O'Donnell announced after the 2010 General Election that he would step down within that Parliament and did so at the end of 2011.[1][2] His post was then split into three positions:he was succeeded as Cabinet Secretary by Sir Jeremy Heywood,as Head of the Home Civil Service by Sir Bob Kerslake (in a part-time role),and as Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office by Ian Watmore.[3][4] Whilst Cabinet Secretary,he was regularly referred to within the Civil Service,and subsequently in the popular press,as GOD;this was mainly because of his initials.[5] In 2012,he joined Frontier Economics as a senior advisor.[6]
From 1997 to 1998,O'Donnell was the United Kingdom's executive director to both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank,again in Washington,before returning to HM Treasury to serve as both director of Macroeconomic Policy and Prospects and also head of the Government Economics Service,with overall responsibility for the professional economists in Her Majesty's Government. A year later,in 1999,he was appointed managing director of Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance,with responsibility for Fiscal Policy,International Development,and European Union Economic and Monetary Union.
Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service
On 8 July 2002,O'Donnell took over from Sir Andrew Turnbull as Permanent Secretary of the Treasury following the appointment of Sir Andrew as Cabinet Secretary.[8] Three years later,on 15 June 2005,it was announced that O'Donnell would again replace Turnbull,this time as Cabinet Secretary,on the latter's imminent retirement.[9] He took up office in August 2005.[10]
O'Donnell is known for his "wondrous interpersonal gifts"[11] and his informal style. He regularly visited Civil Service departments outside London "to meet civil servants at work".[12]
During his time as Cabinet Secretary,his authority was seen as absolute,giving rise to the affectionate nickname "GOD" based on his initials as they appeared in Government papers.[13]
The annual remuneration for this position was £235,000.[14]
In his role as Cabinet Secretary,O'Donnell was responsible for overseeing the review of Christopher Meyer's controversial memoirs,DC Confidential,in November 2005. The previous month he had told the Public Administration Select Committee that it was "wrong" for civil servants to publish personal memoirs.
Channel 4 News on 10 August 2010 had reported that O'Donnell would leave his post before the end of the current Parliament.[15]
In January 2011,it emerged that O'Donnell had decided not to publish correspondence sent between Tony Blair and George W Bush prior to the 2003 invasion. The papers were,however,provided to the Iraq Inquiry itself. His reasoning is explained in several documents between himself and Sir John Chilcot.[16]
In November 2010,O'Donnell published a draft copy of the Cabinet manual. This document outlines the laws,rules and conventions that apply to the British executive.[17]
On 11 October 2011,it was announced by Downing Street that O'Donnell was to retire at the end of the year. His successor was announced as the Downing StreetPermanent SecretaryJeremy Heywood.[18] However the roles of Cabinet Secretary,Head of the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office were split.[19]
On 22 December 2011,O'Donnell said that the future of the Union is one of several "enormous challenges" facing the political establishment in the coming years. "Over the next few years there will be enormous challenges,such as whether to keep our kingdom united," he warns officials and politicians.[20]
On 10 January 2012,O'Donnell was created a life peer as Baron O'Donnell,of Clapham in the London Borough of Wandsworth,and was introduced in the House of Lords,where he sits as a crossbencher,on 12 January 2012.[31] In his first speech in the House of Lords,in June 2012,he warned that too many Treasury officials were leaving,that staff are underpaid,and that the Treasury may be struggling to address the problems caused by the ongoing global financial turmoil.[32]
Political views
O'Donnell supports a liberal immigration policy,saying in 2011 that "[w]hen I was at the Treasury I argued for the most open door possible to immigration …I think it's my job to maximise global welfare not national welfare." He has repeated this view in a milder form in newspaper articles,and thinks that his views about immigration are in the interests of the average British person,notwithstanding some short-term losers.[33]
In July 2017 he warned that "there was no way Brexit would happen smoothly."[34]
Personal interests
O'Donnell is a keen sportsman,having played football for the University of Warwick First XI and for Oxford,earning two Blues in 1973/4 and 1974/5.[35] While Permanent Secretary at the Treasury he won a football medal at the annual Civil Service Sports Day—the first Permanent Secretary to do so. He has played for the Mandarins Cricket Club for many years,the third Cabinet Secretary to do so (the others being Sir Robin Butler and Sir Andrew Turnbull). He is a supporter of Manchester United.[36]
O'Donnell was formerly a governor of his alma mater,Salesian College,Battersea.
Honours
O'Donnell has received several appointments to the Most Honourable Order of the Bath:he was appointed Companion (CB) in the 1994 New Year Honours,[38]Knight Commander (KCB) in the 2005 Birthday Honours[39] and Knight Grand Cross (GCB) in the 2011 Birthday Honours.[40] The Parliamentary Public Administration Committee cited the example of at least one of O'Donnell's appointments (his knighthood) to the Order as automatic honours granted due to his position and not for exceptional service,although it is not specified if all of his honours were granted solely due to his position or if some were due to exceptional service.[41]
The Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government,which is led by a cabinet of ministers chosen by the prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Cabinet Office is a department of the UK Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and coordinate the delivery of government objectives via other departments. As of December 2021,it had over 10,200 staff,mostly civil servants,some of whom work in Whitehall. Staff working in the Prime Minister's Office are part of the Cabinet Office.
