Tom Phillips has served as British Ambassador to Israel since August 2006. This is Ambassador Phillips’ second tour of duty in Israel: he served as consul general and deputy head of mission in Tel Aviv in 1990-1993.

Ambassador Phillips arrived in Israel after serving for four years as the Director responsible for Afghanistan and South Asia at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This job involved frequent travel to the region, particularly to Afghanistan.

Before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, he worked as a journalist and in the Department of Health and Social Security. His career in the Foreign Office began in 1983, as a desk officer in the Energy, Science and Space Department. From 1985 to 1988, he was first secretary at the British High Commission in Harare, before returning to London to serve as deputy head of the Personnel Policy Department at the Foreign Office.

Following his first posting to Tel Aviv in 1993, Ambassador Phillips served as Counsellor (External) at the British Embassy in Washington, where he was able to stay closely in touch with events in the Middle East. Returning to London in 1997, he headed the Foreign Office’s Eastern Adriatic Department through the period of the Kosovo crisis. In 2000, he was briefly on secondment to the pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beecham (now Glaxo SmithKline), working in London and Nairobi. From 2000-2002, he served as High Commissioner to Kampala.

Ambassador Phillips was born in Portsmouth, England. He studied literature at Exeter University and Oxford. He and his wife Anne have two sons.