1963–1984: career beginnings Penfold's diplomatic career began as a clerical officer at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London in 1963. From 1970 to 1972, Penfold was a Latin American "floater"—part of a pool of five staff who could be sent to assist diplomatic missions to provide support during busy times or to cover for staff leave. Penfold's first assignment as Latin American floater was in
Mexico City, where he acted as vice consul during the football world cup while many of the diplomatic staff were in
Guadalajara, where the England national team were based. After the conclusion of the world cup, Penfold was sent to Ecuador, where he was responsible for overseeing renovation work to the ambassador's residence. He was in Ecuador for six months, after which he was sent to Uruguay to assist in the aftermath of the kidnapping of Ambassador
Geoffrey Jackson. Six weeks later, he was ordered to Paraguay, where the British mission was staffed by a single diplomat, for whom Penfold would cover while they took leave. Penfold's final posting as a "floater" was to
St Vincent, which at the time relied on the United Kingdom for defence and foreign policy matters. Three weeks after his arrival, the volcano on the island erupted, and Penfold was responsible for co-ordinating an evacuation by the
Royal Navy. Of his term as Latin American floater, Penfold stated that he found the variety of tasks he performed "valuable experience" for his later career.
1975–1987: Ethiopia and Uganda In 1975, while serving at the FCO, Penfold volunteered to learn a difficult language in the hope of advancing his career. After passing an aptitude test, he was assigned a professional language tutor and began learning
Amharic—the official language of Ethiopia—and after six weeks of tuition, was sent to
Gondar to continue learning the language by living in Ethiopia. Shortly after, he was posted to
Addis Ababa as
second secretary, because the British ambassador to Ethiopia,
Sir Willie Morris, was keen to have an Amharic-speaking second secretary. Penfold was responsible for monitoring and reporting on internal Ethiopian affairs and the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU), as the latter was based in Addis. As part of the role, Penfold was required to attend and report on meetings of the OAU, which took place all over Africa. On the instruction of Foreign Secretary
David Owen, Penfold met with the leaders of the independence movement in
Southern Rhodesia (modern-day
Zimbabwe) at an OAU conference in
Gabon in 1977. There he met separately with
Bishop Muzorewa,
Joshua Nkomo, and
Robert Mugabe. Penfold believed Mugabe to be difficult to work with, but later stated that it should have been obvious that Mugabe would come to power in Zimbabwe and that the British government could have made a greater effort to work with him. Penfold's tenure in Ethiopia coincided with the
Eritrean War of Independence, which Penfold was responsible for monitoring. To that end, he was required to covertly meet with Eritrean informants, sometimes smuggling them back to the British compound in the boot of his car, to keep up to date on the progress of the war. Penfold was also in the country during the
Ethiopian Revolution, in which the pro-Western Emperor
Haile Selassie I was overthrown by a faction of the military—which became the
Derg—sympathetic to the Soviet Union. He remained in Ethiopia until 1978, when he was sent to
Port of Spain as information officer, with responsibility for editing a magazine aimed at promoting British trade. Penfold returned to London in 1981, serving as first secretary in the West Africa Department of the FCO. At the time, the FCO had two career "streams"—one for non-graduates and a faster one for university graduates—and during his time in the West Africa Department, Penfold "bridged" into the faster stream. After "bridging", Penfold was promoted and posted to
Kampala, Uganda, in 1984 as deputy high commissioner. As shooting broke out on the outskirts of Kampala, Obote fled the country along with most of his ministers, leaving the country in chaos. The following day, Penfold travelled into the city centre with the American and UN representatives to determine who was in charge of the country and make contact with the new regime. He met a Ugandan Army major, to whom he expressed his concerns about the security situation and explained that foreign citizens would likely be evacuated, which happened three days later when Penfold led an evacuation by road to Kenya. Although most foreign citizens had left, Penfold kept the British High Commission open and all the staff remained. The Ugandan military began forming a government and attempted to include all tribes in the country, to which end Penfold assisted by meeting with
Yoweri Museveni, leader of the
National Resistance Army. Museveni refused to join the government and six months later led another coup and declared himself president. Penfold was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1986. In the years before and during Penfold's tenure, the British dependencies had been the subject of several diplomatic incidents and were causing problems for the British government, to whom the international community looked to resolve problems with its dependent territories. The FCO had struggled to find new governors for the territories since the winding-up of the
Colonial Service—which had historically provided most governors and many civil servants—in the 1960s. Thus, Penfold recommended in a policy paper that the Diplomatic Service be considered as a recruiting pool, and that governors be recruited earlier in their career rather than at the end. He also identified several posts which could be used for training potential governors, including the one he occupied and deputy governor posts such as that in Bermuda. The government accepted Penfold's recommendations, to the extent that he was appointed
Governor of the British Virgin Islands in 1991, which, at the age of 48, made him the youngest serving governor of a British territory. The governor represents the monarch and the British government, as well as presiding over the cabinet, but is also required to swear an oath to the constitution of the territory, which Penfold believed complicated the governor's role as a representative of the British government. Among Penfold's duties as governor was the purchase of an aeroplane to assist in combating drug smuggling through the territory and assisting in establishing the British Virgin Islands as an offshore financial centre; the number of registered companies in the Islands rose to 35,000 (more than double the population) during Penfold's tenure. As governor, Penfold became increasingly aware of growing resentment among the citizens of the British dependencies regarding their rights of entry and abode in the UK. He proposed that the territories be renamed "
British overseas territories", and that their citizens be given equal rights of entry and abode—proposals that were eventually accepted. At the end of Penfold's term, a constitutional crisis arose after Chief Minister
Hamilton Lavity Stoutt died suddenly. The constitution of the territory contained no provision for the chief minister dying in office, and the death left the governing party without a majority in the assembly, so Penfold asked Deputy Chief Minister
Ralph O'Neal to become "Chief Minister ad interim" to provide political stability. Penfold was appointed a
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the
1995 Birthday Honours for his service in the British Virgin Islands. After he had completed his term as governor in 1996, the FCO struggled to find a post for Penfold, so they appointed him to the newly created post of special drugs adviser to the Caribbean, in which he worked as part of a team of advisers from across the European Union assisting Caribbean governments in developing policies to combat the smuggling of illegal drugs. ==Sierra Leone==