Sir Vincent Fean KCVO (born 20 November 1952) is a retired

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diplomat and former Ambassador who is now Chairman of the Libyan British Business Council.

Early life

Thomas Vincent Fean was born in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England. He was educated at

St Theodore's RC High School Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic College is a coeducational Roman Catholic secondary school located in Burnley, Lancashire, England. History The school opened in 2006 as part of ambitious plan to replace all of the district's 11 to 16 schools, fun ...

in Burnley and, from 1971 to 1975. at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

where he obtained a BA Honours degree in French and German.

Diplomatic career

Fean joined the Diplomatic Service in 1975 and retired from it in 2014. His career included appointments as High Commissioner to Malta (2002–06), Ambassador to Libya (2006–10), and Consul General to Jerusalem (de facto ambassador to the

Occupied Palestinian Territories The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The In ...

) from 2010 to 2014.

Awards and honours

He was appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 2005. He is an

Officer of the Order of St John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British British monarchy ...

. In July 2010, he received an honorary degree from the University of Sheffield.

Controversy

Fean was Ambassador to

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

during the 2009 release of Pan Am Flight 103 bomber

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi ( ar, عبد الباسط محمد علي المقرحي, ; 1 April 1952 – 20 May 2012) was a Libyan who was head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Tripoli, Li ...

. In information released in the 2010

Wikileaks cables The United States diplomatic cables leak, widely known as Cablegate, began on Sunday, 28 November 2010 when WikiLeaks began releasing classified cables that had been sent to the U.S. State Department by 274 of its consulates, embassies, and ...

, he was attributed as saying that “they could have cut us off at the knees” in relation to likely Libyan government actions against UK interests in the country, should Megrahi die in prison in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Views on recognition of Palestine

In December 2014 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' published an opinion piece by Fean in which outlined what he believes are requirements for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He argues in the article that European countries such as Britain, Spain, France, Ireland as well as the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

are working to promote coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians, and to that end are considering recognition of Palestine as "a contribution to a negotiated peace, not a substitute for it.

Personal life

He and his wife Anne have two daughters and one son. He has been Chairman of the Libyan British Business Council since 2016.

References

External links

Vincent Fean's articles in ''The Guardian''Libyan British Business Council
1952 births Living people Alumni of the University of Sheffield Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Libya Consuls-General of the United Kingdom to Jerusalem High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Malta Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Officers of the Order of St John People from Burnley {{UK-diplomat-stub