He was named after his paternal grandfather Raymond Asquith, a scholar and Army officer who was killed in action during the First World War.
He was First Secretary (Political) and MI6 station commander in Moscow and was personally responsible for exfiltrating the KGB officer and British agent Oleg Gordievsky concealed in his car,[1] an action which resulted in the expulsion from the Soviet Union of himself and 17 Embassy colleagues plus 7 British businessmen in September 1985.
[2] Asquith was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for "diplomatic services" in 1992.
Other family members who served as British diplomats include his father, his brother Sir Dominic Asquith (former British Ambassador to Iraq and Egypt),[3] and his maternal grandfather Sir Michael Palairet.
He is currently a director of Group DF,[4] the Ukrainian holding company of Dmytro Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch associated with Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yanukovych, who is also accused by the United States Justice Department of involvement with Russian organised crime.