Antony John Phillipson, (born 13 January 1971) is a British diplomat, and as of 2021, British High Commissioner to South Africa. He was High Commissioner to Singapore from 2011 to April 2015, and from 2017 to June 2021 was the British Consul-General in New York and Her Majesty's Trade Commissioner for North America.

Career

Phillipson was educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

and

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, University Museum a ...

. He joined the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

in 1993, working in the then Department of Trade and Industry where he rose to be Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State. He then transferred to the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

(FCO) and served at Washington, D.C. 2002–04, as the Prime Minister's Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs 2004–07, as head of the Iran Co-ordination Group at the FCO 2007–10, and as High Commissioner to Singapore from 2011 to April 2015 when he was replaced to transfer to another

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

appointment. He was Director of Trade and Partnerships in the

Department for Exiting the European Union The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU; also known as the Department for Brexit or Brexit Department) was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for overseeing negotiations relating to Brexit, and establi ...

until November 2017, when he was appointed HM Consul General in New York and Director General of International Trade North America. In addition to his diplomacy-related career, Antony Phillipson is a keen supporter of arts and culture, and was one of the patrons of the British Theatre Playhouse in Singapore from 2011 to 2015. In the 2024 King's Birthday Honours, he was appointed

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(CMG) "for services to British foreign policy, and international trade and investment".

References

PHILLIPSON, Antony John
''Who's Who 2014'', A & C Black, 2014 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)
Antony Phillipson
gov.uk 1971 births Living people Alumni of Keble College, Oxford British civil servants High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Singapore People educated at Marlborough College Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George {{UK-diplomat-stub