BDOHP Biographical Details and Interview Index WARREN, Sir David
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BDOHP Biographical Details and Interview Index WARREN, Sir David Alexander (born 11 August 1952) KCMG 2012 (CMG 2007) Career (with, on right, relevant pages in interview) Entered HM Diplomatic Service, 1975 pp 5-8 South-East Asian Department, FCO, 1975–76 pp 8-13 Japanese language training, SOAS and Japan, 1976-78 pp 13-15 Private Secretary to Ambassador, Tokyo, 1978–79 pp 15-21 Second, later First Secretary, Economic Department, Tokyo, 1979-81 pp 21-24 Head of Recruitment, Personnel Policy Department, FCO, 1981-83 pp 25-31 International Trade Policy Desk Officer, European Community pp 31-41 Department (External), FCO, 1983-86 First Secretary and Head of Chancery, Nairobi, 1987–90 pp 41-49 Assistant Head, Far Eastern Department, FCO, 1990–91 pp 49-53 On secondment as Head, International Division, Science and pp 53-58 Technology Secretariat, later OST, then OPSS, Cabinet Office, 1991–93 Counsellor (Commercial), Tokyo, 1993–98 pp 58-67 Head, Hong Kong Dept, later China Hong Kong Dept, FCO, 1998–2000 pp 67-75 Director, Trade Partners UK, British Trade International, pp 76-84 subsequently UK Trade and Investment, 2000–04 Director, Human Resources, FCO, 2004–07 pp 84-100 Ambassador to Japan, 2008–12 pp 100-123 ANNEX: Article published in Japan Forum in 2016 on the British pp 126-141 Embassy’s response to the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear incident 1 A more detailed synopsis provided by Sir David Warren. Joined FCO, 1975 Recruitment process; Positive Vetting South-East Asian Department, FCO, 1975-1976 Office working styles in the mid-1970s; Burma and Cambodia (and ‘the killing fields’) Japanese language training, SOAS and Kamakura, Japan, 1976-1978 Second, later First Secretary, Tokyo, 1978-1981 Private Secretary to the Ambassador, Sir Michael Wilford; protocol and etiquette; the Embassy as a community; Economic Department: the changing trade and investment relationship; Sir Hugh Cortazzi Personnel Policy Department, FCO, 1981-1983 Head of Recruitment Section; Fast-Stream Recruitment policy; ‘intellect’ versus ‘leadership potential’ at the Civil Service Selection Board; lack of diversity; liberalisation of rules on nationality, but not homosexuality European Community Department (External), FCO, 1983-1986 Desk officer for international trade policy; preparations for the GATT Uruguay Round Resident (later Senior Resident) Clerk; FDA/DSA Trade Union activities First Secretary and Head of Chancery, Nairobi, 1987-1990 President Daniel Arap Moi; political stability; human rights; security; pastoral management within the High Commission Assistant, Far Eastern Department, FCO, 1990-1991 China, Japan, Korea (including North Korea), Mongolia 2 Head of International Division, Science and Technology Secretariat (later Office of Science and Technology, Cabinet Office, 1991-1993 Sir William Stewart, Chief Scientific Adviser; post-1992 election creation of Office of Science and Technology; European Community Framework Programme negotiations; international S & T collaboration Counsellor (Commercial), Tokyo, 1993-1998 Changing FCO/DTI approaches to trade promotion; ‘Action Japan’ and other Japan export promotion campaigns; the 1997 election, and the arrival of the Blair Government Head of China Hong Kong Department, FCO, 1998-2000 Relations, post-Hong Kong handover, with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan; Bombing of Chinese Embassy in Belgrade; State Visit of Jiang Zemin Director, British Trade International (later UK Trade and Investment), 2000-2004 Director of Business Group, dealing with specific industrial sectors Director of International Group, dealing with specific country markets Complexity of merging FCO and DTI trade promotion activity within one organisation, with the aim of emphasising business competitiveness rather than public diplomacy Director, Human Resources, FCO, 2004-2007 Radical change, away from centralised, resource-heavy, system, towards devolving HR to line departments; slimming down of Senior Management Structure; other reforms, including abolition of retirement age, introduction of assessment and development centres, job interviews; closure of Diplomatic Service Language Centre Ambassador, Tokyo, 2008-2012 Preparations Japan at a time of political change, with the (unsuccessful) Democratic Party of Japan government elected in 2009 3 Japan as a close partner of the UK, but also a very different type of country, not always easily understood in Westminster and Whitehall Broad foreign policy alignment: trade and investment objectives (including defence sales) Management of Embassy, the Residence, compound, etc Contacts with the Imperial Family The 2011 earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster Concluding thoughts 4 BRITISH DIPLOMATIC ORAL HISTORY PROGRAMME RECOLLECTIONS OF SIR DAVID WARREN KCMG, RECORDED AND TRANSCRIBED BY SUZANNE RICKETTS