After weeks of speculation a former Republican senator, who once posed nude for Cosmopolitan magazine, has been named as US President Donald Trump's choice to be ambassador to New Zealand.
Scott Brown Photo: AFP
Scott Brown describes himself as a "social moderate but a fiscal conservative", and although he still needs senate approval it is likely to be granted.
RNZ's Washington correspondent Simon Marks said Mr Brown shot into the spotlight in the US when he won a vacant senate seat representing Massachusetts that was previously occupied by prominent democrat John Kerry.
When Mr Brown ran for reelection in 2012 he was defeated by senator Elizabeth Warren, who has congratulated Mr Brown for his nomination - an indication that he is likely to sail through senate confirmation hearings.
Since leaving the Senate, Mr Brown has stayed in the public eye as a political pundit on the Fox News Channel, and was an early backer of Mr Trump's campaign for the presidency.
He is a lawyer and former model, and in 1982 won Cosmopolitan magazine's "America's Sexiest Man" contest, posing in the magazine's centrefold.
Prime Minister Bill English has previously said he welcomed the appointment.
