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Sir Keir Starmer has been presented with a big dilemma over who to appoint as Britain’s next ambassador to the US, after a surprise last-minute entry into the fray by Nigel Casey, UK envoy to Moscow.
Officials close to the process said the prime minister was agonising over whether to pick Casey, a career diplomat and national security expert, or Varun Chandra, Downing Street’s business adviser, who has just sealed a pharmaceutical deal with Washington.
“It comes down to the question: does the PM want to prioritise growth, in which case he’d go for Varun, or does he put in place a national security ambassador?” said one person close to the appointment process.
Another official said: “I would appoint Varun — he has the established relationships, he’s an impact player, and speaks business. But I can see a fragile Number 10 going for the safer option and appointing Nigel.”
Casey, Britain’s ambassador to Moscow since November 2023, entered the contest after a last-minute search by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to find a heavyweight diplomat to contest the vacancy.
“Number 10 were disappointed with the initial list the FCDO put forward,” said one Whitehall official, adding that Sir Olly Robbins, the department’s permanent secretary, was making a “concerted effort” to secure the Washington post for a civil servant.
Casey, 56, is variously described by colleagues as “a class act” and “polished, charming, calm under fire and capable”. But unlike Chandra he does not have close links with Donald Trump’s administration or extensive business experience.
Chandra, previously seen as the frontrunner in the contest, has spent six months negotiating a deal on medicines with the Trump administration, under which the UK will spend more on innovative drugs but face zero tariffs on its pharma exports to the US.
He was also involved in the earlier trade deal between Britain and the US and is highly regarded both by Starmer and in the White House, even though he has no formal diplomatic experience.
Robbins’ role in trying to find a diplomatic heavyweight to challenge Chandra has an intriguing back-story: Chandra, former managing partner of Hakluyt, hired Robbins, Britain’s former Brexit negotiator, to the London-based consultancy in March 2023.
One ally of Robbins said: “Olly is just interested in recommending a decent set of appointable candidates.”
The FCDO did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Morale inside the department, already low because of a wave of job cuts, would be further hit if the plum Washington role went to a non-diplomat.
The vacancy arose after Lord Peter Mandelson was sacked in September over his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
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Casey was formerly Britain’s envoy to South Africa and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and previously worked as private secretary to Conservative prime ministers Lord David Cameron and Baroness Theresa May.
The diplomat’s current posting to Moscow also gives him strong insights into the war in Ukraine and the thinking of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Casey’s entry into the race was first reported by the Telegraph.
Other candidates interviewed for the Washington post included Christian Turner, a diplomat who has already been lined up as Britain’s ambassador to the UN, and Jonathan Black, deputy national security adviser.
No women applied, according to diplomats close to the process. One said: “It’s appalling.”
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