Dame Karen Pierce, Britain’s representative at the UN, is said to have been called “fab” by President Trump

A long-serving woman diplomat has been tipped as a frontrunner in two races for plum government roles next year: chief of MI6 and British ambassador to Washington.

Dame Karen Pierce, 60, is Britain’s permanent representative to the United Nations, the first woman to hold the position, which she took up in March last year. Having won the respect of the prime minister, she is expected to be promoted to one of the two most prestigious civil service roles next year and would be the first woman to hold either post.

In almost 40 years in the diplomatic service, Dame Karen has been posted to Tokyo, Geneva and the Balkans and was the UK’s ambassador to Afghanistan in 2015 and 2016.

Cutting a colourful figure