Michael O'Neill

Biography

Michael joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1994 after a three-year secondment from the Ministry of Defence at the United Kingdom Delegation to NATO. He has focussed for most of his career on multi-lateral security and economic issues, and latterly on post-conflict stabilisation in Africa and Afghanistan. He has also been speech writer to two Foreign Secretaries. Michael has served in Washington and at the UK missions to the United Nations in New York and the European Union in Brussels. Most recently he spent three years as the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for Sudan, followed by 18 months as Head of Mission at the UK-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand, Afghanistan.

Michael has a master’s degree in modern history from Brasenose College, Oxford and a master’s degree in West European politics, London School of Economics.

Previous roles in government

  • British Ambassador to Qatar