Sir Robin Renwick

Robin Renwick’s diplomatic career included postings in Africa, India, and France and work on the settlement that brought independent Zimbabwe into being. As the Foreign Office official responsible for European Community affairs, he helped negotiate the British budget rebate agreed at Fontainebleau in 1984. His oral history identifies David Williamson and the French official Guy Legras as his counterparts in drafting the agreement, leaving the final percentage for Margaret Thatcher to negotiate. ^{1, 2}

As ambassador to South Africa from 1987 to 1991, Renwick developed contacts across the country’s political divisions. He held exchanges with the government and the African National Congress, including its leadership in exile. He knew both Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk during the transition away from apartheid. He also arranged Mandela’s July 1990 meeting with Thatcher in London, when British relations with the ANC were being reshaped. ^{3, 2}

In Washington from 1991 to 1995, Renwick built contacts with Bill Clinton’s campaign before the change of administration. He later recalled Jonathan Powell’s work establishing those connections. Relations nevertheless became strained over Bosnia and the American decision to grant Gerry Adams a visa. Renwick’s deputy Jeremy Greenstock subsequently told Parliament that such disagreements were serious, even when much of the argument remained private. ^{1, 4}

Renwick’s own account of the Bosnia crisis describes pressing Clinton after Srebrenica about the danger to other enclaves and arguing for a different allied approach. He also worked on the Uruguay Round trade negotiations and the dispute over California’s taxation of multinational companies. ¹

After retirement Renwick entered the House of Lords and took business and banking advisory roles. He wrote about Thatcher, Anglo-American relations, and South Africa, including a biography of Helen Suzman. He became a patron of her foundation in 2004 and remained involved in its work. His memoir Not Quite a Diplomat revisited the political leaders and negotiations of his career. He died in 2024. ^{3, 2}