diplomatic service

When contacted by AFP, the Taliban government's diplomatic service did not immediately comment.

All this while Olly Robbins, the head of the diplomatic service, is in China for long-planned meetings, months after Chancellor Rachel Reeves led a trip to the country to seek deeper trade ties, with Starmer still expected to become the first prime minister to visit the country since Theresa May in 2018, and with a decision looming over China's application to build a new embassy in central London.

Baruch, who was ambassador in South Africa a decade after the end of apartheid, resigned from the diplomatic service in 2011, saying he was no longer able to defend Israel's occupation.

Palmerston joined the diplomatic service in 2016 from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

In his four years as head of the Diplomatic Service, Sir Philip has served under five foreign secretaries: Dominic Raab, Liz Truss, James Cleverly, Lord Cameron and Lammy.