Ian Proud was a member of His Majesty's Diplomatic Service from 1999 to 2023. He served as economic counsellor at the British Embassy in Moscow from July 2014 to February 2019
Britain is increasingly seen as a bit-part player. That’s down both to our post-Brexit identity crisis and being gradually overtaken by emerging economies such as India and Brazil. But it’s also because British diplomats don’t have the skills they need to advance Britain’s interests with purpose and credibility. Take foreign languages. Almost three quarters of Britain’s
Russia’s decision to kick out six alleged British spies in August prompted a strange sense of deja vu. After the Salisbury nerve agent attack in March 2018, I sweated for a week in the British Embassy in Moscow, waiting to hear if I’d be kicked out in the diplomatic tit-for-tat. We need a better plan
