Arthur had previously worked in a number of positions within the Diplomatic Service, starting out in 1972 in the UK Mission to the United Nations, and moving in 1973 to the UK's Mission in Geneva working on the additional protocols to the Geneva Convention.

He was a Political Counselor at the Embassy in Paris from 1993 to 1997 and Deputy Head of Mission in Washington from 1999 to 2001.

[1] In 2001, he was appointed Director General Europe and Economic at the Foreign Office and in 2003 succeeded Sir Rob Young as High Commissioner in New Delhi.

[1] Arthur retired from HM Diplomatic Service in October 2010, being succeeded in Berlin by Sir Simon McDonald, a former British Ambassador to Israel and Head of Foreign and Defence Policy, Cabinet Office.

[2] In 2013 Arthur joined Boeing UK and Ireland as a managing director,[3] then appointed senior vice president of Boeing and president of Boeing International (the first ever non American on the Executive Council) from 22 April 2019 until January 2023 He was educated at Watford Grammar school and then Rugby School before going up to Balliol College Oxford, becoming a fluent French and German speaker.