Peter Richard Hayes (born 11 April 1963) is a

British diplomat His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Home Civil Service, which ...

. He was formerly the

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

of the

British Indian Ocean Territory The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 ...

and the

British Antarctic Territory The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom as one of its 14 British Overseas Territories, of which it is by far the largest by area. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and between ...

Early life

He was educated at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...

(BSc, Physics) and

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 ...

(PhD, 1989).

Career

Originally trained as a

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

, in 1990 Hayes 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 the National Physical Laboratory, later working in the Department of Trade and Industry, the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

, the

Office of Science and Technology The Office of Science and Technology (OST), later (briefly) named the Office of Science and Innovation, was a non-ministerial government department of the British government between 1992 and 2007. The office was responsible for co-ordination of ...

, and 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 ...

. He worked for the British Embassy to the United States as a Counsellor for 2001–2005. In 2005 Hayes was appointed Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary, serving under

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...

Margaret Beckett Dame Margaret Mary Beckett (''née'' Jackson; born 15 January 1943) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby South since 1983. A member of the Labour Party, she became Britain's first female Foreign S ...

and

David Miliband David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a former British Labour Party politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member of P ...

until 2007. From 2008 to 2010 Hayes was the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, and concurrently the non-resident High Commissioner to the Maldives. He then went on secondment to the London Stock Exchange as their Head of Public Affairs. From 2012 to 2016, he was Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory and the

Personal life

In 2002, Hayes married

Kirsty Hayes Christine Isobel "Kirsty" Hayes (born 2 February 1977) is a British diplomat and civil servant. She was List of Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Portugal, British Ambassador to Portugal from 2014 to 2018. Early life Hayes was born on 2 Feb ...

, a fellow diplomat. They have two children.

References

Offices held

1963 births Living people Alumni of the University of Surrey Alumni of King's College London Principal Private Secretaries to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Sri Lanka Members of HM Diplomatic Service Commissioners of the British Indian Ocean Territory Commissioners of the British Antarctic Territory 21st-century British diplomats {{UK-diplomat-stub