On Friday 7 February, the UK government announced, in a press release, the appointment of Dame Karen Pierce as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the United States of America. She will be the first woman to occupy this position and is replacing Sir Kim Darroch, who resigned in 2019 after leaked emails revealed his description of President Donald Trump’s administration as “clumsy and inept.”
Pierce graduated with Distinction from LSE IDEAS’ Executive MSc International Strategy and Diplomacy in 2012. Following Pierce’s appointment, Professor Michael Cox, LSE IDEAS Director said: “All of us here in LSE IDEAS are absolutely delighted that Dame Karen Pierce – one of the very first students to study on our Executive Masters in International Strategy and Diplomacy – has been appointed to this critically important post at this most crucial of moments in the Anglo-American relationship. We wish her the very best in her new role in Washington.”
Currently, Pierce is the UK’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, since March 2018. Before this, she served as the Director-General for Political Affairs and Chief Operating Officer of the Foreign and Commonwealth in London.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter: “I can think of no better person to drive forward our hugely important relationship with the United States at this time.” Commenting on her appointment, Pierce called the UK’s relationship with the US the country’s “single most important relationship” and said she looks forward to working towards strengthening this “special relationship between our two countries and two peoples.”
