OPINION: The woman flying Britain’s flag in the middle of a war
Jenni Frazer on the increasingly impressive British diplomat Melinda Simmons, Britain’s woman in Ukraine.
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
I had planned to write something this week about the forthcoming Israeli elections, but quite honestly I haven’t the heart. All I’ve seen are increasingly depressing images of that lunatic racist Itamar Ben-Gvir stirring up trouble, and a manically grinning Netanyahu doing the rounds of American chat shows and getting knee-jerk responses from ignorant studio audiences. Even Bibi can’t believe there are many votes there.
Instead, I would like to commend for your attention the increasingly impressive British diplomat Melinda Simmons, Britain’s woman in Ukraine.
Her Excellency, who spent a year learning Ukrainian before her posting as ambassador in September 2019, has the country in her blood — almost literally.
She told Jewish News: “My great-grandparents were born and raised in Kharkiv, Ukraine. My great-grandfather moved first to Kyiv and then to the US. My great-grandmother, for reasons we don’t know, went from Kharkiv to Cardiff.”
Unfortunately, because of the Russian invasion in February this year, the names of cities such as Kharkiv have become depressingly familiar to British readers.
Simmons — almost uniquely for a British diplomat — makes no secret of her strong Jewish identity. I say almost, because the ground-breaker in this regard was, of course, Britain’s former UK ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould.
Perhaps Gould’s uncompromising Jewish profile made it easier for Simmons, who, when she embarked on her Ukrainian role, could have had no idea of the pivotal importance of her ambassadorship.
Long before her diplomatic career began, the future envoy was a “macher-in-the-making” as an MOP — Member of Praesidium — of the European Union of Jewish Students. She helped to make EUJS policy and it became clear, even in those days, she was someone to watch.
She moved up the diplomatic ladder gradually, marrying along the way and having a family, and — though raised originally in a United synagogue home — becoming a enthusiastic member of Finchley Reform Synagogue, a community with which she has said she felt very comfortable.
Of the many qualities asked of an ambassador, personal physical courage is not often high on the list, unless the diplomat in question is posted to a hotspot country. That was not the case for Ukraine in 2019 but it certainly became so in February 2022 when Russian tanks and missiles bombarded Ukrainian cities, particularly the capital, Kyiv.
Simmons and the embassy staff very briefly left Kyiv in February and departed the country in March. But by the end of April, she was back in play in Kyiv, and is said to be greatly admired by President Zelensky for her decision to stay put in the capital, while fellow diplomats, from countries such as the USA and Australia, had departed, to run their embassies remotely.
Ambassador Simmons is a calm and pragmatic presence at the British Embassy in Kyiv, maintaining a high profile on social media. At the beginning of this week she posted a Twitter picture of herself in the Ukraine capital, shaking the lulav for Succot.
“During a war,” she wrote, “these traditions are more meaningful than ever.”
So Britain is extremely lucky to have a tough, brave and smart Jewish woman representing our country’s interests in Ukraine. We can be justly proud of her.
The more I think about it, the more I think she’d make a brilliant successor to Neil Wigan in Tel Aviv.
How about it, dear Foreign Office?
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