Jeremy Varcoe

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Person.png Jeremy Varcoe   FacebookRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(diplomat)
Jeremy Varcoe.jpg
BornJeremy Richard Lovering Grosvenor Varcoe
20 September 1937
Alma materCharterhouse School, Lincoln College (Oxford)
Children2
Spouse • Wendy Anne Moss (dec'd 1991)
• Ruth Varcoe
In 2004, Jeremy Varcoe was one of 50 former ambassadors who signed a letter to Tony Blair urging him to distance Britain from US policy in the Middle East

Employment.png UK/Judge

In office
1998 - 2007

Jeremy Varcoe (born 20 September 1937) is a former British diplomat, who was also a Judge at the Immigration Appeals Tribunal. He lives with his wife, Ruth, at Lemail, near St Mabyn, is chairman of the Cornwall branch of the English Speaking Union and chairs the trustees of the St Francis Home for Animals at Porth.

Jeremy Varcoe is vice-chair of the Camel Valley and Bodmin Moor Protection Society which works to improve and protect the towns, villages and countryside within the society's map.[1]

Education

Jeremy Varcoe was educated at Charterhouse School in Surrey, and at Lincoln College, Oxford. He served in HM Forces 1956-58 and in HMOCS (Swaziland) 1962-65. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1966.

Diplomatic career

Jeremy Varcoe joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as First Secretary in 1970. He was seconded as Deputy Secretary-General to the Pearce Commission on Rhodesian Opinion in 1972. Later that year, he was posted to Ankara. In 1974, he was posted to Lusaka as Head of Chancery, returning to London in 1978. He was appointed Counsellor at Kuala Lumpur in 1979. Jeremy Varcoe was appointed Head of the FCO's Southern African Department in 1982. Following the Coventry Four affair in March 1984, he was sent as Counsellor to Ankara. Varcoe was seconded to Standard Chartered Bank in 1985.[2]

Subsequently, Jeremy Varcoe was appointed Ambassador to Somalia in 1987. He coordinated the 17th G8 summit at Lancaster House in 1991, and later served as Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the FCO until he retired in 1997.

Post retirement

In 2004, Jeremy Varcoe was one of 50 former ambassadors who signed a letter to Tony Blair urging him to distance Britain from US policy in the Middle East.[3] He became an Immigration Appeals Tribunal Judge in 1998 but was forced to retire in 2007 at the age of 70. Varcoe then sued the Ministry of Justice for discriminating against him on account of his age.[4]

Tilting at windmills

Responding to Patrick Haseldine's birthday greetings on 20 September 2015 on Facebook, Jeremy Varcoe wrote:

Many thanks Patrick. Older but not wiser I fear. I now, like you, tilt at windmills, only mine are actual, namely the proliferation of wind turbines across Cornwall.
I found the Wikispooks thread on Lockerbie fascinating reading but I still find myself undecided on the truth. With best wishes.[5]

Family

In 1961, he married Wendy Anne Moss who died in 1991. They had two daughters (1964 and 1966). He married Ruth Varcoe in 1995.

References