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Foreign Secretary on expulsion of British High Commissioner to Malawi

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the expulsion of British High Commissioner to Malawi by the Malawian Government is "totally unacceptable and unwarranted".

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

“Mr Cochrane Dyet is an able and effective diplomat who has behaved with integrity throughout his posting to Lilongwe, and who retains the full confidence of the British Government. It is a worrying sign that the Malawian Government is expending its energies in this way, rather than focussing on the real and substantial challenges facing it, including the need for improved governance.

At my direction the FCO has today told the Acting High Commissioner of Malawi that she and her dependants must leave the UK at the earliest opportunity. I have also asked my officials, working closely with their colleagues elsewhere in government, to review rapidly the full range of our wider relationship with Malawi.”

Published 27 April 2011