Copyright: Sir David Warren SR: It’s Tuesday October 20, 2020. This is Suzanne Ricketts, speaking via Skype to Sir David Warren. David, can you tell me why you decided to join the Foreign Office? DW: This is very difficult to remember. I was at university in the early 1970s. SR: That was Oxford, wasn’t it? DW: Yes, I read English. I had no very clear sense of what career I wanted to follow. It was a time, I think, at which those of us at university (which of course was a much smaller percentage of school-leavers than today) were quite spoiled, in that we had an expectation of being able to get a job without too much difficulty. SR: And a good one! DW: In the sense perhaps of joining one of the professions, fulfilling whatever our sense of vocation might be. Even though the economy was beginning to turn down, no-one felt uneasy about their personal prospects. I was interested in current affairs. I didn’t want a political career, but I thought that the Civil Service might be an interesting route to follow. So I decided to apply. I’d known somebody, not a close friend, at the Foreign Office. He spoke positively about his work. I had travelled as a student in the United States: I was on the English Speaking Union debating tour of the US in the Michaelmas term of 1974. At the end of that trip, we were entertained by the Deputy Head of the British Information Service at his apartment in New York. He invited us to a party where we met a jolly crowd of people. I thought that this looked an interesting life. SR: Did you have any family connection with the Foreign Office? DW: Virtually none. My father worked as a middle manager for a paper manufacturer: my mother was a housewife, or as we might say now, a home-maker. Her parents had been Eastern European Jewish immigrants in the late 19th century who had settled in the East End, 5 and later Brixton. My grandfather was a bespoke tailor, my grandmother ran a ladies’ dress shop. The rag trade. Both my parents left school at 12 or 13 in the 1920s: no member of my direct family had gone to university. My father’s father, as an ex-serviceman after World War One, worked for some years as a porter in the Foreign Office: he would occasionally reminisce about having to stoke the coal fires in Ministers’ offices. That was my only connection. I applied, took the Civil Service qualifying test and the two-day Civil Service Selection Board. SR: How did you find that? Was it gruelling? DW: I found it quite gruelling, yes. I was at the emotional stage of finding myself fascinating at the age of 22 and so a process which encouraged you to think about yourself and about how other people might see you probably intrigued me. So I quite enjoyed it. I was successful at the Civil Service Selection Board and went on to the Final Selection Board which I found a more unsatisfying experience. I gave a very confused and rather directionless interview. SR: Other subjects have commented on how very intimidating it was, having to face 12 people behind a long table. DW: Yes, I did find it intimidating. But I performed poorly. I know this because many years later, I discovered, on someone else’s INDIV file in Personnel Department, a note on my Final Selection Board which had been wrongly filed. It confirmed that I had not impressed them. SR: How interesting! But, in spite of that, you got through? They obviously saw the potential. DW: I think CSSB saw the potential and Final Selection Board couldn’t quite bring themselves to say that CSSB was daft. So I got through. I found the whole process fascinating. When we talk about Personnel Policy, I will go into this at greater length. SR: And of course it has all changed now. DW: Completely. I was part of that process as Director of Human Resources at a time when the Office was realising that it needed to be doing more than looking for intellectual 6 capabilities and that it should be developing future leaders, effective managers, and people who were prepared to be radical as well as follow a conventional train of thought. One aspect of the process that we might also mention, as these interviews are intended to capture the details of Foreign Office life at that time, was what was then known as ‘positive vetting’. All new entrants were subject to detailed investigation about their personal circumstances, to enable a judgement to be made about whether they were any sort of security risk. This included an interview with the vetting officer, who also spoke to previous employers, their university or school, personal referees, and so on. The attitude of candidates to this process was an odd mixture of disdain and fear. Disdain, because the assumption was that the narrow-minded types who ran the system would make ridiculously old-fashioned, prudish judgements about your personal life that would call your suitability into question. And fear that you didn’t quite know what they were looking for. My 1975 interview was with a benign, moustachioed, retired Colonel Hadingham.