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Georgina Susan Butler (born 30 November 1945) is a retired British diplomat. After postings at the Foreign Office, UKREP in Brussels, the European Commission, and in Washington D.C., she served as British Ambassador to Costa Rica and to Nicaragua.
She later stood unsuccessfully for the European Parliament as a Conservative and was a Special Representative of the Foreign Secretary.
While ambassador in Costa Rica, Butler was reported to be "the most visible member of the diplomatic corps". She climbed Mount Chirripó, rode in , dived from Cocos Island, and in period costume re-enacted the landing of Francis Drake in Bahía Drake.
In November 2004 she flew into Nicaragua to help to liaise with searchers looking for a missing British walker. "Georgina Butler, the British Ambassador, who is based in Costa Rica, has flown into Nicaragua to help liaise with searchers on the ground", The Daily Telegraph , 24 November 2004
On 9 November 2005, in a statement to the House of Commons, Norman Baker said "Costa Rica/Nicaragua", Hansard, 9 November 2005 Column 135WH
In 2006, Butler was invited by David Cameron to join his A-List of preferred Conservative candidates. In October 2013, she was announced as one of those standing for the party in the European Parliament election of 2014 in South West England, together with Ashley Fox, Julie Girling, James Cracknell, Sophia Swire, and Melissa Maynard. Your candidates for the European Parliament Elections 2014, 30 October 2013, devizesconservatives.com
Vote 2014: European election candidates for the South West, 28 April 2014, BBC.co.uk, accessed 3 July 2021 Butler said during the campaign that she hoped her experience of diplomacy would give her a stronger hand in helping with Cameron's renegotiation of Britain's EU membership and delivering a referendum on it in 2017, if the Conservatives were to win the next general election.
The UK Independence Party ran strongly in South West England, gaining 51,000 more votes than the Conservatives. Two of its candidates, William Dartmouth and Julia Reid, were elected as Members of the European Parliament, and at number 4 on the Conservative party list, Butler was unsuccessful. South West VOTE 2014 Europe, bbc.co.uk, 26 May 2021
In 2017 Butler was chairman of the Richmond Park and North Kingston Conservative Association and publicly welcomed the re-selection of Zac Goldsmith.Tom Batchelor, "Zac Goldsmith to run as Tory MP in Richmond Park despite no change to policy he resigned over", The Independent, 26 April 2017 She continued in office until 2019. Richmond Park & North Kingston Conservative Association, electoralcommission.org.uk, accessed 2 July 2021
In December 2019, she was appointed as a Special Representative of the Foreign Secretary for greeting Heads of State and overseas government visitors on arrival in the United Kingdom.”BUTLER Georgina British fmr diplomatist; Special Representative of the Foreign Secretary, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office”, worldwhoswho.com, accessed 1 July 2021
Butler married again while serving in Costa Rica. Her husband, Robert Kelly, a retired Canadian foreign-service officer, then worked without pay as project manager for medical clinics in Costa Rica funded from the British embassy.
Later career
In 2003, Butler was elected as a Fellow of University College London, and in 2010 became chairman of its Denys Holland Scholarship Fund.
Personal life
From her marriage to Stephen Wright in 1970, Butler has a daughter, born in 1977, and a son, born in 1979. Diplomatic Service List, Vol. 36 (2001), p. 327 She and her husband were divorced in 2000.
Categories: Living People, 1945 Births, Women Ambassadors Of The United Kingdom, 21st-century British Diplomats, Academics Of University College London, Alumni Of University College London, Ambassadors Of The United Kingdom To Costa Rica, Ambassadors Of The United Kingdom To Nicaragua, Conservative Party People, People Educated At Torquay Grammar School For Girls
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