After Latin America, Penfold briefly served in Canberra, before returning to London to take a post in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
He earned early promotion to second secretary in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was responsible for reporting on the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the Eritrean War of Independence and was still in the country during the revolution, in which the pro-Western emperor was overthrown.
After completing his tour in Ethiopia, Penfold served as information officer in Port of Spain and then as first secretary in the West Africa Department of the FCO.
In 1987, he again returned to the FCO, this time serving in the West Indian and Atlantic Department, and four years later, he was appointed Governor of the British Virgin Islands.
The main issues of Penfold's tenure were the establishment of the territory as an offshore financial centre and the smuggling of drugs through its waters until the sudden death of the chief minister.
Penfold's term as governor expired in 1996, after which he spent a year as a drugs adviser to the Caribbean before being appointed High Commissioner to Sierra Leone in 1997.
[4] Penfold's first assignment as Latin American floater was in Mexico City, where he acted as vice consul during the football world cup while many of the diplomatic staff were in Guadalajara, where the England national team were based.
Penfold's final posting as a "floater" was to St Vincent, which at the time relied on the United Kingdom for defence and foreign policy matters.
[7] On the instruction of Foreign Secretary David Owen, Penfold met with the leaders of the independence movement in Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) at an OAU conference in Gabon in 1977.
To that end, he was required to covertly meet with Eritrean informants, sometimes smuggling them back to the British compound in the boot of his car, to keep up to date on the progress of the war.
[15] The Ugandan military began forming a government and attempted to include all tribes in the country, to which end Penfold assisted by meeting with Yoweri Museveni, leader of the National Resistance Army.
[19] As governor, Penfold became increasingly aware of growing resentment among the citizens of the British dependencies regarding their rights of entry and abode in the UK.
[22] After he had completed his term as governor in 1996, the FCO struggled to find a post for Penfold, so they appointed him to the newly created post of special drugs adviser to the Caribbean, in which he worked as part of a team of advisers from across the European Union assisting Caribbean governments in developing policies to combat the smuggling of illegal drugs.
Although it was a lower-ranking post than the British Virgin Islands, Penfold was assured that taking the position would not adversely affect his career, so he accepted and, in March 1997, was appointed High Commissioner to Sierra Leone.
[23] The country was in the middle of a bloody civil war in 1997, and on 25 May—six weeks into Penfold's tenure—President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's government was overthrown in a military coup.
[24][25] Kabbah was evacuated to Conakry in neighbouring Guinea almost as soon as fighting broke out, and the coup-makers established the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) with Johnny Paul Koroma as its chairman.
The following day, Penfold invited Koroma and several of his associates, along with representatives of Nigeria, the United States, and the UN, to a meeting at the British high commissioner's residence.
[26] At the meeting, Koroma agreed to open the country's main airport temporarily the next day, which allowed Penfold to organise the evacuation of several planeloads of foreign nationals.
In that time, Penfold believed he had persuaded the coup-makers to stand down and allow Kabbah to return but, unbeknownst to the diplomats, the AFRC had invited the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)—the main rebel group in the civil war—to form a joint government in Freetown.
[29][30] Penfold was able to see the firefight from the high commission building, and telephoned the Sierra Leonean defence headquarters to demand an end to the violence, threatening to request the deployment of US Marines from the USS Kearsarge, which was anchored offshore.
[33] The role of Sandline, however, sparked a political controversy in the United Kingdom, as the company was accused of violating an international arms embargo on Sierra Leone.
[34] Customs dropped their investigation after deciding it was not in the public interest to prosecute anybody, but Foreign Secretary Robin Cook ordered a parliamentary inquiry into what the FCO knew about Sandline's contract with Kabbah.
[35][36] Penfold received a reprimand for failing to report adequately on his dealings with Sandline,[37] and the inquiry—led by Sir Thomas Legg—recommended better communication between the FCO and the high commissioner.
[39] Shortly after his return, Penfold was again summoned back to London to face an investigation by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
He gave evidence in a televised session in which he stated his belief that the Sandline controversy was a peripheral issue and that the FCO should be focusing on supporting the newly restored Kabbah government.
The committee's report expressed concern about Penfold's role with regard to Sandline, but believed he "acted as he thought was in the best interests of the United Kingdom and of Sierra Leone, and that he did not consider that his actions went beyond government policy".
Penfold believed the evacuation—the eighth of his career—was unnecessary and argued against it; his objections were over-ruled and he was ordered to evacuate his staff, though he was allowed to remain in Freetown with his military protection detail.
He stated in an interview that he felt the FCO was keen to develop experts in other areas, such as Europe and the Middle East, but "Africa is the place where anybody can do it so long as they have average intelligence".
[48] He described the special court as an "expensive and divisive piece of judicial machinery" which served little purpose following the deaths of most of the prominent defendants, and believed that its continuation "could undermine the fragile peace" in Sierra Leone.
[49] Penfold was granted the Freedom of the City of Freetown and given the honorary title of Paramount Chief for his role in Sierra Leone,[50] and has written a book about his experiences in the country, Atrocities, Diamonds and Diplomacy (ISBN 978-1-84884-768-2).