Eduardo González
Hugh Elliott has released a video to say goodbye as ambassador of the United Kingdom in Spain, after “five turbulent but wonderful years” in which his “greatest achievement” has been to leave our country “with quite a few kilos less than I had when I arrived, despite your wonderful gastronomy”.
“This is my last video as British ambassador to Spain, because today I am returning to London after five years here,” Elliott said in a video posted this past Wednesday through his personal account on the social network X.
According to Elliott, it has been “five turbulent but wonderful years, because Spain is an exceptional country and the relationship between our countries, between our peoples, is an exceptional relationship.” “It is not for nothing that there are more flights between Spain and the United Kingdom than between any other two countries in the world,” he added.
“You are a very welcoming country and I have had the enormous privilege of representing my country here during this time,” he continued. “I have been able to visit almost all of Spain’s provinces over these years. I have to apologize, Badajoz, Almería. I have not had time. It is a fantastic excuse to return,” he added.
“I have been asked about my greatest achievement as ambassador to Spain. I have had to think about it, but I think my greatest achievement is having managed to leave Spain with quite a few kilos less than I had when I arrived. And that despite your wonderful gastronomy,” said Elliott.
“The time has come to hand over the baton to my great friend and successor Alex Ellis, who takes up the post of ambassador next week. You can follow him. I encourage you to follow him on social media, on the links, in this post,” continued the current ambassador. “Thank you very much for so much friendship, for so many friendships and see you later,” he concluded.
Last March, the British Government appointed the diplomat Alex Ellis as the new ambassador in Madrid, who until now held the position of High Commissioner of the United Kingdom in India, replacing Hugh Elliot, who represented his country in Spain since August 2019.
Alexander Wykeham Ellis was already posted at the British Embassy in Spain, between 2003 and 2005, as an advisor in charge of European Union issues and Global Affairs. Ellis, who began his diplomatic career in 1990, has a long professional career, which has led him to serve as ambassador to Portugal (from 2007 to 2010) and Brazil (from 2013 to 2017). Between those two positions, 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 that dealt with the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. This latter position may be useful to the new ambassador in addressing the pending issue of the future of Gibraltar as a result of Brexit.
The Gibraltar dispute was at the centre of one of Hugh Elliott’s most delicate moments at the head of the Embassy, after, in April last year, the former British Brexit Secretary, Dominque Raab, stated after leaving office that a senior British diplomat had put the sovereignty of the United Kingdom over the Rock at risk by exceeding the mandate given by the Government. The Daily Telegraph later stated that the senior diplomat cited was Ambassador Elliott, who had agreed during the course of the talks on the future of Gibraltar that the Spanish police authorities would have a permanent presence on the Rock if the Fence disappeared.
