Netanyahu's English-language spokesman Regev leading candidate for London envoy role

Mark Regev is expected to put forward his candidacy for the job in the coming days, when a tender is published in the Foreign Ministry.

By HERB KEINON
The statue of Britain's former Prime Minister Winston Churchill is silhouetted in front of the Houses of Parliament in London (photo credit: REUTERS)
The statue of Britain's former Prime Minister Winston Churchill is silhouetted in front of the Houses of Parliament in London
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Mark Regev, who has been the English-language spokesman at the Prime Minister’s Office since 2007, is a leading candidate to replace Daniel Taub as ambassador to London, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Thursday.
Regev is expected to put forward his candidacy for the job in the coming days, when a tender is published in the Foreign Ministry.
The Australian-born Regev is a veteran diplomat who has been “on loan” from the Foreign Ministry for the last eight years. If the appointment goes through, it would be considered a professional attachment from within the ranks of the ministry, not a political posting.
Regev declined to discuss the matter on Thursday evening.
The ambassadorial position in London is considered one of the most prestigious in the foreign service.
Before serving as spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Regev served the same role under prime minister Ehud Olmert.
Regev served as the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman starting in 2004, when he returned to Israel from Washington, where he was the embassy’s spokesman, until he moved to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2007.
If Regev gets the go-ahead to head the London mission, the appointment will follow those of Danny Dayan to Brazil, and Fiamma Nirenstein to Italy, which were both announced recently.
The spokesman’s office in the PMO, meanwhile, is undergoing considerable change as Netanyahu’s media adviser Liran Dan has formally quit, but a replacement has yet to be named, and former spokesman Rafi Shamir has been appointed to fulfill that role at the Regional Cooperation Ministry.
Shamir is being replaced by Boaz Stembler, a former spokesman in the Treasury who also was also the spokesman for the Likud during the last election campaign.