Robert Leigh Turner (born 13 March 1958) is a writer and British former diplomat. His final role was British Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna from August 2016 to September 2021. As Ambassador and UK Permanent Representative he wrote a regular blog published in English and German. From September 2012 to July 2016 Turner was British Consul-General in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, a post which included responsibility for UK Trade and Investment work in Turkey, South Caucasus, Central Asia and Ukraine. From June 2008 to July 2012 he was British ambassador to

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, resident in Kyiv. From 2006 to 2008 he was Director, Overseas Territories in 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 ...

; Commissioner of 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 ...

; and Commissioner 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 ...

. Born in March 1958, he graduated from

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...

in 1979, joining the Civil Service as an administrative trainee the same year. After working in the Departments of

Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

and

Environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

, and the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

, he joined the

in 1983 and had postings in Austria, Russia, Germany, Ukraine and Turkey before returning to Vienna. Whilst on unpaid leave, between 2002 and 2006, he wrote travel articles for the ''Financial Times'', ''The Boston Globe'' and other newspapers. Turner 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, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(CMG) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to British interests in Ukraine and Turkey. Turner was succeeded as Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna by Lindsay Skoll in September 2021. He then retired from the Diplomatic Service. As Ambassador, Turner wrote and published novels and short stories under the name Robert Pimm. Since his retirement he continues to write a blog and has published several novels and a collection of short storiesAmazon author page
/ref> under his own name.

References

External links

Leigh Turner
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

English blog

Writing Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Leigh 1958 births Living people Commissioners of the British Antarctic Territory Commissioners of the British Indian Ocean Territory Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Ukraine Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Members of HM Diplomatic Service Civil servants in the Ministry of Transport (United Kingdom) Civil servants in the Department of the Environment Civil servants in HM Treasury Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Austria 20th-century British diplomats 21st-century British diplomats