 In 1964–65, he was head of the Department of Information Policy and Guidance, Commonwealth Relations Office, and in 1965–69 he was delegated from there to the Cabinet Office, where he was Secretary of the Joint Intelligence Committee, in which role he was succeeded by the intelligence officer Brian Stewart.From 1969-71, he was in Bonn, before acting as British ambassador in Saigon from 1972-74, during the Vietnam War, then Athens from 1974–78, after the military junta fell from power.He was deputy secretary to the Cabinet Office from 1978-80, Security Adviser to the Northern Ireland Office in 1980–81 and finally president of CSM Parliamentary Consultants from 1984 until his retirement in 1996.