Richard Dalton (diplomat)

Sir Richard John Dalton (born 10 October 1948) was a senior member of the British Diplomatic Service until he retired in 2006. His assignments included British Ambassador to Libya and Iran. He is currently an Associate Fellow at Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Programme. He was knighted KCMG in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Dalton joined HM Diplomatic Service in 1970, went to study Arabic at MECAS in the Lebanon and was posted as Second Secretary to Amman in 1973. His next posting was as Second Secretary, later First Secretary, to UKMIS New York in 1975, and he returned to the FCO four years later. In 1983, Dalton gave notice to Personnel Department that he intended to stand as Conservative candidate for the Richmond, North Yorkshire constituency in the 1983 general election. However, he withdrew his candidacy for the seat before the story broke of his sister-in-law Sara Keays' affair with Trade and Industry Secretary Cecil Parkinson, and was posted as Head of Chancery to Muscat, Oman, in 1983.

In her 1985 book A Question of Judgement, Sara Keays wrote "You've got to bear in mind that my brother-in-law Richard is a diplomat". From 1993 to 1997, Dalton was Consul-General in Jerusalem effectively becoming Ambassador to the Palestinian Authority during the early years of the Middle East peace process. He was appointed Head of Personnel in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1998, and was sent as Britain's Ambassador to Libya in 1999, when diplomatic relations were resumed after a 17-year break. Between 2003 and 2006, Dalton was ambassador to Iran.

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