New UK High Commissioner anxious about filling Jon Benjamin’s ‘big Twitter shoes’

Newly appointed British High Commissioner Iain Walker has expressed delight about his upcoming role in Ghana.

He is, however, worried about the vacuum he would have to fill on social media short messaging site Twitter as a result of the departure of Jon Benjamin.

Delighted to be appointed High Commissioner designate to Ghana starting in August. Big twitter shoes to fill after @JonBenjamin19

— Iain Walker (@walkeriain) February 17, 2017

Mr Benjamin leaves Ghana at the end of July for “another Diplomatic Service appointment”. He has been very active on Twitter and has stirred public controversy with some of his tweets.

His successor, even before taking office in August, says there are “big Twitter shoes to fill”.

A verified Mr Benjamin’s account has almost 52,000 followers after seven years on Twitter.

He has 18,600 tweets. His successor, Mr Walker, who apparently joined Twitter two years earlier, has tweeted just once and that was on Friday, February 17 to announce the delight over his appointment.

He has less than 1,000 followers and following a little over 300. A father of three, Mr Walker has been a Policy Advisor at the Cabinet Office.

He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 2010 but has risen through the ranks to become Deputy Finance Director and Board Member. He is married to Claire Walker.