
Sir John Jenkins
Senior Fellow
Sir John Jenkins has enjoyed a 35 year career in the British Diplomatic Service. He holds a BA (Double First Class Honours) and a Ph.D from Jesus College, Cambridge. He also studied at The School of Oriental and African Studies in London (Arabic and Burmese) and through the FCO with the London and Ashridge Business Schools. He is an alumnus of the Salzburg Seminar. He joined the FCO in 1980 and served in Abu Dhabi (1983-86), Malaysia (1989-92) and Kuwait (1995-98) before being appointed Ambassador to Burma (1999-2002). He was subsequently HM Consul-General, Jerusalem (2003-06), Ambassador to Syria (2006-07), FCO Director for the Middle East and North Africa (2007-09), Ambassador to Iraq (2009-11), Special Representative to the National Transitional Council and subsequently Ambassador to Libya (2011) and Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2012-2015). He took an active part in Sir John Chilcott’s Iraq Inquiry and was asked by the Prime Minister in March 2014 to lead a Policy Review into the Muslim Brotherhood and Political Islamism. Until his departure from the FCO he was the government’s senior diplomatic Arabist. Most recently, Sir John was Executive Director of The Institute for Strategic Studies – Middle East (2015-2017) and a Senior Fellow at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs (2017).

Related Posts & Publications


On Islamophobia
by Sir John Jenkins | May 15, 2019
Related Content The Problem of Definition The question of ‘Islamophobia’ has risen to the top of the political agenda. Calls for an inquiry into the alleged pervasiveness of ‘Islamophobic’ sentiment within the Conservative Party have been paralleled by demands for the...
Defining Islamophobia
by Sir John Jenkins | Dec 20, 2018
Related Content Policy Exchange Research Note on Defining Islamophobia A new definition of Islamophobia proposed by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims would “make life harder” for Muslims in the UK and reduce them to “the status of perpetual...
Engaging with Islamists: what makes us think it will ever work?
by Sir John Jenkins | Aug 8, 2017
I was struck a couple of days ago by a tweet from Ennahda, the largest Islamist political party in Tunisia showing its leader, Rashid al Ghannouchi, meeting Alistair Burt, who was recently reappointed as a Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth...
A State of Extremes
by Sir John Jenkins | Jun 12, 2017
By Sir John Jenkins Recent events in Manchester, London, the Gulf, Mosul, Raqqa and Libya highlight the fragmentary nature of western policy responses to mobilised Islamism and all its works. Domestically in the UK this has been a public concern at least since the...Support Us
Policy Projects
Policy Areas
- Crime and Justice
- Demography, Immigration and Integration
- Economics and Social Policy
- Education
- Environment and Energy
- Foreign Policy and Security
- Government and Politics
- Health and Social Care
- Housing and Urban Regeneration
- Industrial Strategy
- International Trade
- Security and Extremism
- Space
- Technology
Latest Tweets
LIVE NOW: ‘2034: A Novel of the Next World War’ by Admiral James Stavridis in conversation with General David Petraeus, Chaired by Air Marshal Edward Stringer - @stavridisj @edwardstrngr twitter.com/i/broadc…
RT @ConHome From Robert Ede & Sean Phillips of @Policy_Exchange: The Government faces an election run-up monopolised by reports of NHS waiting times and delays bit.ly/2QaN2U4
RT @Robert_WH_Ede The Government has a packed reform agenda in health and social care. But is it all achievable, as wider political pressure on waiting times and access builds up? @SeanPhillips91 and I have explored whether something might have to give. twitter.com/ConHome/…
RT @PaulGoodmanCH From Stephen Booth of @Policy_Exchange on @ConHome: @CDUMerkel's departure will be @EmmanuelMacron's opportunity – an opening for his dreams of an even closer Union bit.ly/3cWJ6yW
RT @BenMcAleenan This week the G7's finance ministers met to discuss a 'green agenda' for the summit (hosted by UK). Here's @Policy_Exchange's recent paper by me and @bencaldecott, setting out how the UK should use diplomatic summits in 2021 to lead green finance reform: policyexchange.org.u…