This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

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Paul Johnston

Ambassador to Ireland

Part of FCDO Outreach

24th April 2014

England’s History, Scotland’s Future

Yesterday at the Residence we marked St George’s Day, the feast day of England’s patron saint, and the week of the 450th anniversary of the birth of England’s and the world’s greatest dramatist and poet,William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare
A British architect, Rueben Thorpe, talked to us about the excavation of the Rose Theatre in London, one of the theatres of the Elizabethan age, whose boards Shakespeare himself may have trodden.

And the splendid actors of Stockholm’s English Speaking Theatre Company performed extracts from “Much Ado about Nothing” (which they will be performing in Stockholm this summer) and from other Shakespeare comedies, dramas and sonnets.

Yesterday evening, having marked a famous birth in English history, I talked to the British and Commonwealth Association about the future of Scotland and the United Kingdom, specifically the referendum on Scottish independence being held this September.

I set out the British government’s case for why Scotland remaining part of the United Kingdom is the right answer and fielded a lot of excellent questions on history, defence, culture, values, economics and my own future if Scotland votes to go its own way! Thanks to everyone who took part in, and attended, both events.
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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.