Christian Turner picked as new UK ambassador to Washington

LONDON — Christian Turner — a career diplomat hailed as “a first-rate problem solver” — has been chosen as Britain’s new ambassador to the United States after an extensive search to fill the top transatlantic post.

The U.K. government on Thursday night confirmed it has chosen Turner — who was supposed to become Britain’s representative to the United Nations in the coming months — for the role, which was vacated by Peter Mandelson back in September. Veteran Labour politician Mandelson left office amid deep controversy over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The prime minister’s business adviser Varun Chandra had been seen as the frontrunner for the post as recently as this week, earning praise from some Trump administration officials. But Turner secured the plum job after Keir Starmer was persuaded to appoint from within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

One FCDO official familiar with the final shortlist process said there had been a “massive fightback in the past days” to sway the PM towards appointing a longstanding diplomat. The White House will still have to rubber stamp the appointment ahead of Starmer’s nominee taking up his post.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper recommended Turner as her first choice to Starmer, said one person with knowledge of the process. They added that Cooper had been impressed by Turner’s calm head and thorough knowledge of the diplomatic service. 

One person who has worked with Turner, granted anonymity like others in this article to speak frankly, said he was “massively energetic” and “at the heart” of pushing Britain’s place in multilateral relations, including representing the U.K. during talks with E3 nations on Iran. 

Turner joined the civil service in 1997, where he held a string of posts in the FCDO and 10 Downing Street, including as private secretary to the prime minister and as first secretary in the British Embassy in Washington. He went on to lead the FCDO on the Middle East and Africa, before taking up gigs as the British High Commissioner to Kenya and High Commissioner to Pakistan. 

He has also served as the prime minister’s international affairs adviser and deputy national security adviser, and was due to take up the job of ambassador to the U.N. in the new year. 

Simon Case, Britain’s former top civil servant, described him as a “more Tiggerish, modernizing figure” than Turner’s civil service rival for the role Nigel Casey — who one former colleague had described as having an “old school, traditional, Savile Row-style elegance.”

Case told POLITICO that some of Trump’s team will know Turner from the president’s first term, when Turner was deputy national security adviser in Downing Street under Prime Minister Theresa May.  “Christian is full of energy and not afraid to do things differently,” Case said. “He’s not your typical diplomat.”

The decision to opt for an FCDO veteran comes at a crucial time for U.S and European relations. Trump is pushing for peace in Ukraine — and has been aiming pointed attacks at Europe’s leaders he sees as weak. U.K. and U.S. negotiators are continuing to haggle over key elements of a trade deal unveiled in May.

The FCDO official cited above put the shift in direction in No. 10 in recent days down to a mix of “assiduous lobbying” about the risks of another political appointee after the Mandelson affair as well as the importance of a pick with negotiating experience.

A government minister said the FCDO’s top civil servant, Olly Robbins, had cited Trump’s antipathy towards European leaders as a reason to push a security-focused candidate able to handle complex negotiations. Cooper had been “very focused” on ensuring a full recruitment process took place, a person with knowledge of the talks said.

Still, former colleagues were quick to contrast Turner with the buttoned-up Foreign Office caricature.

Case, the former Cabinet secretary, said of Turner: “He has shown that he doesn’t mind taking bold decisions — he’s not afraid to take unpopular decisions if he thinks they work for the U.K.’s agenda. I think that the Trump team will respond well to his high energy, creative approach and they’ll like the fact he isn’t some diplomatic service stuffed shirt.” 

A former colleague during Turner’s time in May’s No. 10 said the ambassadorial pick is “one of those just incredibly accomplished people who seems to achieve difficult things really quickly.”

“When he became ambassador to Pakistan, he learned Urdu in about three months, and went from, as far as I know, no knowledge of the language whatsoever, to being able to have detailed conversations about the future of the Pakistani cricket team,” they said. The same former colleague described Turner as “really effective” while also being a good colleague — two qualities which few senior figures possess at the same time. 

Peter Ricketts, former national security adviser and head of the diplomatic service, said Turner had been “at the center of the policymaking action in the FCDO over the last three years of constant crisis, and is always calm, focused and constructive.”

Ciaran Martin, a colleague of Turner from the Blatvanik School of Government, said the pick was “equally at home at the center of government as he is heading a mission in a difficult environment. He’s a first-rate problem solver. He might appear as a traditional civil service type but he has a very dry, almost wicked sense of humor.”  

Turner made TV documentaries before joining government in the 1990s. It appears he continued to dabble. The name Christian Turner is credited “with thanks” in the 2013 series “Ambassadors,” which starred British comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb as diplomats in the fictional Central Asian Republic of Tazbekistan. 

A second person who has worked with Turner hailed an “intense intelligence and calculation behind anything he says or does,” as well as an aptitude for “something painfully lacking in Whitehall, and that is speed.”

“He turned that role of political director [at the FCDO] into what it should be, which is somebody who’s operational, who’s delivering results, who’s the chief negotiator, who’s cobbling things together,” the second person said. “He’s played a hugely significant role behind the scenes in an extremely stressful moment for the British state from Iran to Palestinian recognition.” 

The same person highlighted one quirk. “He’s known in the Foreign Office to practice a stringent, highly controlled, egg-based diet,” they said.

A third person who worked with Turner dismissed the idea he would not be a good fit with the freewheeling Trump administration, noting he was “very good at adapting” and he had “managed all sorts of crazy relationships.” 

Turner is “the real deal,” a U.K. diplomat said, describing him as a “hustler” who is “more entrepreneurial than most Foreign Office characters.”

“Don’t forget how much the MAGA crowd love British tradition… Under Mandelson they loved the grandeur of the embassy and the royal birthday stuff,” the third person who worked with Turner quoted above said. “Christian will know how to play that.” 

This developing story is being updated.