Ehrman joined the British Diplomatic Service in 1973 and had postings in
Beijing,
New York and
Hong Kong. He was Principal Private Secretary to three Foreign Secretaries from 1995 to 1997 and the
British Ambassador to Luxembourg from 1998 to 2000. He was the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Director General for Defence and Intelligence between 2002 and 2004, before becoming Chairman of the United Kingdom's Joint Intelligence Committee from 2004 to 2005 and
British Ambassador to China from 2006 to 2010. ==Personal life==