Roderic M. J. Lyne

Sir Roderic Michael John Lyne (born 31 March 1948) is a British former diplomat who served as British ambassador to the Russian Federation from 2000 to 2004.

Early life and education The son of a senior Royal Air Force officer who flew Spitfires in World War II, Lyne refused to go to Marlborough College because "there were no doors on the lavatories", so instead attended Eton College on a bursary. He went on to read history at Leeds University, which he says was the only university to offer him an interview, on account of his poor A-level grades. Nevertheless, he was a good undergraduate student.

Lyne received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2004.

Diplomatic career Rod Lyne joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1970, and went to study at the Army School of Languages in 1971. His first posting was as Third Secretary to Moscow in 1972. He was sent to Dakar in 1974 and returned to the FCO in 1976. He was appointed Assistant Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington in 1979. Lyne was posted as first secretary to UKMIS New York City in 1982 where he served until 1986, when he was seconded to Chatham House in London. From 1987 to 1990, he was Counsellor and Head of Chancery at the British Embassy in Moscow.

Between 1990 and 1993, Lyne was head of the Soviet and then Eastern Department of the FCO. For three years from 1993, Rod Lyne was seconded to 10 Downing Street as private secretary to Prime Minister John Major, advising on foreign affairs, defence and Northern Ireland. From 1997 to 2000 Lyne served as permanent representative, UKMIS Geneva before finishing his diplomatic career as HM Ambassador to Russia.

On his London postings, he usually commuted to Whitehall by bicycle. He was a special adviser to BP, which currently has major interests in Iraq. He is a non-executive director of Petropavlovsk plc (formerly Peter Hambro Mining). He is a member of the board of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce; the board of governors of Kingston University; and is a governor of the Ditchley Foundation. having been appointed to the Privy Council in 2009. Several people have commented that he is the toughest inquisitor on the committee. He also took on Alastair Campbell over three races in St Petersburg, which Campbell won 2–1.