diplomatic service

In his four years as head of the Diplomatic Service, Sir Philip has served under five foreign secretaries: Dominic Raab, Liz Truss, James Cleverly, Lord Cameron and Lammy.

According to the email, his role was “Second Secretary Counter Terrorism” - understood to be a relatively junior rank, but one in which he described himself as “a subject matter expert in the domain of arms sales policy” after “a long career in the diplomatic service”.

He said he would send a request to the EU's diplomatic service to "start the necessary work related to the sanctions".

After his diplomatic service ended, Rocha served as a consultant for the US military's Southern Command, which oversees all of Latin America and the Caribbean - including communist Cuba.

“This is about people having a fundamental objection to a piece of government legislation,” said Simon McDonald, a former head of the British diplomatic service who became a cross-bench, or nonpartisan, member of the House of Lords, where he is known as Baron McDonald of Salford, in 2021.