Harriet Thompson
Biography
Harriet Thompson is the British High Commissioner for Ghana, arriving in June 2021, and is also the Non-Resident Ambassador to Benin and Non-Resident High Commissioner to Togo.
Before her arrival in Ghana, Ms Thompson was the British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Nigeria where she led a large and growing mission covering the full spectrum of the UK’s work in the country, with a particular focus on commercial and economic development. She arrived in Lagos in July 2019 after nearly 3 years as British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria in Abuja.
Previously Ms Thompson enjoyed a varied career working across the British Government, leading policy and programmes across trade, energy, climate change and other areas. She negotiated trade policy at the UK’s Permanent Representation to the EU, led the UK delegation to the UNFCCC climate change negotiations, led the UK’s strategy to counter serious and organised crime, and ran a major change programme at HM Revenue and Customs to create the Fraud Investigation Service.
Outside of government, she was an embedded secondee advising the Minister of Agriculture, Sierra Leone, working for the Africa Governance Initiative.
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British High Commissioner to Ghana
The High Commissioner is the UK government’s representative in a Commonwealth nation. They are responsible for the direction and work of the High Commission and its Deputy High Commissions and/or Consulates, including political work, trade and investment, press and cultural relations, and visa and consular services.