His final role was British Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna from August 2016 to September 2021.

[2] From September 2012 to July 2016 Turner was British Consul-General in Istanbul, a post which included responsibility for UK Trade and Investment work in Turkey, South Caucasus, Central Asia and Ukraine.

After working in the Departments of Transport and Environment, and the Treasury, he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1983 and had postings in Austria, Russia, Germany, Ukraine and Turkey before returning to Vienna.

His diplomatic handbook "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Diplomacy - Wie Diplomatie die Welt erklärt" was published in German by Czernin Verlag, Vienna in 2023.

A revised and updated edition was published in English as "Lessons in Diplomacy: Politics, Power and Parties" by Policy Press in September 2024.