Luis Ayllón
The British Government has appointed diplomat Alex Ellis, the current UK High Commissioner to India, as its new Ambassador to Madrid, replacing Hugh Elliot, who has represented his country in Spain since August 2019.
Alexander Wykeham Ellis was previously posted to the British Embassy in Spain between 2003 and 2005 as Counsellor in charge of European Union and Global Affairs.
Ellis, who began his diplomatic career in 1990, has an extensive professional career, which has led him to be ambassador to Portugal (from 2007 to 2010) and Brazil (from 2013 to 2017). Between those two posts, he was director of strategy at the British Foreign Office.
In addition, between 2020 and 2021 he was deputy national security adviser and from 2017 to 2019 he worked in the department dealing with the UK’s exit from the European Union. The latter position may be of use to the new ambassador in addressing the pending question of Gibraltar’s future as a result of Brexit.
The Gibraltar dispute was at the centre of one of Hugh Elliot’s most sensitive moments at the head of the embassy, after former Brexit Secretary Dominque Raab claimed last April, after leaving office, that a senior British diplomat had put the UK’s sovereignty over the Rock at risk by exceeding the mandate given to him by the government. The Daily Telegraph subsequently claimed that the senior diplomat cited was Ambassador Elliot, who had agreed in the course of talks on Gibraltar’s future that Spanish law enforcement authorities would have a permanent presence on the Rock if the fence was removed.
Yesterday, Elliot said on his social networking account X: “After five wonderful years, my term as ambassador to Spain comes to an end this summer“, and announced that Ellis, who he said would be “a wonderful successor”, would take up the post in September.
Elliot welcomed his replacement, stressing that he is a “very experienced diplomat and a great lover of Spain”.
The ambassador also indicated that there are still “many months and a lot of work” before he leaves the post, probably thinking, among other things, that it has not yet been possible to conclude the negotiations between the European Commission and the United Kingdom on the future of Gibraltar. Although both London and Madrid have spoken of the intention to reach an agreement before Easter, the chances of achieving it are very limited at present.
After these dates, the scenario is complicated by the proximity of the European elections on 9 June and even the possibility of an early election in the UK elections in May. Any negotiations would be subject to the formation of both the new British government and the EU executive.
