The Electronic Telegraph 25 April 1995 HOME NEWS
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Sir John, 53, will replace Sir Robin Renwick, 57, who is leaving the Diplomatic Service to work in the City.
His appointment was widely predicted. He served as Head of Chancery in Washington in the 1980s before winning Mr Major's esteem as one of the architects of Britain's opt-outs in the Maastricht Treaty.
He will be replaced in Brussels by Stephen Wall, currently ambassador to Portugal.
Sir Robin's four years in the United States, during which he has had to weather the stormy state of the "special relationship", followed another testing posting as Ambassador to South Africa.
Sir John's closeness to Mr Major - Sir Robin was likewise close to Mrs Thatcher - will be called upon to patch up some of the disagreements between the Government and the Clinton administration, particularly over Northern Ireland.
The negotiating skills honed in the corridors of Brussels, which led to his being nicknamed Machiavelli, will also be useful.
Less popular in America's anti-smoking climate may be his other most notorious trait: his habit of sustaining his workload with heavy consumption of cigarettes.
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