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Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Part of UK in Australia

15th May 2012

Commons Foreign Affairs Committee studies Australian thinking on Commonwealth

Back in Canberra after 28 hours of flights, and straight into a programme with visiting members of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC). Senior backbenchers were in Canberra as part of the Committee’s enquiry into the Commonwealth. Other FAC members were travelling to different parts of the world.

We arranged a busy programme for them, meeting Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Richard Marles and shadow Foreign Affairs minister Julie Bishop. They had a useful session with the Australian Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, and I hosted a dinner with a number of Australian MPs. They also had a round table meeting with DFAT and PM&C officials.

They found the Australian government heavily engaged in Commonwealth issues, having just hosted the successful CHOGM in Perth last October, and currently retaining the chairmanship. Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s visit to London for the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) in April, had been one of his earliest international engagements in his new role. He had agreed to be CMAG vice chair. CMAG had played an important role following the unrest in the Maldives earlier this year.

Most of the politicians were broadly positive about the Commonwealth and the role which it can play in the world. Some emphasised the importance of the organisation demonstrating that it could deliver results in the modern world, and not just rest on historic ties. Others noted that it could play a valuable role in promoting its core values such as democracy, human rights and good governance. Some said that the fact that new countries, without traditional links, were seeking to join was a strong demonstration of its value.

About Paul Madden

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017. He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia…

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017.

He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia until February 2015. Prior to this he was British High Commissioner in Singapore from 2007-2011.

A career diplomat, he was previously Managing Director at UK Trade and Investment (2004-2006), responsible for co-ordinating and
implementing international trade development strategies to support
companies across a wide range of business sectors.

As Assistant Director of Information at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (2003-2004) he was responsible for public diplomacy policy,
including managing the FCO funding of the BBC World Service, the British
Council and the Chevening Scholarships programme. He led the team
responsible for the award-winning UK pavilion at the Aichi Expo in Japan
2005.

He was Deputy High Commissioner in Singapore from 2000-2003 and has
also served in Washington (1996-2000) and Tokyo (1988-92). Between
1992-96 he worked on EU enlargement and Environmental issues at the FCO
in London.

Before joining FCO he worked at the Department of Trade and Industry
(1980-87) on a range of industrial sectors and trade policy, including
two years as a minister’s Private Secretary.

He has an MA in Economic Geography from Cambridge University, an MBA
from Durham University, studied Japanese at London University’s School
of Oriental and African Studies, and is a Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society. His first book, Raffles: Lessons in Business
Leadership, was published in 2003.

Married to Sarah, with three children, he was born in 1959, in Devon.

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