Mr Austen took up his appointment as Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Panama City in November 2006

Mr Austen entered the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1981. He has served in Dar es Salaam (1983/87), Ottawa (1987/90), Banjul (1993/6), Port Louis (2001/3) and Ulaanbaatar (2004/6). The last of these was as Her Majesty’s Ambassador.

Mr Austen has served in the following jobs in London:

Desk Officer in Consular Department (1981/2)
Desk Officer for Bahrain and Qatar, Middle East Department (1982/3)
Inward Visits Officer, Protocol Department (1990/93)
Desk Officer, Permanent Under Secretary’s Department (1996/7)
Deputy Head of Conference Department (1997/8)
Head of Southern Cone section, Latin American and Caribbean Department (1998/2001)
Iraq Emergency Unit and Iraq Inquiry Unit (2003)

Mr Austen’s interests include walking, travel and religion. He is single.