Sir Keir Starmer has been presented with a big dilemma over who to appoint as Britain’s next ambassador to the US, after a surprise last-minute entry into the fray by Nigel Casey, UK envoy to Moscow.
Officials close to the process said the prime minister was agonising over whether to pick Casey, a career diplomat and national security expert, or Varun Chandra, Downing Street’s business adviser, who has just sealed a pharmaceutical deal with Washington.
“It comes down to the question: does the PM want to prioritise growth, in which case he’d go for Varun, or does he put in place a national security ambassador?” said one person close to the appointment process.