Breakfast with British Ambassador to Spain Hugh Elliott
- Posted by Amy Bell
- On May 29, 2024
BritishSpanish Society chairman Jimmy Burns catches up with Hugh Elliott, who is leaving Madrid after five years in post, savouring the senior diplomat’s delicious home-made marmalade and sipping similarly restorative café
The ‘mano a mano’ meeting is in the Ambassador’s official residence, discreet and elegant, in the leafy residential neighbourhood of Puerta Hierro.
The residence has served as a welcoming location to many Brits and Spanish friends over the years, not least members of the BritishSpanish Society, who each September celebrate their autumn reception there generously hosted by the ambassador as honorary president in Spain of our charity.
Our breakfast by mutual agreement is not a cooked English. Whenever I am back in Madrid, the city where I was born, my mornings are normally taken up recovering from generous lunches and dinners the evening before, so I am more than happy to follow Hugh’s healthy diet and go for a strong café, orange juice, croissant and toast.
The culinary pièce de resistance is the home-made marmalade, lovingly processed by Hugh himself with Seville oranges and a secret British recipe, which the ambassador inherited from his late grandmother.
I recall that it was some five years ago when Hugh had just been posted as ambassador to Spain that we had an earlier conversation for La Revista. It was during the first year of the pandemic. Travel and most forms of direct human contact were restricted, so I contacted him from London via the internet and zoomed.
The world was in unchartered waters, with no one really knowing how impactful the pandemic would be or how long it would last. Then it was Brexit with successive British Conservative governments proceeding in ways many would find difficult to understand let alone justify.
As an Anglo-Spaniard, I felt bereft, much as the child must feel when his parents go into a messy divorce and the links to a familiar comfort zone of mutual respect and belonging are cut asunder.
In Hugh however I found elements of a kindred spirit- he having married a Spaniard Antonia he had first met when first discovering Spain in his youth while riding a bicycle. He spoke good Spanish.
His ambassadorial posting to Madrid followed good preparation in the private and voluntary sector, and at the Foreign Office, which still produces some of the best diplomats in the world.
Hugh has had to navigate stormy waters, more challenging than any faced by his recent predecessors: the pandemic, Brexit, not to mention complex negotiations on the future of Gibraltar – that thorny competing sovereignty issue that is the historic elephant in the room when it comes to Anglo-Spanish relations.
He has done so extremely well, keeping a cool head, with precise thinking and retaining, when appropriate, a good dose of that diplomatic palliative which is the English sense of humour, and the support of friends and his family, not least his wife, familiarly known as Toni, who, coming from Salamanca, has her feet firmly grounded while open to human compassion and dialogue.
We wish Hugh all the best on his next posting to London, knowing that he will remain a much respected and honorary member of the BSS.
But first, here were the questions I put to him, and his answers.
What is your proudest achievement during your time as ambassador to Spain?
Achievements in jobs like this are not personal: they are team achievements. I am very proud of the way the whole team in the British Embassy, and our eight Consulates around Spain, responded to the double challenge of Brexit and the Covid pandemic, supporting British residents and visitors alike, helping businesses navigate ever-changing rules, often under considerable pressure. That was a real once-in-a-generation crisis which I will always remember. However, there are also lots of other achievements that have made a big difference to our relationship, such as the recent education agreement and moments where British and Spanish law enforcement have worked together to achieve big operational successes. I’ve also been very proud to see record numbers of English language students come to Spain and huge investments between our two countries, which my team have helped to support, during my time here.
What has been your greatest challenge ?
Communicating and explaining all of these changes, over a period of several years, has not been entirely straightforward. And like everyone else, moving all our people to nearly 100 per cent remote working practically overnight, while maintaining all our services and keeping our staff safe was a huge challenge. Finally, there is the ever present “not enough hours in the day” challenge which, given the breadth and diversity of the bilateral relationship and Spain as a country, I have thought of most days!
What will you miss most of your time in Spain?
I have been coming to Spain nearly every year for 40 years now, and with so many friends and family here will continue to do so. So some of the things I might miss, I will have the chance to return to. But I will miss the sheer variety and responsibility of the job, and the opportunity it has given to my wife and I to meet so many wonderful people from such different walks of life, in Spanish and British communities.
Your favourite Spanish dish?
Five years on, I am still looking for the perfect croqueta. Having tried many, including the paella-chorizo version.
Your favourite Spanish holiday?
An impossible question, because there are so many beautiful parts of this country. But I do particularly remember a tour in the 1990s of the full length of the North of Spain, ending at the Costa de la Muerte, including a memorably atmospheric visit to the Cementerio de los Ingleses, where those who died in the Iris Hull and HMS Serpent are buried, so close to the coast, as dusk fell and the mist rose. There is a reason so many millions of Britons visit Spain every year and, in doing so, they make a significant 1.5 per cent contribution to Spain’s GDP.
What have you missed most about life in the UK?
A decent pint of bitter is hard to come by in Madrid. Or pretty much anywhere else in Spain for that matter.
Your hopes for the future of Anglo-Spanish relations?
Those relations are, and will remain warm, close and productive: there is so much that binds us together, including our common values and shared outlook as maritime, free-trading nations. The 800,000 plus total Spaniards and Brits who live in each others’ countries, and the 20 million or so total visitors to each other’s country a year are testament to this, and to a truly enduring friendship. We have a a bit of work to do to get Spanish visitors to the UK up towards the extraordinary numbers that travel the other way – more than to any country in the world. A deal on Gibraltar would also be great!
Any comments on the work of the BritishSpanish Society?
I am hardly the most impartial commentator, as I was already an active supporter before this job was even on the horizon. I think you do a wonderful job bringing together the peoples of our two countries, celebrating all that unites us, and investing through your charitable work in education so that these links will continue to strengthen over time. I look forward to continuing to support all that you do in the future.
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