County Durham miner's daughter set for top US White House job

The daughter of a coal miner from County Durham looks set to be appointed by Donald Trump as his top adviser on Russian affairs, as part of the US President's security team.

Fiona Hill, who is from Bishop Auckland, is a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, a political think tank based in Washington DC.

She has written extensively on Russia and on the Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The American news agency Bloomberg quoted an un-named source saying that Ms Hill is in line to become White House senior director for Europe and Russia, although the appointment had not yet been made official.

Fiona Hill's CV says that she worked as 'Assistant to International Office' at Durham County Council in 1989 and 1990.

She then moved to the USA to study at Harvard University where she gained a master’s degree in Soviet studies and a doctorate in history.

The Harvard website has this to say about her:

"Hill’s background is humble. Her father was a coal miner and her mother a nurse—Harvard did not seem like a possibility for the Bishop Auckland native."

However her application for scholarship funding was successful and she has since pursued a varied career in academia and as a writer and researcher.

Ms Hill has yet to speak publicly about her apparently imminent appointment to Donald Trump's security team.