Alison Blake

Blake was educated at Roan School for Girls and Merton College, Oxford, where she gained a MA degree in ancient and modern history in 1980. She worked as an archaeologist for the Museum of London, English Heritage and the Greater London Council 1983–87. She worked for the Ministry of Defence 1989–95 including a period as assistant private secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence. She then joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and was at the UK delegation to NATO in Brussels 1996–99; deputy head of the Eastern Adriatic Department at the FCO 1999–2001; at the embassy in Washington, D.C., 2001–05; on secondment to the Cabinet Office as Head of Foreign and Development Policy 2006–07; head of the Conflict Group at the FCO 2007–11; deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan 2011–14.[1] She became High Commissioner to Bangladesh in January 2016[2] and moved to become Ambassador to Afghanistan in May 2019.[3]

Blake was appointed CMG in the 2018 New Year Honours "for services to British foreign and security policy."[4]