Derek Leask

{{Short description|New Zealand diplomat}}

{{Multiple issues|

{{BLP sources|date=August 2016}}

{{Notability|Bio|date=June 2017}}

}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=January 2024}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix =

|name = Derek Leask

|honorific-suffix =

|image = Derek Leask.jpg

|imagesize =

|caption = Leask in 2008

|alt =

|order = 25th High Commissioner from New Zealand to the United Kingdom

|ambassador_from =

|country =

|term_start = March 2008

|term_end = February 2013

|predecessor = Jonathan Hunt

|successor = Alexander Lockwood Smith

|birth_name = Derek William Leask

|birth_date = {{birth year and age|1948}}

|birth_place = Wellington, New Zealand

|death_date =

|death_place =

|spouse =

|partner =

|relatives =

|children =

|alma_mater = {{ubl|Victoria University of Wellington|University of Canterbury}}

|occupation = {{Hlist|Public servant|diplomat}}

|signature =

|signature_alt =

|website =

|footnotes =

}}

Derek William Leask (born 1948) is a New Zealand diplomat. From March 2008 to February 2013, he was the High Commissioner from New Zealand to the United Kingdom, and concurrently accredited as Ambassador to Ireland and High Commissioner to Nigeria. Leask is a career diplomat, who joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1969. Before becoming Commissioner, he was Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Wellington. He served as Ambassador to the European Union in Brussels from 1994 to 1999, and was earlier posted to Suva, Ottawa and London, between 1985 and 1989.{{cite web|title=Peters names High Commissioner to London|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0711/S00421.htm|date=22 November 2007|publisher=New Zealand Government |accessdate=1 March 2011}}