John Holmes (British diplomat)

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For other people named John Holmes, see John Holmes (disambiguation).
File:Sir John Holmes at Chatham House 2013.jpg
Holmes at Chatham House in 2013

Sir John Holmes GCVO KBE CMG (born 29 April 1951) is a British former diplomat who is director of the Ditchley Foundation.

Early life

Holmes was born on 29 April 1951 in Preston, in the north of England. He was educated at Preston Grammar School and Balliol College, Oxford

Career

He entered the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1973. After spending three years as a desk officer in London, including a period of temporary duty at the British Mission to the UN in New York, he was appointed to the British Embassy in Moscow as a 3rd Secretary Chancery, and subsequently promoted 2nd Secretary.

On returning to the FCO in 1978, he first took up an appointment in the Near East and North Africa Department before becoming Assistant Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary in 1982.

In 1984 Holmes was posted to the British Embassy in Paris as 1st Secretary (Economic). He returned to London in 1987 as Assistant Head of the Soviet Department and between 1989 and 1991 he was seconded to Thomas De La Rue & Co, before moving to India as Economic and Commercial Counsellor at the High Commission in New Delhi.

He returned to London in 1995, first as Head of the European Union Department in FCO and then as Private Secretary, and subsequently Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister. Between 1999 and autumn 2001, John Holmes was Ambassador to Portugal. He was Ambassador to France from October 2001 until 2007. From January 2007 to August 2010 he was Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.[1]

Later life

He has been director of the Ditchley Foundation since September 2010, succeeding Sir Jeremy Greenstock.[2]

Personal life

In 1976 he married Penelope Morris, an author and trustee of Women for Women UK. [3] John and Penny Holmes have three daughters: Sarah, Lucy and Emilie.

Honours

Holmes was awarded the CMG in 1997 in the Resignation Honours List of former Prime Minister John Major for his service as Principal Private Secretary.[4] In 1998 he was appointed CVO[5] and in the New Year Honours of 1999 knighted KBE on the recommendation of Tony Blair on leaving the senior job at No. 10 Downing Street, a higher honour than normally bestowed, because of his work on the Northern Ireland Peace Talks.[6] In 2004 Queen Elizabeth II promoted him to GCVO at the conclusion of her state visit to France to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale.[7]

Publications

References

  1. ↑ Senior British diplomat named new UN humanitarian chief, United Nations News Service, 3 January 2007
  2. ↑ Sir John Holmes announced as new Director of the Ditchley Foundation, 25 February 2010
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ The London Gazette, 2 August 1997
  5. ↑ The London Gazette, 18 December 1998
  6. ↑ The London Gazette, 31 December 1998
  7. ↑ The London Gazette, 25 June 2004

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by British Ambassador to Portugal
1999–2001		 Succeeded by
Dame Glynne Evans
Preceded by British Ambassador to France
2001–2006		 Succeeded by
Sir Peter Westmacott
Preceded by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
2007–2010		 Succeeded by
Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos
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