Former British High Commissioner (HC) to Pakistan Sir Philip Barton has been appointed as the head of the newly merged Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Senior British diplomat Sir Barton will take up the new role of the Permanent Secretary from 1 September.
Foreign, Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for International Development (DFID) are two fully fledged departments within the UK and DFID is responsible for the British Overseas aid. However, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in June the merger of the DFID into FCO and the newly established FCDO will be functional by the beginning of next month.
The new boss of British foreign office Philip Barton has been considered a friend of Pakistan and he served in Islamabad as the UK HC from 2014 to 2016. During his stay in Pakistan, HC Barton used to issue his video messages in Urdu at special occasions. He previously served as the FCO’s Director, Foreign Policy and Afghanistan/Pakistan co-ordinator.
The UK’s current HC in Islamabad Dr Christian Tuner congratulated Sir Barton on twitter by saying ” a good friend of Pakistan becomes foreign office and DFID UK new Permanent Under Secretary. Mabrook former HC to Pakistan Philip Barton”, Dr Tuner commented.
Sir Barton is currently the UK HC in India where he arrived less than two months ago to take up this new diplomatic assignment. He has the unique distinction of being serving as the UK Envoy to both Pakistan and India.
UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab on his appointment said: I am delighted that Sir Philip has been successfully selected as the Permanent Under-Secretary of the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. He is an outstanding public servant and diplomat with experience across all areas of foreign policy.
Philip is well placed to bring together the talent and expertise of both departments while helping combine our foreign and development policy in a way that is innovative, ambitious and more integrated than ever before, Raab remarked.
