Sir John Grant joined the Diplomatic Service in 1976, and served in Stockholm, Moscow and London before being posted, as UK press spokesman, to Brussels in 1989. Two years in that job were followed by six more years on EU issues working on matters such as the enlargement of the EU, and the development of the EU’s common foreign and security policy.

In 1997, he was appointed Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and in 1999, Ambassador to Stockholm. In 2003, after four years in Sweden, he was appointed Permanent Representative to the EU. He served for four years in that role, which covered the period of the British Presidency of the EU in 2005 when he chaired the EU’s Committee of Permanent Representatives.