Leigh Turner
Robert Leigh Turner CMG is a British diplomat who has been British Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna since August 2016. As Ambassador and UK Permanent Representative he writes a regular blog published in English and German.
From September 2012 to July 2016 Turner was British Consul-General in Istanbul, a post which included responsibility for UK Trade and Investment work in Turkey, South Caucasus, Central Asia and Ukraine. From June 2008 to July 2012 he was British ambassador to Ukraine, resident in Kyiv. From 2006–2008 he was Director, Overseas Territories in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Commissioner of the British Antarctic Territory; and Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Born in 1958, he graduated from Downing College, Cambridge in 1979, joining the Civil Service as an administrative trainee the same year. After working in the Departments of Transport and Environment, and the Treasury, he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1983 and has had postings in Austria, Russia, Germany, Ukraine and Turkey before returning to Vienna.
Whilst on unpaid leave, between 2002 and 2006, he wrote travel articles for the Financial Times, The Boston Globe and other newspapers. He continues to write novels and short stories in his spare time under the name Robert Pimm.
Turner was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to British interests in Ukraine and Turkey.
