the Deputy Director for Wider World in the Cabinet Office's Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat. In March 2010, he was also named as the UK Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo. In June 2013, Wigan was appointed as the UK Ambassador to Somalia, based at the

British Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Com ...

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...

. On 16 March 2015, Harriet Mathews was appointed as Wigan's successor as Ambassador; Wigan was to be transferred to another Diplomatic Service appointment. Wigan was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

. Wigan became Britain's ambassador to Israel in June 2019.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wigan, Neil Living people Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Somalia Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Republic of the Congo Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of London Johns Hopkins University alumni Officers of the Order of the British Empire Year of birth missing (living people) Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Israel