UK: The former British Ambassador to the US, Sir Christopher Meyer, dies at 78 owing to a stroke. The unfortunate demise of the diplomat took place while he was holidaying in French Alps with his better half Catherine.
The current ambassador , Karen Pierce, has expressed his grief while confirming his death on Twitter. The tweet read, “Very sad to see former British Ambassador to the US Christopher Meyer has died. He was one of my predecessors, but I first met him 30 years ago when we served under Robin Renwick. He was a great diplomat and a great character. All our thoughts are with Catherine and his family.”
Christopher Meyer served for six years as British ambassador with tenure beginning from 1997. Prior to that, he served as the press secretary to then Conservative Prime Minister John Major from 1994-1996.
He was a critic of Tony Blair since his tenure ended up leading to the Iraq war as his memoirs DC Confidential, released in 2005
confirms.
He called Bush a politician with a limited worldview. He wrote: “Bush admitted that, apart from Mexico, he did not know much about international affairs and that he would do well to broaden his experience.”
Post his retirement, Sir Christopher served as Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission for six years, from 2003 to 2009. This tenure marked scandalous events of the phone hacking scandal, and imprisonment of News of the World reporter Clive Goodman and the enquiry agent, Glen Mulcaire. He was criticised for not bringing the responsible to account , although he lacked the powers to do same. He faced a brutal attack from a teenager at Victoria station leading to hospitalisation in 2018.
