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Lord Ed Llewellyn, David Cameron’s former chief of staff, is to take up a role advising Labour foreign secretary David Lammy, as part of a radical shake-up at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
Llewellyn, Britain’s ambassador to Italy, will become political director at the FCDO, a civil service role in which he will act as Lammy’s international fixer and strategic foreign policy adviser, according to people briefed on the appointment.
The appointment is part of a shake-up by permanent secretary Sir Olly Robbins, who has cut FCDO senior management in London to focus on the international network.
Robbins has cut from nine to six the number of directors-general at FCDO headquarters in King Charles Street, while he has hired Helena Vega-Lozano, a partner at Deloitte, as chief operating officer, people briefed on the shake-up said.
Some diplomats have expressed concern that Robbins’ shake-up is part of a trend in which top foreign policy jobs in Sir Keir Starmer’s government are going to people from outside the traditional network.
Llewellyn, a longtime Conservative official who ran Cameron’s Downing Street operation from 2010-2016, was the personal choice of the former Tory prime minister as Britain’s ambassador to Paris, where he served from 2016-2021.
The fact that the plum job in Paris went to a political appointment rankled with diplomats at the time, in spite of Llewellyn’s impressive CV, which spanned a range of international arenas.
David Cameron (left) and his chief of staff Ed Llewellyn leave 10 Downing Street in December 2015 © Stefan Rousseau/PA
He had worked with Chris Patten, Britain’s last governor of Hong Kong, during his time as a European Commissioner in Brussels, and as chief of staff to Paddy Ashdown, the high representative in Sarajevo.
“It is remarkable how Ed has bridged from being Tory special adviser to being the choice of a Labour government for a very senior policy job,” said one Foreign Office veteran.
“He deserves it, but there are some people grumbling over the growing number of highly able and experienced people who have not been able to get a senior job.”
Starmer’s administration has often turned to outsiders to beef up its foreign policy operation, which is often seen as far more effective than his stuttering domestic operation.
Lord Peter Mandelson, a former Labour cabinet minister was named Britain’s ambassador to Washington last year, while Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff, is national security adviser.
Like those appointments, Robbins himself is not a lifetime diplomat. Meanwhile Michael Ellam, an ex-HSBC executive and former press secretary to Labour premier Gordon Brown, was hired to oversee the UK-EU “reset”.
A FCDO spokesperson said: “The selection process for director-general executive team members was open to a diverse pool of applicants from across the civil service, and, where appropriate, beyond.
“All appointments were made following a rigorous and open competition, overseen by the Civil Service Commission, ensuring that the selection process was fair, transparent, and based on merit.”
Earlier this year the Financial Times revealed that Robbins had told staff to expect a “significant” cut in staff numbers as he seeks to focus resources on the overseas network.
Robbins, Britain’s former chief Brexit negotiator hired from the advisory firm Hakluyt, decided to cut back a whole tier of management, reducing the number of directors from about 50 to just 30 in a process that saw directors-general forced to reapply for their own jobs.