27th November 2015 Chennai, India
A Very Unlikely Ambassador
Today I celebrate 20 years in the Foreign Office. I joined, like many others, because I wanted to see the world and be a part of something that mattered. I remember during the induction a colleague who was less awed by the surroundings asking how long it would take to get promoted (answer 12 years if you were really good). I never had any expectations of becoming an Ambassador as I didn’t go to Oxbridge (BSC from Middlesex University); didn’t attend private school; was lower middle class; and, obviously, very much the wrong colour. No-one was more surprised than me when I got promoted after 4 years, and was appointed an Ambassador at 39.
I have the best job in the world. James Bevan who recently left India as High Commissioner to head the Environment Agency always said that as diplomats we had jobs that we jumped out of bed for, had the chance to change the world and have fun at the same time. After 2 decades doing it, I still feel that that’s true. And I sometimes can’t believe that I’ve been as lucky as I have: I still ferl like a very unlikely diplomat.
I grew up in a small village in Kent in the commuter belt. For 15 miles in any direction, not only were we the only Asians, we were the only non whites, and I was the first non-white child to attend any of my schools until university. My younger brother was the second.
After my degree, I worked in the UK hotel business for 3 years, ending up in the management team at the Selfridge Hotel. But I wasn’t happy. My mum (left: she’s scarier than she looks) saw that and, on the basis that I spoke French, thought I’d make a brilliant diplomat. So she showed me the advert for the Foreign Office Mainstream Entry. I told her she was mad: there were no Asian diplomats, 
and definitely none with a hotel management degree. But being a very Indian mother who knew how to influence stubborn men, she used the nuclear option and nagged me until I took the easy way out and filled it in (a tactic that still mostly works). From memory, she mailed the application form too.
and definitely none with a hotel management degree. But being a very Indian mother who knew how to influence stubborn men, she used the nuclear option and nagged me until I took the easy way out and filled it in (a tactic that still mostly works). From memory, she mailed the application form too.I was pretty surprised when I was offered an interview, and totally shocked when I was offered a job. I’d never thought that I could ever be one of the top 7 out of 13500 applications.
The Foreign Office was very different then. It felt very male, posh and very, very white. I think we had one female Ambassador. The FCO was particularly proud that that year a massive 15% of the new intake came from the ethnic minorities. It was only on day 3 that I realised that I was the 15 % (Doh!). From those pretty humble beginnings, I’ve done ok.
I’ve met loads of important people, including some on my bucket list including Mandela and the Dalai Lama. Last year I spent 2 hours talking to Sachin Tendulkar. And last week at a Spectre screening, 
I met Vijay Armritraj and drove a 1968 Aston Martin DB6. I must have met 100+ world leaders, good, 
bad and indifferent, including at 2 UNGAS, 6 AU Summits, including a very memorable one in Libya during which Lord Triesman and I flew in Qaddafi’s personal plane. In 2005 at Gleneagles, I was in the party that met arriving Heads of State off the 9th green. I’ve flown in gunships in the warzone of South Sudan with drunk Ukranian pilots and seen the gorillas of Rwanda. I’ve had guns pointed at me, and once was quite surrealy escorted around a Congolese market by a soldier with his finger on the trigger of a lover rocket launcher been threatened.a. In Cameroon I even have an orphaned chimp named after me!
I met Vijay Armritraj and drove a 1968 Aston Martin DB6. I must have met 100+ world leaders, good, bad and indifferent, including at 2 UNGAS, 6 AU Summits, including a very memorable one in Libya during which Lord Triesman and I flew in Qaddafi’s personal plane. In 2005 at Gleneagles, I was in the party that met arriving Heads of State off the 9th green. I’ve flown in gunships in the warzone of South Sudan with drunk Ukranian pilots and seen the gorillas of Rwanda. I’ve had guns pointed at me, and once was quite surrealy escorted around a Congolese market by a soldier with his finger on the trigger of a lover rocket launcher been threatened.a. In Cameroon I even have an orphaned chimp named after me!But even more special than this is the knowledge that I’ve been a part of important world events. In my last job, I had to urgently lobby the Gabonese President to support a Security Council Resolution to agree NATO air strikes to prevent Qaddafi destroying Benghazi. I had to lobby another Head of State to allow us to target Boko Horam in a difficult consular case. In 2005 I was with Tony Blair, who’d just returned from the Singapore Awarding Ceremony, when he received the call from Seb Coe that London had been awarded the 2012 Olympics. I was on the team that travelled to Istanbul on the morning our Consulate was bombed and several staff, including the CG, killed. It was heart-wrenching work, but it was vitally important.
My personal lowpoint was being expelled from my first posting with 72 hours notice on my 32nd birthday with a pregnant wife and 14 month old daughter.
So far, on the assumption that my career isn’t over just yet, it’s been a wonderful career that’s given me more than I ever dared to hope for. I still bounce out of bed, try to make the world a little bit better, and – most of the time – have a lot of fun. Current civil service rules mean that I could have another 20 years or more ahead. If so, bring it on.
Congrats Bharatbhai or should it be James Bond? You deserve all the success from your hard work and support of your loving family. Regards to the family. Hope all ok in Chennai with the heavy rains.