Scrutiny of major appointments
47. We have previously announced our intention
of scrutinising any major diplomatic or consular appointment of
a person from outside the diplomatic service. In April 2008 we
took oral evidence from the Rt Hon Jack McConnell MSP, the former
First Minister of Scotland, about his forthcoming appointment
as British High Commissioner to Malawi. We published a Report
on this matter in June 2008.[20]
48. On 24 September the FCO informed us that
the Prime Minister had appointed Mr McConnell as his Special Representative
for Conflict Resolution Mechanisms, based in the FCO. We were
told that this two-year appointment meant that Mr McConnell would
not be able to take up the post of High Commissioner to Malawi
as planned, and that the FCO was seeking a new candidate to replace
the current High Commissioner when his tour ends in early 2009.
We were also told that the Prime Minister still hopes that Mr
McConnell might be available to serve as High Commissioner to
Malawi at a future date. We questioned the Permanent Under-Secretary
at the FCO about these issues when he gave oral evidence to us
in October 2008, and will comment further in our Report on the
FCO's departmental annual report which we expect to publish early
in 2009.
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