predecessor successor birth_name birth_place image_size office primeminister birth_date term_start image article_title term_end name alma_mater
david warren mary francis kay brock timothy mark hitchens london , united kingdom 220px united sovereign kingdom ambassador to japan private secretary to the david cameron tony blair 1962 2012 1999 tim -rrb- . jpg hitchens -lrb- by uk in japan - fco tim hitchens
 2002 tim hitchens university of cambridge
tim hitchens

timothy mark hitchens , cmg , lvo -lrb- born 1962 -rrb- is a british diplomat and a former assistant private secretary to the queen in the royal household of the sovereign of the united kingdom , 1999-2002 .
he was seconded from the foreign and commonwealth office , to which he returned to become head of the africa department -lrb- equatorial -rrb- .
he had been first secretary political and information , british high commission , islamabad and speechwriter for foreign secretary douglas hurd .
hitchens was born in 1962 , and educated at the university of cambridge , where he read english .
after joining the foreign and commonwealth office he studied japanese , and then became trade secretary in tokyo .
from autumn 2008 , he took up the position director , european political affairs , in london .
in august 2010 he became director africa .
hitchens was appointed companion of the order of st michael and st george -lrb- cmg -rrb- in the 2012 new year honours .
in 2012 , hitchens was appointed as hm ambassador to japan .
he opened a twitter account under the handle ` ukambtim ' and , , had over 7000 followers .
he often tweets in japanese .
