Boris Johnson has appointed Karen Pierce to be the first woman to become the UK’s ambassador to the US, widely seen as the biggest job in the diplomatic service.
Dame Karen is currently the ambassador to the UN in New York and permanent representative at the UN Security Council and will take on the highly sought-after position in the coming weeks.
The 60-year-old is no stranger to breaking the mould, having been the first woman to take up the role at the UN when she was appointed as the British ambassador in New York.
While she may not fit exactly the “weirdos and misfits” that the Prime Minister’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings was looking to attract to the top jobs, she is certainly not the stereotypical envoy.
State educated diplomat
Born in Preston and state-educated at Penwortham Girls’ High School in Lancashire, then a grammar school but since converted to a comprehensive, she secured a place at Cambridge and went on to join the Foreign Office in 1981.
She is the granddaughter of Preston millworkers and is only the second person in her family to go to university.
She made headlines in 2017 when she initially refused to wear a headscarf during a visit to Iran with the then Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson. Her refusal to cover her head was condemned by Iranian state media as being “inappropriate”.
Dame Karen eventually relented, but to many – including Mr Johnson – it showed her mettle.
She was thrown into the UN ambassadorial role at the height of the Salisbury novichok attack, which led to her running pitch battles with her Russian counterpart at the UN.
Her performance has led to her landing what is widely regarded as the pinnacle of the diplomatic corps.
She takes over from Kim Darroch, now Lord Darroch, who was forced to quit the post after damaging diplomatic wires were leaked to the media, which contained disparaging remarks about the Trump administration.
She now faces the daunting task of smoothing relations with the White House and the increasingly temperamental Donald Trump at a time when the old alliance is undergoing significant tests.
The announcement of her appointment came just a day after it emerged Mr Trump had given the Prime Minister a dressing down over the UK’s decision to use Huawei to deliver part of the country’s 5G mobile network.
Cool US relations
Relations remain strained over Washington’s refusal to extradite the US diplomat’s wife Anne Sacoolas following the death of Harry Dunn, and a failure between the two nations to see eye to eye on the Iranian nuclear deal.
Despite this, Dame Pierce said there is a “deep bond between Britain and the US, built on many pillars”.
“We have a fantastic cross-Government team across the US and I look forward to working with them to strengthen and even further deepen the special relationship between our two countries and peoples,” she added.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “It is a time of huge opportunity for the friendship between the UK and US and I am delighted that Karen Pierce will take forward this exciting new chapter in our relationship. We’re proud to be sending to Washington such an outstanding diplomat, and I warmly congratulate her on her appointment.”
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