Sir Brian is now retired after a career in the Diplomatic Service which took him to the United Nations in New York, Singapore, Athens, and NATO in Brussels before two assignments as Ambassador: to Serbia at the time of the Kosovo conflict, and to Zimbabwe during the land disputes of the early 2000s. He was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1997 and was knighted by the Queen in 2003. After leaving the Diplomatic Service he was a member, and later deputy Chair, of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission; a lay member of the Special  Immigration Appeals Commission; and a visiting Director of the Royal College of Defence Studies. 

Sir Brian believes that none of this would have been possible if Queen’s had not offered a path to Oxford – in his case through closed Scholarships – to students from working class backgrounds in Cumberland. This is why he is a strong supporter of the College’s current efforts to encourage applicants from Cumberland, as well as elsewhere, who might otherwise not have the opportunities he enjoyed.Â