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Paul Johnston

Ambassador to Ireland

Part of UK in Sweden

18th February 2013

European diplomacy in action

In last week’s Riksdag debate on foreign policy, Carl Bildt highlighted the progress that the EU has made through the Eastern Partnership – a Sweden/Poland initiative, of which the UK has been a strong supporter.

That support will be seen in action this week when British Foreign Secretary Hague makes a joint visit to Moldova with Foreign Minister Bildt and Poland’s Foreign Minister Sikorski.

The visit comes at a sensitive political time in Moldova. The European message will be pursue an ambitious reform programme. Respect for human rights, combating corruption, and creating a stable, predictable and transparent business environment are all crucial to moving forward.

But before heading for Moldova our Foreign Ministers will meet on Monday in Brussels at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting. There they will have detailed discussions about many of today’s big issues, such as helping the people of Syria, countering the threat of proliferation and regional security arising from North Korea’s recent missile launch, and also the EU’s response to the Mali crisis.

This week, I too am travelling, including to talk about Britain’s views on the Future of Europe debate at Uppsala university.

About Paul Johnston

Paul Johnston joined the UK Civil Service in 1990, working for the Ministry of Defence initially. He has served in Paris and New York and has also had a wide…

Paul Johnston joined the UK Civil Service in 1990, working for the Ministry of Defence initially.

He has served in Paris and New York and has also had a wide range of political and security roles in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. Paul joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1993 as Desk Officer for Bosnia. As part of this role he was also Private Secretary to EU negotiator Lord Owen and his representative on Bosnia Contact Group.

His first foreign posting was to Paris in 1995-99 as Second Secretary Political. He was Private Secretary to the Ambassador and latterly part of the UK delegation to the Kosovo Rambouillet negotiations. Then he returned to London as Head of the Kosovo Policy Team, leading work on post-conflict policy in the EU, NATO, UN and G8.

Before his second overseas posting to New York in 2005, Paul held a variety of other EU policy and security appointments in London, such as Head of European Defence Section between 2000-01 and Head of Security Policy Department between 2002-04.

As Head of the Political Section in UKMIS New York, he advised on major policy issues for the UK on the Security Council and the UN World Summit, including the UK EU Presidency in 2005.

Paul returned to London in 2008 as Director, International Security for the FCO. He was responsible for policy on UN, NATO, European Security, arms control and disarmament, human rights and good governance.

Paul was British Ambassador to Sweden from August 2011 to August 2015 and then was Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO.

He was UK Ambassador to the EU for Political and Security affairs from 2017 to January 2020 and became Ambassador to Ireland in September 2020.

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Carl Bildt moldova Wiliam Hague