Tysers bids farewell to Anthony Harris, our man in the Middle East

• 08/05/2025 |
• Anthony Harris |
• Corporate & Commercial

Tysers Insurance Brokers is bidding a sad and very fond farewell to Anthony Harris*, the longest-serving insurance SEO in the DIFC who has headed up Tysers’ office in Dubai and steered our business development in the Middle East since 2005.

Anthony was perfectly placed to do this, and not just geographically. He has spent nearly 60 years in the Middle East, 34 of those years working at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which he joined from Oxford University, culminating in his appointment as British Ambassador to the UAE in 1994.

The skills that made Anthony such a success in the FCO – expert communicator, resilient with the ability to work at pace, a relationship builder and a leader – proved to be just as effective in broking. And his top-level contacts in the Middle East’s political, security and diplomatic communities have been invaluable to Tysers’ expansion in the region.

Anthony blazed a broking trail across the Middle East following his appointment as SEO in Dubai in 2005, obtaining RFIB’s licence in March 2006 (RFIB was acquired by Tysers). He set up an office in Saudi Arabia in 2011 and opened offices in Riyadh and Baghdad in 2011 and 2014.

As SEO in Dubai, Anthony oversaw Tysers’ activities in the Middle East region, including our strategic expansion across the Gulf Cooperation countries, Iraq, the Levant and Yemen, the sub-continent and into northern and central Africa.

Anthony’s farewell to Tysers party was held, most fittingly, at the British Embassy in Dubai and attended by colleagues and friends from Tysers, the wider insurance and business community and Edward Hobart CMG, His Majesty’s Ambassador to the UAE.

 

 

Tom Wilson, CEO Tysers, commented:

“Anthony has made the most enormous contribution to the great success and reputation of Tysers’ office in Dubai and spearheaded our expansion in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He will be sorely missed and leaves a long-lasting legacy on our business and the teams fortunate enough to work with him. I would like to thank him personally for his hard work, commitment and great generosity of spirit and wish him all the best in his future plans.”

 

Amin Basbous, Director Marine & Aviation in Dubai added:

“I have been very lucky to work with Anthony for 10 years. His leadership, wisdom, and diplomacy shaped by his ambassadorial experience have inspired us all. I wish him fulfilment and joy in his next chapter.”

Anthony will be missed very much by everyone at Tysers who was fortunate enough to have the pleasure of working with him and we wish him the very best.

 

A few memorable moments from an extraordinary career

Anthony’s career with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office culminated in his appointment as British Ambassador to the UAE in 1994. Other postings included Lebanon, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, the UN in Geneva and Egypt. From 1990 to 1994 Anthony was responsible for the British Government’s relations with the foreign press worldwide and the management of the BBC Overseas Service.

Seconded from the FCO to the Ministry of Defence for three years, Anthony was responsible for bilateral defence relations with the GCC States, and helped to negotiate the Al-Yamamah Air Defence contract with the Saudi Arabian Government (the biggest arms deal in British history). Anthony worked with a team drafting papers for negotiators, and flew between London and Riyadh almost every week before the deal was struck, with occasional trips on private aircraft, to talk to the “middle men” in Geneva. He attended the party thrown by Margaret Thatcher (the then British Prime Minister) at Number 10 Downing Street to celebrate the signing.

When Chargé D’Affaires in Cairo, in August 1990, Anthony was asked to take a secret letter from Margaret Thatcher to the Saudi Foreign Minister requesting that he and the Arab League take a common view with the UK. It was the morning after Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait, and that letter was the beginning of the coalition that led to Operation Desert Storm and the expulsion of the Iraqi Dictator’s forces back to Baghdad.

*Anthony retires from Tysers in June 2025.