Harriet Thompson
Biography
Harriet Thompson is Director Americas at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
Harriet was British High Commissioner to Ghana, non-resident Ambassador to Benin and non-resident High Commissioner to Togo from 2021 to 2025.
Before this, Harriet was British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Nigeria where she led a large and growing mission covering the full spectrum of the UK’s work in the country, with a particular focus on commercial and economic development. Harriet was British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria in Abuja for 3 years before this.
Previously Harriet enjoyed a varied career working across the British Government, leading policy and programmes across trade, energy, climate change and other areas. She negotiated trade policy at the UK’s Permanent Representation to the EU, led the UK delegation to the UNFCCC climate change negotiations, led the UK’s strategy to counter serious and organised crime, and ran a major change programme at HM Revenue and Customs to create the Fraud Investigation Service.
Outside of government, Harriet was an embedded secondee advising the Minister of Agriculture, Sierra Leone, working for the Africa Governance Initiative.
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Previous roles in government
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British High Commissioner to Ghana
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Deputy High Commissioner, British Deputy High Commission Lagos
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British Deputy High Commissioner Abuja