Julia Longbottom CMG (born 13 July 1963) is a British diplomat and the current Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Japan since March 2021.[1] She is the first woman ambassador to represent the United Kingdom in Tokyo.[2]
Julia Longbottom | |
|---|---|
 | |
| British Ambassador to Japan | |
| Assumed office March 2021 | |
| Monarchs | Elizabeth II Charles III |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson Liz Truss Rishi Sunak Keir Starmer |
| Preceded by | Paul Madden |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 July 1963 |
| Spouse |
Richard Sciver (m. 1990) |
| Children | 3, including Nat Sciver-Brunt |
| Alma mater | Jesus College, Cambridge |
Education
editLongbottom was educated at Bradford Girls' Grammar School in West Yorkshire, and Jesus College, Cambridge, where she gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and German. She is also educated in Japanese, Polish and Dutch. In the first she has attained full fluency.[3]
Career
editEarly career
editLongbottom joined the Diplomatic Service at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) immediately after graduating from Cambridge in 1986. She then spent her first two years on placements at the United Nations in New York and the European Commission in Brussels. Between 1990 and 1993, she spent her first period in Tokyo as the Political Second Secretary at the British Embassy to Japan. In 1994, she moved to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Hong Kong Department and worked as the Section Head for Nationality and Immigration until the handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997. She was then appointed as the Head of Political and EU Section at the Embassy of the United Kingdom in the Hague.[1]
Recent career
editIn 2012, Longbottom returned to Tokyo where she served as Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Tokyo until summer 2016. She then returned to the UK as the FCO's Director for Consular Services, along with a brief period serving as the director of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's Coronavirus Task Force.[1]
In December 2020, it was announced that Longbottom would replace the retiring Paul Madden as the British Ambassador to Japan.[4] She officially assumed the role in March 2021.[2]
On August 7, 2024, Longbottom announced she would not attend a Nagasaki memorial to victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the city because the mayor of Nagasaki did not invite representatives of the Israeli government.[5]
Personal life
editLongbottom married Richard Sciver at Bolton Abbey in Wharfedale, North Yorkshire, on 28 December 1990 while on leave from her position in Tokyo.[6] Together, Longbottom and Sciver maintain a UK residence in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. They have three adult children: two daughters and one son.[1] The elder daughter, Nat Sciver-Brunt,[7] is vice captain of the England women's cricket team.
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Julia Longbottom". GOV.UK. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ a b Madden, Paul (22 February 2021). "Farewell to Japan". Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ "Profile of Julia Longbottom". LinkedIn. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ "Change of Her Majesty's Ambassador to Japan: Julia Longbottom". GOV.UK. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ "U.K., U.S. ambassadors to skip Nagasaki peace ceremony". The Asahi Shimbun. Tokyo, Japan. 7 August 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
- ^ @JuliaLongbottom (28 December 2020). "This day 30 years ago we came home from #Japan to be married at a wintry #BoltonAbbey in #Yorkshire surrounded by wonderful family and friends" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Women's World Cup to be Live Streamed!". Japan Cricket Association. 24 June 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2021.