Paul Brummell


Paul Brummell is a British diplomat and travel writer.

Early life

Brummell was educated at St Albans School before reading geography at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He entered the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1987.

Career

After stints in Pakistan and Italy, interspersed with jobs in Whitehall, Brummell received his first posting as head of a diplomatic mission in 2002, as List of ambassadors of [the United Kingdom to Turkmenistan|Ambassador to Turkmenistan]. In 2005, he made the relatively short move to head the embassy in Kazakhstan, a position that also includes being non-resident ambassador to Kyrgyzstan. That same year his name was among a list of individuals claimed to be serving members of the Secret Intelligence Service that appeared on the US website Cryptome.
In 2008 he invited the US ambassador, Tatiana Gfoeller, to a meeting with the Duke of York and British businessmen; her report to Washington, United States [diplomatic cables leak|leaked by WikiLeaks] and reported by British and international media, mentioned indiscreet remarks by the Duke.
In 2009 Brummell was transferred to Bridgetown, Barbados, where he served as High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean until 2013, and was also UK representative to CARICOM and the Organisation of [Eastern Caribbean States|OECS].
Following this, Brummell served as Ambassador to Romania from 2014 to 2018.
He then held the position of Head of Soft Power and External Affairs Department within the Communication Directorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
In July 2021, he succeeded Keith Shannon as Ambassador to Latvia, serving until July 2025 when he was succeeded by Kathy Leach.

Honours

Brummell was appointed Companion of the [Order of St Michael and St George] in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to foreign policy.

Publications