Another British Ambassador Stumbles in Washington

The experienced career diplomat made a rookie mistake just days after assuming office.

British Ambassador Christian Turner took up his post in February. Photo by the British Embassy in Washington.

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Another British ambassador to the United States found himself in hot water this week, just as King Charles III began a much anticipated state visit to Washington. In leaked comments that can be — diplomatically — described as embarrassing to the government he represents, Christian Turner, an experienced career diplomat, made a rookie mistake.

The three-time ambassador, who until last fall was a top official at the Foreign Office in London, met with visiting British sixth-grade students just days after assuming his new post in early February. Prime Minister Keir Starmer sent Turner to Washington after firing the previous ambassador, Peter Mandelson, because of his close ties to the disgraced financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Turner’s remarks to the students, which the Financial Times first reported, were supposed to be off the record. One would think that a professional diplomat with a two-decade career and solid political experience at home would know that speaking to a group — any group — is never truly off the record.

Assume your words will leak

Even if all electronic devices are left outside the room and note-taking is forbidden — which wasn’t the case here — some members of the audience may have excellent memory. When devices are allowed and the speaker broaches a controversial subject, a recording is likely to leak at some point.

The only time a private conversation has a chance to remain off the record is in a meeting with no more than two people one can reasonably trust — and without recording devices. Even then, however, there is no guarantee.

Before speculating about why Turner made such a basic error, let’s see what he actually told the students, and why it has caused a firestorm.

Most media reports focused on his comments that it’s Israel, rather than Britain, that currently has a “special relationship” with the United States. Although Starmer used the old-time phrase when announcing Turner’s appointment in December, the ambassador described it as “quite backwards-looking” with “a lot of baggage.” He added: “I think there is probably one country that has a special relationship with the United States — and that is probably Israel.”

In a thinly veiled criticism of the U.S. political system, Turner said it was “extraordinary” that the Epstein scandal “hasn’t touched anybody” in the United States, while it had “brought down” Mandelson and “potentially the prime minister.”

A daring move

Turner also took the role of a commentator and even a forecaster of domestic British politics, which no British diplomat — let alone an ambassador — should do when speaking to groups. He told the visiting students that Starmer could be ousted from 10 Downing Street if his Labour Party performs badly in local elections next week.

Starmer was “pretty clearly on the ropes” at one point, with his future looking “quite touch and go” over the fallout from the revelations in the Epstein files, Turner said. As a “stubborn guy,” the prime minister is unlikely to step down voluntarily, he opined.

“The moment I would look to is the May elections,” Turner said. Although Labour rules set a high bar for removing a sitting prime minister, if its candidates perform “very badly,” he continued, “I suspect the party will be able to go over that threshold and remove him. [That] seems to me to be the conventional thinking.” However, “if they do OK, he might carry on.”

The Foreign Office’s reaction to Turner’s remarks was hardly surprising. “These were private, informal comments,” a spokesperson in London said yesterday. “They are certainly not any reflection of the U.K. government’s position.” While technically accurate — Turner said as much to the group himself — such reflections of a highly respected ambassador carry significant weight.

“I’m delighted that Christian Turner has been appointed to be British ambassador to the United States of America,” Starmer said in December. “Christian’s extensive experience as an outstanding diplomat will support this uniquely close bond and ensure it continues to flourish.”

A meteoric rise

According to his official biography, Turner was previously high commissioner — the equivalent of ambassador — to Pakistan and Kenya. British diplomatic missions in former colonies are officially high commissions, not embassies. He was on track to become ambassador to the United Nations in New York before Mandelson’s ouster redirected him to Washington.

The political positions Turner held in London include international affairs adviser, deputy national security adviser and private secretary to both Conservative and Labour prime ministers. Four months ago, he was awarded a knighthood for extraordinary non-military service abroad — Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.

So what was Sir Christian thinking when he decided to be unusually frank with the sixth-graders on that February day? I don’t know him and can only speculate, but he appears to have been supremely confident for a just-arrived ambassador. Perhaps that confidence came from his deep connections in both of Britain’s main political parties.

Something else in his bio stands out. It’s very rare for a 53-year-old diplomat to be on his third ambassadorship, following a stint as one of the highest-ranking career officials at the Foreign Office, after just 20 years in the Foreign Service. That may seem a long time, but not many diplomats become ambassadors even once after two decades.

It’s clear that Turner climbed the bureaucratic ladder very quickly, apparently having earned his superiors’ trust and confidence. In fact, he was first posted to the embassy in Washington three years before joining the Foreign Service in 2005, according to Oxford University Press’ “Who’s Who” publication.

Skipping the career middle

Such a political appointment is highly atypical in the British system, where even ambassadors are rarely non-career appointees — unlike the U.S. system, in which at least a third of ambassadorships have been given to amateurs for decades.

Remarkably, Turner’s first posting to Washington — from 2002 to 2006 — was his only diplomatic service abroad before becoming high commissioner to Kenya in 2012. That meteoric rise must have been very rewarding, but he missed critical opportunities to hone his skills as a midlevel manager and, most crucially, as a deputy head of mission.

There is no better diplomatic training than that.

Evidently, having been Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s private secretary mattered more for Turner’s career advancement than actual diplomatic skills and experience in the field. Becoming an ambassador after just seven years in the Foreign Service is extraordinary. But serving on the personal staff of a political heavyweight is the surest way to pull off such a feat.

Perhaps leapfrogging over some of the typical steps in a diplomatic career had nothing to do with Turner’s rookie mistake in February. But it would be hard to dismiss the possibility. Only he knows for sure.

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Nicholas Kralev is the founder and executive director of the Washington International Diplomatic Academy, and a former Financial Times and Washington Times correspondent. His books include “Diplomatic Tradecraft,” “America’s Other Army” and “Diplomats in the Trenches.”