Tom Phillips (diplomat)

Sir Tom Richard Vaughan Phillips KCMG (born 21 June 1950) is a diplomat who currently serves as Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies.

Educated at the University of Exeter, Jesus College, Oxford and Wolfson College, Oxford, Phillips spent three years as a journalist and then undertook diplomatic postings in Zimbabwe, Israel and the United States of America. Phillips became British High Commissioner to Uganda in 2000, UK Special Representative for Afghanistan in 2002 and British Ambassador to Israel in 2006. He went on to be British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2010 and Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies in 2014.

In 1986 Phillips married Anne de la Motte; they have two sons.