Andrew Turnbull,Baron Turnbull,is a British politician and civil servant who served as the head of Her Majesty's Civil Service and Cabinet Secretary between 2002 and 2005,when he was succeeded by Sir Gus O'Donnell. He now sits in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.
Sir Alan Peter Budd was a British economist,who was a founding member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in 1997.
Sir David John Normington,is a retired British civil servant. He served as the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education and Skills from 2001 to 2005,and then of the Home Office until 2011. From 2011 until 2016 he served as both the First Civil Service Commissioner and the Commissioner for Public Appointments for the British government.
Nicholas Ian Macpherson,Baron Macpherson of Earl's Court,is a former senior British civil servant. He served as the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury from 2005 to 2016.
The UK Permanent Secretary to the Treasury is the most senior civil servant at HM Treasury. The post originated as that of Assistant Secretary to the Treasury in 1805;that office was given new duties and renamed in 1867 as a Permanent Secretaryship.
Paul Richard Charles Gray,is a British former civil servant who was chairman of HM Revenue &Customs until he resigned on 20 November 2007.
Dame Susan Jane Owen is a former British civil servant,economist and former academic. She served as the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Digital,Culture,Media and Sport from October 2013 until her retirement in March 2019.
Sir Thomas Whinfield Scholar is a British civil servant who served as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury from 2016 to 2022. He was previously the prime minister's adviser on European and global issues in the Cabinet Office from 2013 to 2016. He has been a director of the nationalised bank Northern Rock,and served as chief of staff for Gordon Brown.
Mark Philip Sedwill,Baron Sedwill,is a British diplomat and senior civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service to Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson from 2018 to 2020. He also served as the United Kingdom National Security Adviser from 2017 to 2020. He was previously the United Kingdom's Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010 and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan in 2010. He was the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from February 2013 to April 2017.
Jeremy John Heywood,Baron Heywood of Whitehall,was a British civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary to David Cameron and Theresa May from 2012 to 2018 and Head of the Home Civil Service from 2014 to 2018. He served as the Principal Private Secretary to Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 1999 to 2003 and 2008 to 2010. He also served as Downing Street Chief of Staff and the first Downing Street Permanent Secretary. After he was diagnosed with lung cancer,he took a leave of absence from June 2018,and retired on health grounds on 24 October 2018,receiving a life peerage;he died a fortnight later on 4 November 2018.
Sir Robert John Devereux,KCB is a retired senior British civil servant,who served as Permanent Secretary for the Department for Transport from 2007 to 2011,and oversaw a new policy increasing the UK retirement age to 67 at the Department for Work and Pensions from 2011 until his retirement at 61 in January 2018.
Dame Ursula Brennan is a retired British civil servant and a former Permanent Secretary at the United Kingdom's Ministry of Justice where she was also the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery.
The Cabinet Secretary is the most senior civil servant in the United Kingdom and is based in the Cabinet Office. The person in this role acts as the senior policy adviser to the Prime Minister and Cabinet,and as the Secretary to the Cabinet is responsible to all ministers for the efficient running of government. The role is currently occupied by Simon Case.
Sir Oliver Robbins is a former senior British civil servant who served as the Prime Minister's Europe Adviser and the chief Brexit negotiator from 2017 to 2019. He was a controversial figure among Brexit supporters for his perceived pro-European stance. He previously served as the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union from July 2016 to September 2017,and as the Prime Minister's Advisor on Europe and Global Issues from June 2016 to July 2016. Since 2019,he has been an investment advisor at Goldman Sachs.
James Edward Bowler CB is a senior British civil servant currently serving as the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury since October 2022 having previously served as permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade since 2021. Before assuming this role,Bowler was the second permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office from 2020 to 2021 where he led the COVID Taskforce for the British Government. He was the Director General for Policy,Communication and Analysis at the Ministry of Justice from March to October 2020. Bowler is currently Trustee of the charity Police Now.
Sir Nigel Leonard Wicks is a British financier and former senior British civil servant. He also served as Chairman of Euroclear.
The Cabinet Manual is a government document in the United Kingdom which sets out the main laws,rules and conventions affecting the conduct and operation of the Government of the United Kingdom. It was written by the Civil Service,led by Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell,and was first published by the Cabinet Office on 14 December 2010. The manual gives an overview of the UK's system of government,reflecting the importance of Parliament,Cabinet government and the democratic nature of the UK's constitutional arrangements by explaining the powers of the Executive,Sovereign,Parliament,international institutions,the Crown Dependencies,British Overseas Territories and the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland,Scotland and Wales. The Manual was written as a guide for members of Cabinet,other ministers and civil servants in the execution of government business,but also serves to consolidate many of the previously unwritten constitutional conventions through which the British government operates.
Christopher Jon Martin,was a British civil servant. He was Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister from 2012 to 2015.
↑ Goodhart, David (2017). "Ch. 1. The Great Divide". The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN978-1849047999.
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