Westmacott joined the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1972, and his first overseas posting was as
Second Secretary at
Tehran,
Iran, in 1974. In 1978, he was sent to the
European Commission in Brussels, and from 1980 to 1984 he was in Paris. After a period in London he was in
Ankara as Head of
Chancery from 1987. In 1990, he was
Deputy Private Secretary to
the Prince of Wales, and in 1993 was sent to
Washington to serve as a
Counsellor. Later postings included Director for the Americas in the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and
Deputy Under Secretary of State. From 2002 to 2006, Westmacott was
HM Ambassador to Turkey. Formerly
HM Ambassador to France since 2007, Westmacott took over as
HM Ambassador to the United States in January 2012. In 2015, Westmacott was paid a salary of between £170,000 and £174,999 by the Foreign Office, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time. == Personal life ==