David Manning

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This article is about the British ambassador. For the fictitious film critic, see David Manning (fictitious writer). For the author of genre fiction, see Frederick Schiller Faust.

Sir David Geoffrey Manning, KCMG (born 5 December 1949) is the British Ambassador to the United States.

[edit] Biography

Sir David Manning (second from the left) with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Secretary Paul Murphy, President George W. Bush & Ambassador Mitchell Reiss at the St. Patrick's Day celebrations at the White House in 2005.

Educated at Oriel College, Oxford and the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, he began his career as a civil servant in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1972. He has served in embassies in Poland, India, Paris, and Moscow, and within the FCO he has worked on the Central American desk, the Russian desk and held several senior positions. He has represented the UK in Brussels and also at the International Conference on the former Yugoslavia in 1994.

Between 1995 and 1998, he was British ambassador to Israel; from 2001, he was a foreign policy adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. During this time he developed a close relationship with his counterpart, then US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. Blair selected him to replace Christopher Meyer as the British Ambassador to the United States. Manning took up the post in 2003.

His close relationship with the Prime Minister suggests he has been a key figure in driving British foreign policy in respect of the United States, particularly in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the decision to invade Iraq.

[edit] Posts held

• 2003 - present: Washington, USA (Ambassador)
• 2001 - 2003: Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister
• 2001: UK Delegation NATO Brussels (Ambassador)
• 1998 - 2000: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Deputy Under-Secretary)
• 1995 - 1998: Tel Aviv, Israel (Ambassador)
• 1994 - 1995: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Head of Policy Planning Staff)
• 1994: UK member of Contact Group on Bosnia (International Conference on Former Yugoslavia)
• 1993 - 1994: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Head of Eastern Department)
• 1990 - 1993: Moscow, Russia (Counselor, Head of Chancery)
• 1988 - 1990: Counselor on loan to Cabinet Office
• 1984 - 1988: Paris, France (1st Secretary)
• 1982 - 1984: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Deputy Head of Policy Planning Department)
• 1980 - 1982: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Soviet Department)
• 1977 - 1980: New Delhi, India (2nd later 1st Secretary)
• 1974 - 1977: Warsaw, Poland (3rd later 2nd Secretary)
• 1972 - 1974: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mexico/Central America Department)
• 1972: Entered Foreign and Commonwealth Office