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Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Part of UK in Australia

3rd December 2013

Terribly British Motor Day

HE Paul Madden and Sarah Madden in 1920s MG

On the shores of Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin, hundreds of highly polished classic British cars glinted in the sunshine, as far as the eye could see. Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Aston Martin, MG, Triumph and some marques I only dimly remembered. It was the annual gathering of classic car clubs from the ACT and New South Wales, known as the “Terribly British Day”.

HE Paul Madden and Sarah Madden in 1920s MG
HE Paul Madden and Sarah Madden in 1920s MG

I had been invited to judge the display and nominate the “car I’d most like to take home”. It was no contest: I selected a fabulous 1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, that proud owner Ian Irwin had been working on for 32 years. A real labour of love. Sadly I wasn’t actually allowed to take it home. I awarded the “best club” prize to the Canberra Jaguar club.

In my speech I pointed out that Britain’s great motoring days are not just a thing of the past. Automotives remain our number one manufacturing export, 11% of the total. We exported some 1.2 million cars last year. They are also our top individual export item to Australia – up 206% since 2009, reflecting strong demand for British marques in Australia’s healthy economy.

And eight out of the eleven F1 Grand Prix teams are based in the UK. Motorsports engineering is a £6 billion industry in its own right.

The Canberra Times ran a nice piece about the event. They couldn’t resist a James Bond reference, describing my EA Carly as Moneypenny.

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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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007 Aston Martin automotive business export F1 Ghost grand prix jaguar james bond MG Moneypenny rolls royce Terribly British Day