Nic Hailey previously served at the British Embassy in Washington from June 2008 to July 2012 as the head of the Embassy’s political, economic and public affairs department. Nic was educated at a Rudolf Steiner school; at Peterhouse, Cambridge; and at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in Paris. He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1997 and has worked on European affairs in London, Paris and Berlin, and served as speechwriter to the UK’s Foreign Secretary. Until spring 2008 he was deputy head of the FCO’s Consular Directorate, which helps British nationals in difficulty abroad. He also served as the British Deputy Ambassador in Kabul, Afghanistan from July 2012 to July 2013.