Britain replaces ambassador who angered Iraq with 'bleak' portrayal

Stephen Hitchen leaves post weeks after Iraq summoned British charge d'affaires in diplomatic row

Stephen Hitchen will be moving to a different diplomatic post after 15 months in Baghdad. Pawan Singh / The National

Britain has replaced its ambassador to Iraq weeks after he angered the government in Baghdad with what it called a bleak portrayal of the country.

The Foreign Office said Stephen Hitchen was moving to a different diplomatic post after 15 months in Baghdad. His successor, Irfan Siddiq, is cutting short a term as British high commissioner in Cyprus to take over the embassy in Iraq.

Iraq accused Mr Hitchen of interfering in its internal affairs after he suggested in August visitors might not feel safe in the country due to threats from militias. A British charge d'affaires was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Baghdad.

The British embassy said Mr Hitchen's remarks were misunderstood. He told Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw that the security situation in Iraq had improved “a hundred times” but that there were threats to British nationals and the ambassador personally from militias who “do not like us”.

Tourism doubts

“It is very difficult for me to encourage, for example my relatives, to come to Iraq if there are threats. This is part of the problem that comes with security chaos and not controlling weapons in the country,” Mr Hitchen said. He said he looked forward “to the day tourism returns in large numbers to your beautiful country” but that “the issue of tourism is that it depends on the security of the country”.

The Iraqi ministry said his remarks reflected “a bleak image of Iraq, its government and components”, according to a state-run news agency. It accused him of “interference in internal affairs and a departure from the diplomatic duties assigned to the ambassador”.

A British embassy representative said it was “unfortunate some of our ambassador’s comments have been misunderstood out of context”. They said the “relationship with the Iraqi state is a deep and long-standing one, built today on a modern, forward-looking partnership”.

Mr Hitchen, who took up his post in July last year, was previously posted to Jordan, Egypt and Kuwait and worked for a Foreign Office department covering the Middle East and North Africa.

His successor, Mr Siddiq, is a former British ambassador in Sudan. While in Khartoum, he was accused of interfering in Sudanese affairs by criticising the slow pace of democratic change after the fall of long-time president Omar Al Bashir. He said he was “perfectly happy to accept such criticism”.

“I see an obligation to use my privileged position to try to support positive change,” Mr Siddiq said in remarks on leaving his post in Sudan in 2021. “What is the point of having influence, if you don’t try to use this influence for good?”