Oliver Christian

From working at 10 Downing Street and advising UK Prime Ministers on multi-billion-pound business and investment opportunities, to representing the UK abroad, Oliver Christian has risen through the ranks of Government and politics since graduating from Keele with a degree in International Relations & Philosophy.

Oliver, who graduated from the University in 2008, has 16 years’ experience in Government, having worked in trade, investment, business, regulation and security, across several Departments, and represented the UK in its diplomatic missions overseas.

Recently, Oliver was in attendance at Windsor Castle for President Donald Trump's historic Second State Visit in September 2025, representing the UK as His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner. Oliver met with the decision makers that brought $341 billion in commercial deals to the table and saw first-hand the energy around the UK-US trade and investment.

He is currently serving as His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for North America and His Majesty’s Consul General in New York. In these roles, Oliver is responsible for advancing trade and investment ties with the U.S and Canada, and leading the Government’s work promoting UK economic, commercial, political and consular interests in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Fairfield County, and Connecticut.

Before taking up the role in March 2025, Oliver was His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for the Middle East and Pakistan, and His Majesty’s Consul General to Dubai and the Northern Emirates, a position he had held since September 2023.

Prior to that, Oliver was previously Head of the Prime Minister’s Business Unit in Downing Street, serving four Prime Ministers from 2019 to 2023. He was responsible for maintaining a trusted link between the Prime Minister, Whitehall and the boardrooms of UK and international businesses and investors. He oversaw over £78 billion of investment and export deals, established the UK Global Investment Summit (now the International Investment Summit) and led on the creation of the Office for Investment during his tenure.

And before then, he helped to establish the Department for International Trade (now the Department for Business and Trade), as the Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State and President of the Board of Trade in 2016.

Oliver said: “A lot of my family have background in public service, through the military and Government, and I’ve always known that it was going to be my path. When I was 13 years old, I remember looking online at careers and jobs and seeing opportunities to become the Ambassador to Uganda, or Head of Delegation to the United Nations, and they sounded amazing.

“I’ve always worked, since my first paper round through to working every job I could, from a local hotel in London to the Reginald Mitchell Wetherspoons pub in Hanley. After graduating from Keele, I ran a hair salon in Mayfair for a while, and that was really useful in terms of learning how to run a business. I then planned to travel the world but I ended up staying in Sydney for four months and realising that while I did want to travel and see the world, I wanted to do it for work and duty, so I decided to go home and find a job – and that’s what I did.

“I found a job on Twitter – which was novel back then – where the Graduate Talent Pool initiative by the Business Department was being advertised at the time. It offered paid internships within the Government. I applied and got the job, and that’s when my journey in Government and public service started for me, in 2009. From there, I moved around Government, and basically tried to make myself indispensable wherever I landed.”

Oliver’s first job in Government saw him managing the UK / Russia Inter-Government Economic Steering Committee, which involved briefing Lord Mandelson and Russian counterparts. After several other roles in Government, Oliver became Principal Private Secretary for the Department for International Trade (DIT) in 2016, followed by a promotion to Downing Steet in 2019 – and a highlight of his career at the time.

He said: “In Downing Street, I advised the Prime Minister on business and investment working closely with departments and Special Advisers. I served four PMs during my time there. I was recruited under Theresa May’s Premiership and my job was to advise the Prime Minister on many aspects of business engagement, and working directly with Cabinet Ministers, business leaders, CEOs and global investors to amplify the Government’s message, and to support economic growth and secure jobs. I focused on securing deals that brought in money, investment and jobs to the UK, and drove a commercial focus at the heart of Government. 

“Early on, I set myself a personal target of securing a £100 billion impact while in the role. I fell a little short at £73-ish billion when I left, but I’ve tried to make up for it in my current job. I hadn’t intended to stay in Downing Street for that long, but I felt a duty to provide consistency in the role over what was a changing time. 

“I’d say one of the highlights of my career so far was establishing the Office for Investment and Global Investment Summit (now International Investment Summit) with the then Investment Minister, Lord Grimstone. It has helped secure many billions of pounds to the UK since they were started. The idea behind that was simple: to have a single place in Government to convene and support investment in the UK.

“At the first Global Investment Summit at Windsor Castle, I was facilitating some conversations with the then Prime Minster, Boris Johnson, when I noticed that a sea of people had parted behind me. There stood an elegant lady dressed in blue – who I then realised was Her late Majesty the Queen. I was ushered towards her where I was completely lost my words and fumbled the correct form of address to the Sovereign. We spoke briefly about the event and I thanked her for hosting such a historic event. With that, she said good evening and left the event. It was certainly one of those ‘pinch me’ moments in life.

“During COP28 in Dubai, my team and I had the privilege to support His Majesty The King, the Prime Minister and many of the Cabinet at the global event in Dubai. And while in Number 10 I helped arrange for the Cabinet to make a regional visit to Stoke-on-Trent and, as a Keele alumni, I was really chuffed with that. They visited the city, went to one of the old pottery factories and someone even made it onto the Keele campus.”

While at Keele, Oliver was a member of the rowing club, played in goal for the men’s second hockey team and was also part of the trampolining squad. He also enjoyed a placement year in Toronto, Canada, as part of his degree. While at Keele, Oliver had his dyslexia diagnosis confirmed, which he believes was an important moment in his development.

He said: “I remember getting my diagnosis and getting a bit down hearted and I worried about what this would mean, but Keele was amazing. Before I knew it, I had all the support and help I could ask for. Things started to make more sense, and I was able to find new and better ways of learning and working. My dyslexia allows me to see the world and ideas differently to other people. Happily, it turned out that an International Relations and Philosophy degree and dyslexia go really well together.”

Talking about his first impressions of Keele, Oliver said: “I came to Keele for an open day and immediately fell in love with the place. It felt a little like being in a Netflix series and I got great vibes from all the people I spoke to. It didn’t feel too academic, but you could tell this place was serious about learning, and it felt like the right decision for me. The campus felt massive but small at the same time - I later realised that was the ‘bubble’ everyone talked about - that and the squirrels. I completely leaned into the social aspect and met lots of incredible people.

“I always knew that I was a public servant at heart and that I needed a degree in International Relations to help me get a job in Government. I’m naturally curious and inquisitive. Although I knew nothing about it, I was really interested in philosophy and decided to study a dual honours degree. The fact you could study dual honours at Keele was also a major pull for me, and also that it had a healthy exchange programme.

“I really enjoyed my degree. The Professors and course leaders were an incredible bunch of people to learn from, as were my classmates. My degree has been really relevant to my job, particularly how at Keele I was able to study and live abroad while learning about international relations, including focusing on the Middle East and the state of Israel.

“The philosophy side of the degree taught me how to think critically. I also learned how to argue constructively and debate, learning critical skills which I use every day, including having the confidence to challenge, developing an argument, knowing the right question to ask, and how to answer difficult questions.

“Throughout my career I’ve always been honest with myself at what I’m good at, and I’ve capitalised on my strengths and seized opportunities with both hands when they’ve cropped up. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I build relationships with people, and invest in the teams I work with, which I think is really important.”

And asked for his advice to Keele’s current crop of students and graduates, Oliver said: “I would say the students have already done the right thing by choosing Keele, so that already puts you in the winning team. Make yourself indispensable, find the things you love doing and if you are going to do something, be brilliant at it. Hard work is a given, but you’ve also got to be kind, listen to feedback and support others.

“Keele is a special place to so many people. I’m so grateful for the opportunity I had to study there and for what I’ve gained from it.”