Paul Brummell (born 28 August 1965) is a British diplomat and travel writer.

Early life

Brummell was educated at St Albans School before reading geography at St Catharine's College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He entered the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...

in 1987.

Career

After stints in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and in

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...

, Brummell received his first posting as head of a diplomatic mission in 2002, as Ambassador to Turkmenistan. In 2005, he made the relatively short move to head the

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, a position that also includes being non-resident ambassador to Kyrgyzstan.President of Kazakhstan to participate in summit of Turkic states in Antalya
GAZETA.KZ That same year his name was among a list of individuals claimed to be serving members of the

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intellige ...

that appeared on the US website Cryptome. In 2008 he invited the US ambassador,

Tatiana Gfoeller Tatiana C. Gfoeller (née Volkoff; born 1960) is a veteran United States diplomat. Since joining the Department of State in 1984, her foreign postings have included: Poland, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the Soviet Union, Belgium, Russia, and Turk ...

, to a meeting with the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was ...

and British businessmen; her report to Washington, leaked by WikiLeaks and reported by British and international media, mentioned indiscreet remarks by the Duke. In 2009 Brummell was transferred to

Bridgetown Bridgetown ( UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael. Bridgetown is sometimes locally referred to as "The ...

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estima ...

, where he served as High Commissioner to

and the

Eastern Caribbean The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ri ...

(

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two majo ...

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographical ...

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pet ...

St Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain ...

St Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindi ...

, and

St Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

) until 2013, and was also UK representative to CARICOM and the OECS. Following this, Brummell served as Ambassador to Romania from 2014 to 2018. He currently holds the position of Head of Soft Power and External Affairs Department within the Communication Directorate of the

. Brummell was appointed

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

(CMG) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to foreign policy. In July 2021 he succeeded

Keith Shannon Keith Shannon (born 17 September 1966) is a British diplomat. He served as British Ambassador to Latvia from 2017 to 2021 and British Ambassador to Moldova from 2009 to 2013. Early life He is the son of Andrew Shannon and Catherine Sutherland ...

as Ambassador to Latvia.

Publications

''Turkmenistan''
Bradt Travel Guides, 2005.
''Kazakhstan''
Bradt Travel Guides, 2008.

References

BRUMMELL, Paul
''Who's Who 2014'', A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014

External links