Background
Darroch was born in County Durham on 30 April 1954.
Darroch was born in County Durham on 30 April 1954.
He was educated at Abingdon School and at Durham University, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology.
Darroch joined the Foreign Office in 1976 after graduation, and was appointed to the Diplomatic Service in 1980 to serve as a First Secretary in Tokyo from 1980–1984. He served in a number of posts, including as desk officer for the Channel Tunnel project and co-secretary of the United Kingdom-French Channel Tunnel Treaty Group, as private secretary to David Mellor and then The Lord Glenarthur as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office"s Minister of State from 1987-1989, and as Counsellor for External Affairs at the British Permanent Representative to the European Union for a year before being promoted to Director as head of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office"s press office in 1998. In 2000, Darroch moved back to policy work as Director of European Union Comd, and in 2003 promoted further to be Director-General, Europe.
In 2004 he transferred to Downing Street as Head of the Cabinet Office European Secretariat, where he served as the Prime Minister"s principal advisor on European affairs
After three years, Darroch was appointed to replace Sir John Grant in Brussels as British Permanent Representative to the European Union in 2007, for a term of four years. Sir Kim served as the British government"s second National Security Advisor from January 2012 to September 2015.
On 24 June 2011, Number 10 announced that Darroch would replace Sir Peter Ricketts as National Security Advisor in January 2012, with Sir Jon Cunliffe selected as Darroch"s replacement as Permanent Representative to the European Union. On 7 July 2015, Number 10 announced that Sir Kim would be replaced by Sir Mark Lyall Grant in September 2015, with Darroch moving to a different diplomatic post.
On 20 August 2015 the Foreign Office announced that his new role would be as Her Majesty Ambassador to the United States, replacing Sir Peter Westmacott from January 2016.