At home at Homewood
The UK’s top diplomat in Wellington told everyone who would listen that she wanted the job. She had good reason.
The UK’s top diplomat in Wellington told everyone who would listen that she wanted the job. She had good reason.
When Laura Clarke took up the post of British High Commissioner to New Zealand in January, it was a homecoming of sorts. Clarke, a committed European now tasked with doing her bit to help explain Britain’s exit from the EU, has strong personal links to this country. Her husband, Toby Fisher, is a New Zealander.
Clarke and her three young children are now settled in at Homewood, the grand official residence in Karori, and will soon be joined by Fisher, who’s been winding up his barrister’s chambers in London. He will join the Crown Law Office in Wellington.
Wellington, once regarded as a preretirement posting, is now attracting younger high flyers. Clarke’s predecessor, Jonathan Sinclair, who returned to London to become the principal private secretary to British Foreign Secretary
Boris Johnson, was also a parent of young children at Homewood.
Clarke grew up in rural England and later studied at two of the UK’s leading universities, Cambridge and the London School of Economics.
What was country life in England like for a child?
I have a sister, who is two years older, and she and I had a completely idyllic childhood. A lovely house and garden, with animals, and my grandparents across the valley in the next village. My mother was mostly at home – she was there when I got home from school and when I was ill. My dad was a solicitor in a nearby town. It was a very innocent childhood. We used to roam the countryside with friends.
I went to the local primary school and the local grammar school. I was a studious child. I didn’t have a path mapped out for me and I also didn’t have role models of professional women. That took a bit of navigating.
In what way?
Well, what do you imagine for yourself as a girl? I remember an older relative asking me when I was about seven,
“Are you any good at maths, Laura?
No, I don’t suppose you are.” It had not occurred to me to wonder if I was any good at maths, but I then thought, “I’m probably not.” That was the culture for me and it took me a while to deal with the impostor syndrome – that feeling that every time I did well in my career I was sort of kidding people and didn’t really deserve the job.
“I had an idyllic childhood. A lovely house and garden, with animals, and my grandparents in the next village.”
When did the light bulb come on about being a diplomat?
It didn’t; I didn’t apply for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office because I didn’t think I would get in. I think that’s called a self-limiting belief. Instead, I joined another government department and was eventually seconded to the FCO. I got there by accident, really, and I love it. It’s the combination of the intellectual challenge – really big strategic thinking about things that matter in the world – and then people. Getting to know people and building relationships. There aren’t many jobs that give you both of those.
How did you and Toby meet?
We were at Cambridge at the same time, and used to see each other around but never met. When I did my masters at