Leigh Turner

His Excellency Leigh Turner CMG
British Ambassador to Austria
In office 2016–2021
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Theresa May Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Susan le Jeune d'Allegeershecque
Succeeded by	Lindsay Skoll
British Ambassador to Ukraine
In office 2008–2012
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown David Cameron
Preceded by	Tim Barrow
Succeeded by	Simon Smith
Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory and the British Antarctic Territory
In office 2006–2008
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Tony Blair Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Tony Crombie
Succeeded by	Colin Roberts
Personal details
Born	(1958-03-13) 13 March 1958 (age 66)[1]
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Cambridge University
Occupation	Writer

Robert Leigh Turner CMG (born 13 March 1958) is a writer and British former diplomat. His final role was British Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna from August 2016 to September 2021.^[2]

From September 2012 to July 2016 Turner was British Consul-General in Istanbul, a post which included responsibility for UK Trade and Investment work in Turkey, South Caucasus, Central Asia and Ukraine. From June 2008 to July 2012 he was British ambassador to Ukraine, resident in Kyiv. From 2006 to 2008 he was Director, Overseas Territories in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Commissioner of the British Antarctic Territory; and Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Born in March 1958, he graduated from Downing College, Cambridge in 1979, joining the Civil Service as an administrative trainee the same year. After working in the Departments of Transport and Environment, and the Treasury, he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1983 and had postings in Austria, Russia, Germany, Ukraine and Turkey before returning to Vienna.^[3]

Whilst on unpaid leave, between 2002 and 2006, he wrote travel articles for the Financial Times, The Boston Globe and other newspapers.

Turner was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to British interests in Ukraine and Turkey.^[4]

Turner was succeeded as Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna by Lindsay Skoll in September 2021. He then retired from the Diplomatic Service.^[5]

As Ambassador, Turner wrote and published fiction under the name Robert Pimm. Since his retirement he continues to write a blog^[6] and has published several novels and a collection of short stories^[7] under his own name. He published "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Diplomacy - Wie Diplomatie die Welt erklärt", a diplomatic and life handbook published in German by Czernin Verlag, Vienna in 2023; this was republished in English as "Lessons in Diplomacy Politics, Power and Parties" by Policy Press in September 2024.^[8]

• Leigh Turner on Twitter
• English blog
• Writing Blog