Peter Salmon Collecott, , is a British former diplomat. He was the

British Ambassador to Brazil The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Brazil is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in Brazil and the head of the UK's diplomatic mission in Brazil. The official title is ''His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the Federa ...

from 2004 to 2008. He is chairman of the Ambassadors Partnership.

Early life

Born on 8 October 1950"Collecott, Peter Salmon, Counsellor (Head of Chancery) Jakarta" in ''The Diplomatic Service List'', Vol. 26 (1991), p. 144 in

Chingford Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The town is approximately north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow to the ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Collecott is the son of George William Collecott and his wife Nancie Alice Salmon. He was educated at

Chigwell School Chigwell School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English Public School (United Kingdom), public school tradition located in Chigwell, in the Epping Forest (district), Epping Forest district of Essex. It consists of ...

and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

,"COLLECOTT, H.E. Dr Peter Salmon, CMG (2001)" in ''

Debrett's People of Today ''Debrett's People of Today'' was a reference work published by Debrett's containing biographical details of approximately 25,000 notable people from across the spectrum of British society, a rival to the longer-established ''Who's Who''. Those inc ...

'' (2006), p. 332 where he graduated BA in the

Mathematical Tripos The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest Tripos examined at the University. Origin In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was a ...

in 1972."COLLECOTT Peter Salmon" in ''Cambridge University List of Members'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 158"Collecott, Dr Peter Salmon (born 8 Oct. 1950), HM Diplomatic Service, retired; consultant on international diplomacy and business, since 2009" in ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'' online, accessed 7 March 2023 He went on to earn a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

degree in

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

at Cambridge in 1976, when his BA was promoted to MA. His work as a physicist is cited.

Career

Collecott entered the

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 ...

in 1977. He studied

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

before a posting as First Secretary (political) in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

in 1980. In 1982 he was posted as First Secretary (Economic/Commercial) to

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. From 1986 he was head of the Iran/Iraq Section of 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 from 1988 Assistant Head of its European Community Department (External). In September 1989 he was appointed as Counsellor and Head of Chancery at the British embassy in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

. and was later Deputy Head of Mission there. In 1994 he went to

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

as Counsellor (EU and Economic), returning to the FCO as Director for Resources in 1999. In 2001 he was promoted to Chief Clerk and Director General of Corporate Affairs. In August 2004, Collecott was appointed as British Ambassador to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and remained in post there until November 2008. In 2006, Collecott wrote to Michael Levy that his recent visit to Brazil had led to many doors being suddenly opened to British diplomats there, as

President Lula President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

now wished to work closely with

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

. He reported that "The Brazilians, from Lula downwards, got the substance they wanted from us". Writing in ''The Diplomatic Courier'', Collecott has suggested that Brazil's national identity and ambition give it the potential to become a

superpower A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural s ...

."Brazil" in Ernest Giro, ''2020: The Beginning of the End'' (Lulu, 2020)
p. 74
/ref> Collecott retired from HM Diplomatic Service in 2009 and became a consultant on diplomacy and business. In 2011 he was a founding partner of ADRg Ambassadors LLP, now called the Ambassador Partnership, of which he became chairman in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collecott, Peter People educated at Chigwell School Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Brazil Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 1950 births Living people English physicists