British Permanent Representative to the European Union
What position did Kim Darroch take from 2007 to 2012?
Kim Darroch Nigel Kim Darroch , Baron Darroch of Kew , ( ; born 30 April 1954 ) is a former British diplomat . He served as the British Ambassador to the United States between January 2016 and December 2019 , and previously as National Security Adviser and UK Permanent Representative to the European Union . On 10 July 2019 following the leak of diplomatic cables in which he had been critical of the Trump presidential administration , he resigned from his position as HM Ambassador in Washington . Lord Darroch concluded his post in December 2019 upon retirement from HM Diplomatic Service after a career spanning 40 years of public service . Early life . Nigel Kim Darroch was born in the village of South Stanley in County Durham , England , on 30 April 1954 , to parents Alastair Macphee Darroch and Enid Darroch . He was educated at Abingdon School and at Durham University ( Hatfield College ) , from where he graduated with a bachelors degree in zoology in 1975 . Darroch was an avid fives player in his youth , representing his school and later Durham University . Career . Darroch joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ( FCO ) in 1976 . He was appointed to the Diplomatic Service in 1980 to serve as a First Secretary in Tokyo from 1980 to 1984 . He served in a number of posts , including as desk officer for the Channel Tunnel project and co-secretary of the UK-French Channel Tunnel Treaty Group , as private secretary to David Mellor and then The Lord Glenarthur as the FCOs Minister of State from 1987 to 1989 , and as Counsellor for External Affairs at the British Permanent Representative to the European Union for a year before being promoted to Director as head of the FCOs press office in 1998 . In 2000 , Darroch moved back to policy work as Director of EU Comd , and in 2003 promoted further to be Director-General , Europe . In 2004 , he transferred to 10 Downing Street , as Head of the Cabinet Office European Secretariat , where he served as the Prime Ministers principal advisor on European affairs . After three years , Darroch was appointed to replace John Grant in Brussels , as British Permanent Representative to the European Union in 2007 for a four-year term . On 24 June 2011 , it was announced that Darroch would replace Peter Ricketts as National Security Advisor in January 2012 , with Jon Cunliffe selected as Darrochs replacement as Permanent Representative to the European Union . Ambassador to the United States . On 7 July 2015 , the Foreign Office announced that Darroch would be replaced by Mark Lyall Grant in September 2015 . On 20 August 2015 , the Foreign Office announced that Darrochs new role would be as the Ambassador to the United States , replacing Peter Westmacott on 28 January 2016 . In November 2016 , following the US election , a memo by Darroch to Prime Minister Theresa May was leaked in which he said the President-elect of the United States , Donald Trump , could be influenced by the British government . The following week , Trump tweeted that Nigel Farage should serve as British ambassador to the United States . Downing Street said that there was no vacancy and that the UK had an excellent ambassador to the US . Darroch was in London the next day for consultations with May that were said to have been long-planned . Cables leak and resignation . On 7 July 2019 , secret diplomatic cables from Darroch to the British government , dating from 2017 to 2019 , were leaked to Steven Edginton , a 19-year-old freelance journalist and Brexit Party employee . Darroch assessed the Trump administration as inept and insecure . In response , Nigel Farage said Darroch was totally unsuitable for office , and Trump tweeted that Darroch was not liked or well thought of within the US and that we will no longer deal with him . The Prime Minister , Theresa May , expressed support for Darroch and ordered a leak inquiry . It led to a criminal investigation by Scotland Yard . On 10 July , Darroch resigned as Ambassador to the United States . He wrote that the current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like . Previously , Boris Johnson , the frontrunner in the election to replace May , had declined to publicly support Darroch . Consensus among political commentators in the UK was that this made Darrochs position untenable . Both May and the leader of the opposition , Jeremy Corbyn , praised Darrochs service in the House of Commons and deplored that he had to resign under pressure from the United States . A spokesman for the prime minister said that it was an ambassadors job to provide an honest and unvarnished view of the US administration . Darroch remained in the post until the end of the year . In a July 2019 Washington Examiner article , Darroch was accused of repeatedly leaking highly classified U.S . intelligence material to an unnamed American journalist . Darroch made no comment on the allegations . Darroch was nominated for a crossbench Peerage in the 2019 Resignation Peerages . Collateral Damage . In 2020 , Darroch wrote Collateral Damage : Britain , America and Europe in the Age of Trump . Honours . Darroch was appointed a Companion of Order of St Michael and St George ( CMG ) in the 1997 New Year Honours , and promoted to Knight Commander of the same order ( KCMG ) in the 2008 Birthday Honours . He was created a life peer in Theresa Mays 2019 Resignation Honours List . He was created Baron Darroch of Kew , of St Mawes in the County of Cornwall on 11 November 2019 . on 26th November 2020 , Lord Darroch made his maiden speech in the House of Lords . Personal life . In 1978 , Darroch married Vanessa , now a teacher at the British International School of Washington . They have two children , Simon , a geologist based at Vanderbilt University who also studied at Durham , and Georgina , a botanist at Kew Gardens . The Times reported on allegations about a 2018 “passionate affair [ lasting ] at least several months” with a US journalist . The journalist denied the scoops originated with the ambassador .