# Kathy Leach

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**Katherine "Kathy" Jane Leach** is a British diplomat,[1] serving since August 2025 as [British ambassador to Latvia](/source/List_of_ambassadors_of_the_United_Kingdom_to_Latvia).[2]

## Career to date

Leach joined the Foreign Office in 2000,[1] with a first international posting to Moscow for 2003–4, and a more substantive one to Tokyo as Head of the Energy and Environment team for 2007–11.[1]

Leach's first Ambassadorial posting was a joint one, replacing [Charles Lonsdale](/source/Charles_Lonsdale) as [Her Majesty's Ambassador in Yerevan](/source/List_of_ambassadors_of_the_United_Kingdom_to_Armenia) from 2012, shared with [Jonathan Aves](/source/Jonathan_Aves) by alternating every four months;[3] for the last year of her posting, Leach served in the role solo.[4] She was succeeded as ambassador to Armenia in 2015 by [Judith Farnworth](/source/Judith_Farnworth).[5]

Returning to London, Leach served then as the Head and later (promoted to [SMS](/source/Senior_Management_Service)) Deputy Director of the Policy Unit within the Foreign Office's Strategy Directorate, for 2015–2018. She worked as the Deputy Director responsible for Constitution and Devolution in the Europe Directorate during the final year or so of the [Brexit negotiations](/source/Brexit_negotiations) from 2019 until 2020.[1]

Leach returned to ambassadorial work in 2021 as [HMA, Astana](/source/List_of_ambassadors_of_the_United_Kingdom_to_Kazakhstan), succeeding [Michael Gifford](/source/Michael_Gifford).[6] Her four year tour ended in 2025 with her being followed as ambassador to Kazakhstan by [Sally Axworthy](/source/Sally_Axworthy).[7]

Most recently as of August 2025, Leach was appointed as [HMA, Riga](/source/List_of_ambassadors_of_the_United_Kingdom_to_Latvia), replacing [Paul Brummell](/source/Paul_Brummell) as ambassador to Latvia.[2]

## References

1. ["Leach, Katherine Jane, HM Diplomatic Service; Ambassador to Armenia, 2014–15 (Joint Ambassador, 2012–14)"](https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-267019), *Who's Who*, Oxford University Press, 2014-12-01, [doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u267019](https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u267019), retrieved 2025-08-24

1. ["Change of His Majesty's Ambassador to Latvia: Kathy Leach"](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/change-of-his-majestys-ambassador-to-latvia-kathy-leach). *GOV.UK*. Retrieved 2025-08-24.

1. ["The Ambassadors' biographies"](http://ukinarmenia.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/our-embassy/our-ambassador/current-hma). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20130215065038/http://ukinarmenia.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/our-embassy/our-ambassador/current-hma) 15 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2012-07-22., British Embassy Yerevan

1. ["British Ambassador to Armenia, Katherine Leach"](http://www.gov.uk/government/people/james-aves). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150819045208/http://www.gov.uk/government/people/james-aves) 19 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-07-16., gov.uk

1. ["British Ambassador to Armenia, Judith Margaret Farnworth"](https://www.gov.uk/government/people/judith-margaret-farnworth). gov.uk.

1. ["Kathy Leach"](https://www.gov.uk/government/people/katherine-leach)

1. ["Change of His Majesty's Ambassador to Kazakhstan: Sally Axworthy"](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/change-of-his-majestys-ambassador-to-kazakhstan-sally-axworthy). *GOV.UK*. Retrieved 2025-08-24.

## External links

- [Leach's page on GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/government/people/katherine-leach)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kathy Leach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Leach) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Leach?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.