Sherard Cowper-Coles

Sherard Cowper-Coles     (spook)
Born	1955-01-08 London, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Hertford College, Oxford
Spouse	Bridget Mary Elliott
British Ambassador to Afghanistan In office 15 May 2007 - 2009  British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia In office 2003 - 2006  British Ambassador to Israel In office 2001 - 2003 Preceded by Francis Cornish Succeeded by Simon McDonald  Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary  In office 1999 - 2001 Preceded by John Grant Succeeded by Simon McDonald

Sherard Cowper-Coles was the British Ambassador in Afghanistan.

Diplomatic career

Cowper-Coles joined the Foreign Office as a desk officer in the Republic of Ireland Department in 1977. He was Third Secretary and later Second Secretary in Cairo, 1980–1983, First Secretary in the Planning Staff of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1983–1985; Private Secretary to the Permanent Under-secretary of State, 1985–1987, First Secretary in Washington, 1987–1991, Assistant in the Security Policy Department of the FCO, 1991–1993, Resident Associate, International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1993–1994; Head of the Hong Kong Department of the FCO, 1994–1997, Political Counsellor in Paris, 1997–1999; Principal Private Secretary to Robin Cook, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1999–2001.

His first role as a head of mission was in Tel Aviv as the British Ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2003. He was next appointed UK Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, a post that he held until 2006. Since 15 May 2007 he has served as ambassador to Afghanistan in Kabul.

Media management

Robert Fisk writes:

Indeed, I remember way back in the late 1970s - when I was Middle East correspondent for The Times - how a British diplomat in Cairo tried to persuade me to fire my local "stringer", an Egyptian Coptic woman who also worked as a correspondent for the Associated Press and who provided a competent coverage of the country when I was in Beirut. "She isn't much good," he said, and suggested I hire a young Englishwoman whom he knew and who - so I later heard - had close contacts in the Foreign Office.

I refused this spooky proposal. Indeed, I told The Times that I thought it was outrageous that a British diplomat should have tried to engineer the sacking of our part-timer in Cairo. The Times's foreign editor agreed.

But it just shows what diplomats can get up to.

And the name of that young British diplomat in Cairo back in the late 1970s? Why, Sherard Cowper-Coles, of course.

Connections

• Michael Semple
• Frank Gardner, BBC Security Correspondent