Leigh Turner
Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna
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UK in Austria
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2nd September 2021
Vienna, Austria
These, however, are parsimonious days… The telegraph has made a difference in the position of Ambassadors. When men can and do receive instructions hourly about the smallest details, and, indeed, ask for them as if anxious to escape responsibility, it is easy to conceive that the Foreign Office will not again insist on the Treasury behaving […]
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31st August 2021
Vienna, Austria
When I first decided to apply for the job of ambassador in Vienna in March 2015, I visited the city. A wise friend gave me a book: The Hare with Amber Eyes, by British ceramicist and writer Edmund de Waal. I found it one of the most striking accounts of the Holocaust, and its impact […]
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25th August 2021
Vienna, Austria
When I was appointed as a junior diplomat to Vienna in September 1984, my letter of appointment, signed by Her Majesty the Queen and Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe, contained the phrase: “Whereas it appears to Us expedient to nominate some person of approved Industry, Fidelity and Knowledge [my emphasis] to perform the functions of an Officer […]
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29th July 2021
Vienna, Austria
When we arrive on Heybeliada in the Sea of Marmara, a cool breeze lures us to climb on foot to our appointment at the Greek Orthodox seminary at the summit of the island. The route leads through aromatic pine trees. We arrive at the back door of the compound and stroll in. The place seems […]
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23rd July 2021
Vienna, Austria
Today, COP26, the 26th UN-Climate Change Conference in Glasgow is only 100 days away. It is the last chance to keep accelerating climate change controllable. When it comes to the health of our planet, every day counts. Our planet is heating up. Through humanity’s impact, we have polluted our home more than it can cope […]
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14th July 2021
Vienna, Austria
“When you’re an ambassador,” the wise ex-ambassador told me, fixing me with her steely gaze, “you’re miles from London. For visibility, you have to do something that people identify with you – build a brand, if you like.” In January 2008 I attended a conference in Miami on my way to Anguilla (“British diplomat in […]
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22nd June 2021
Vienna, Austria
When I started work as head of the Overseas Territories Department of the FCO (as it then was) in July 2006, I inherited from my predecessor three steel cabinets stuffed full of files. They covered all the fourteen territories for which I was responsible. Being a tidy type, I went through them and threw away as many papers […]
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4th May 2021
Vienna, Austria
One of the first mornings of my career break, as I dropped the kids off at school, I ran into an Embassy colleague. “How the mighty have fallen,” he said. I couldn’t think of a witty response. In 2002, after working full-time for 23 years, I took four years of what the Foreign Office called […]
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19th April 2021
Vienna, Austria
EDIT: Thanks for all your questions. We will start publishing answers shortly. If you are a UK national who was living legally in Austria before 1 January 2021, you need to apply for a new residency card before the end of 2021. Although you have until 31st December to do so, you should consider applying […]
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8th April 2021
Vienna, Austria
Before our first child was born in 1992, we studied best practice in bringing up babies. Two pieces of expert advice stuck out (NOTE: DO NOT FOLLOW THIS ADVICE). First, babies should always be laid face-down in their cots, to minimise the risk of choking. Second, natural lamb’s fleece in the cot was a great […]
Read more on Diplomatic lessons 6, Berlin 1998-2002: Specialise, or not? | Reply
