Stuart Laing (diplomat)

Stuart Laing (born 22 July 1948)^[1] is a British former diplomat and was Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 2008 to 2018.

Stuart Laing
16th British Ambassador to Kuwait
In office 2005–2008
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Tony Blair Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Chris Wilton
Succeeded by	Michael Aron
9th British Ambassador to Oman
In office 2002–2005
Preceded by	Ivan Callan
Succeeded by	Noel Guckian
13th British High Commissioner to Brunei
In office 1998–2002
Preceded by	Ivan Callan
Succeeded by	Andrew Caie
Personal details
Born	(1948-07-22) 22 July 1948 (age 77)
Occupation	Diplomat

Career as diplomat

Laing entered the diplomatic service in 1970. During his service in the Diplomatic Service, Laing held the following offices:^[2]

• Deputy Ambassador to the Czech Republic—1989–1992
• Deputy Ambassador to Saudi Arabia—1992–1995
• High Commissioner to Brunei—1998–2002
• Ambassador to Oman—2002–2005
• Ambassador to Kuwait—2005–2008

Academic career

Laing graduated from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1970 having studied Classics.^[3] He was appointed Master of his old college Corpus Christi on 1 October 2008 succeeding Oliver Rackham,^[4] and retired from that position in August 2018. He researches and writes on Arab and East African history and in 2012 he published, jointly with Robert Alston, Unshook till the end of time, a book on the history of Britain's relationship with Oman.^[5][6] The degree of M.Phil. was conferred to him in 2013^[7] for a thesis on the ending of the slave trade in the Indian Ocean.^[8] In 2017 he published a biography of the ivory trader Tippu Tip (Hamed bin Mohammed al-Murjabi).^[9][10]

Personal life

Laing is a keen amateur musician; he plays keyboard instruments and the oboe. His other recreations are desert travel and hill-walking.^[11] Laing is married to Sibella (daughter of Sir Maurice Henry Dorman, herself a graduate in History of Newnham College, Cambridge) and has a son and two daughters.^[4]