Richard Ralph
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Richard Peter Ralph CMG CVO (born 27 April 1946) is an English former diplomat who was ambassador to Peru and then chairman of a mining company that operates in Peru.


Diplomatic career

Ralph was educated at
The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...
, and
Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...
. He joined 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) in 1969 and served at
Vientiane Vientiane (, ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Laos. Situated on the banks of the Mekong, Mekong River at the Thailand, Thai border, it comprises the five urban districts of Vientiane Prefecture and had a population of 840,000 ...
, Lisbon,
Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...
and Washington, D.C., as well as at the FCO. He was
ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
to Latvia 1993–95,
governor of the Falkland Islands The governor of the Falkland Islands is the representative of the British Crown in the Falkland Islands, acting "in His Majesty's name and on His Majesty's behalf" as the islands' Viceroy in the absence of the British monarch. The role and power ...
(and
commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands The commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is the representative of the British monarch in the United Kingdom's British overseas territories, overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The post is ...
) 1996–99, ambassador to Romania and concurrently to Moldova 1999–2002, and ambassador to Peru 2003–06. While Ralph was ambassador to Romania, the government sold its national steel firm, Sidex, to a company owned by
Lakshmi Mittal Lakshmi Niwas Mittal (; born 15 June 1950 in Sadulpur, Rajasthan, Sadulpur, Rajasthan, India) is an Indian steel magnate, based in the United Kingdom. He is the executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, the world's second largest steelmaking company ...
, a major donor to the British Labour party which was then in power under
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
as prime minister. Ralph was said to have a
mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a female lover of a married man ** Royal mistress * Maîtresse-en-titre, official mistress of a ...
who was employed by a legal firm which worked on the steel deal, and he had previously worked alongside Jonathan Powell, who later became Blair's chief of staff, at the British Embassy in Washington. However, Ralph was defended by the foreign secretary,
Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretar ...
.


Monterrico Metals

Ralph left the diplomatic service in 2006 and became executive chairman of Monterrico Metals plc, a publicly listed company with a copper mine at Rio Blacos in Peru. In 2008 he was fined for
insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...
associated with Monterrico Metals.Former British ambassador fined £118,000 for insider trading
''The Guardian'', London, 13 November 2008


Sources


RALPH, Richard Peter
''Who's Who 2014'', A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ralph, Richard Peter 1946 births Living people People educated at The King's School, Canterbury Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Governors of the Falkland Islands Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Latvia Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Moldova Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Romania Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Peru Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order