Winning the Windrush battle

Guy Hewitt describes how ‘guerrilla diplomacy’ helped save the day

The World Today Updated 10 November 2020 3 minute READ

Guy Hewitt

High Commissioner for Barbados to the United Kingdom

When the government of Barbados offered me the post of High Commissioner in London, I was so daunted at the prospect that I did not have the courage to ask the key question: Why me? At 46, I had no diplomatic experience and my varied CV − doing technical work for the Commonwealth and the Caribbean Community, administering charities and public bodies and serving as an Anglican priest − hardly fitted me to serve as envoy to the Court of St James.

Now, three and a half years later, and having played a role in highlighting the Windrush Generation scandal that rocked the British government in April, I am finally comfortable referring to myself as a diplomat, and proudly as a guerrilla diplomat.

Why guerrilla? The term is borrowed from an engaging book, Guerrilla Diplomacy: Rethinking International Relations by Daryl Copeland, a retired Canadian diplomat who sets out to reinvigorate the craft.

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