Neil Wigan Appointed as New British High Commissioner to Kenya

Desmond Patrick Neil Wigan has been appointed as the new British High Commissioner to Kenya to replace Jane Marriott whose tenure ends in July this year.

The British government on Wednesday said Marriott will be transferred to another Diplomatic Service appointment at the end of her tenure.

“After four amazing years, my time in Kenya is up in June - I will miss Kenya and Kenyans enormously,” Marriot said via Twitter on Wednesday.

Wigan, who has been serving as the UK Ambassador to Tel Aviv (Israel) since 2019, will take up his appointment in July.

He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2000, initially serving as the Advisor in charge of the UK's Economic Policies in the European Union, a position he held for two years. 

From 2002 to 2006, Wigan was the Head of the Political Section at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. He subsequently acted as the Head of the Middle East and North Africa Group in London between February 2006 and April 2008. 

He was later appointed the Deputy Director for Wider World in the Cabinet Office's Foreign and Defense Policy Secretariat before being named as the UK Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010.

In 2013, Wigan was appointed as the UK Ambassador to Somalia and later transferred to another Diplomatic Service appointment in 2015. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours.

Wigan became Britain's ambassador to Israel in June 2019.