David Frost, Baron Frost

Frost was born in Derby and was educated at Nottingham High School as a free scholar from 1976 to 1983, before going up to St. John's College, Oxford,[10] where he took a first-class degree (MA) in French and History. His studies majored on medieval European History and medieval French.[12]

Frost joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1987, and shortly after was posted to the British High Commission in Nicosia where he learned Greek and was responsible for covering Greek Cypriot politics and the Cyprus problem. In 1993, he was posted to the UK Representation to the EU in Brussels as First Secretary for Economic and Financial Affairs, where he worked on issues such as the EU Budget, the economic and financial implications of enlargement to Central Europe, and the Euro. He was then posted to the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York, where he covered Human Rights and Social and Economic Affairs.[10]

Frost returned to London to be successively the Private Secretary to the Head of the Diplomatic Service, Sir John Kerr (now the Baron Kerr of Kinlochard), and Deputy Head of the European Union External Department, covering international trade policy issues and relations with the Balkans and Eastern Europe.[10]

Frost was promoted Economic Counsellor to the British Embassy, Paris, in 2001, where he was responsible for reporting and lobbying on all aspects of French economic and commercial life, together with its EU policy. He returned to London to be Head of the EU (Internal) Department and then Director for the European Union in the Foreign Office. In this period he led work on a range of economic and social issues, notably the resistance to the initial Working Time Directive, and the negotiation on the EU's multi-annual Budget framework. He was a member of the UK's leadership team during its EU Presidency in 2005.[10]

From May 2006 until October 2008, Frost served as HM Ambassador to Denmark and was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 2006 Birthday Honours. He was then Director for Strategy and Policy Planning in the Foreign Office from October 2008 to October 2010, before being seconded to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills where he served three years as Director for Europe, Trade, and International Affairs, HMG's most senior trade policy official.[10][13][14]

Frost left HM Diplomatic Service in 2013 to become CEO of the Scotch Whisky Association, a major trade association;[13] he was admitted as a Liveryman of the Distillers' Company[15] in 2016.

After Boris Johnson became Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Frost was appointed in November 2016 as his special adviser,[16][17] serving until Johnson resigned from office in July 2018.[10]

In early 2019, Frost became CEO of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.[18] He has also served as a public commentator on the European Union, global economic and commercial issues, and multilateral diplomacy, as a member of the Advisory Council of the eurosceptic think tank Open Europe,[10] and as an adviser on Brexit to the Scottish Government.[17]

In 1993 Frost married Jacqueline Elizabeth Dias, divorcing in 2018;[28] he married secondly Ambassador Harriet Mathews later that year.[10]

In March 2020, Frost displayed "mild symptoms" of COVID-19 and accordingly self-isolated.[29]

• Brexit

• David Frost, Baron Frost on Twitter
• David Frost at www.gov.uk
• Lord Frost's parliamentary profile