Sir Arthur John Coles GCMG (born 13 November 1937) is a retired British diplomat. He served as the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Head of HM Diplomatic Service) from 1994 to 1997. [1] [2]
Coles joined the FCO in 1960. After learning Arabic he was posted as Third Secretary in Sudan from 1962 until 1964. [3] He served as the Assistant Political Agent, Trucial States (Dubai) from 1968 to 1971 as the UAE was being established. He returned to London until being sent as Head of Chancery to the British Embassy in Egypt from 1975 to 1977. [3] He served as Ambassador to Jordan, High Commissioner to Australia before he returned to London as Deputy Under-Secretary of State from 1991 to 1994. In 1994 he was appointed Permanent Under-Secretary of State.
The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) is the professional head of the British Armed Forces and the most senior uniformed military adviser to the Secretary of State for Defence and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The chief of the defence staff is based at the Ministry of Defence and works alongside the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence, the ministry's senior civil servant. The Chief of Defence is the highest ranking officer to currently serve in the armed forces.
Sir Antony Arthur Acland was a British diplomat and a provost of Eton College.
Augustine Thomas O'Donnell, Baron O'Donnell, is a former British senior civil servant and economist, who between 2005 and 2011 served as the Cabinet Secretary, the highest official in the British Civil Service.
Sir Christopher John Rome Meyer was a British diplomat who served as the Ambassador to the United States (1997–2003), Ambassador to Germany (1997), and the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission (2003–2009).
Sir Arthur Michael Palliser was a senior British diplomat who served as the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1975 to 1982.
Michael Hastings Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme, is a British politician and former diplomat. He sits as a Crossbench member of the House of Lords, and previously served as Ambassador to France and Permanent Under Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
William George Tyrrell, 1st Baron Tyrrell, was a British civil servant and diplomat. He was Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1925 and 1928 and British Ambassador to France from 1928 to 1934.
Patrick Richard Henry Wright, Baron Wright of Richmond, was a British diplomat who served as Head of HM Diplomatic Service.
This is a list of Permanent Under-Secretaries in the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office since 1790.
Sir Sherard Louis Cowper-Coles is a British former diplomat. He was the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2009–2010. After leaving the Foreign Office, he worked briefly for BAE Systems as international business development director. He left BAE Systems in 2013 and is now a senior adviser to the group chairman and the group chief executive of HSBC. He is also president of the Jane Austen Society.
Sir Ralph Spencer Paget was a British diplomat in the Foreign Service, culminating in his appointment as Ambassador to Brazil in 1918, a position he held until 1920.
The Royal Households of the United Kingdom are the collective departments that support members of the British royal family. Many members of the royal family who undertake public duties have separate households. They vary considerably in size, from the large household that supports the sovereign to the household of the Prince and Princess of Wales, with fewer members.
Sir Simon James Fraser is a British former diplomat who served as the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from August 2010 to July 2015, having served as Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills from May 2009 to August 2010. Sir Simon is a Trustee of the Patchwork Foundation, founded by Harris Bokhari. Sir Simon is currently Deputy Chairman of Chatham House and serves as Adviser to the Europe Programme. He is also Managing Partner of Flint Global.
Sir John Anthony Chilcot was a British civil servant.
Nigel Kim Darroch, Baron Darroch of Kew, is a former British diplomat. He served as the British Ambassador to the United States between January 2016 and December 2019, and previously as National Security Adviser and UK Permanent Representative to the European Union.
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.
Sir Alan Ewen Donald was a British diplomat who was the United Kingdom ambassador to Indonesia and China.
Sir Brian Leon Barder was a British diplomat, author, blogger and civil liberties advocate.
Sir Charles Arthur Evelyn Shuckburgh, GCMG, CB, better known as Sir Evelyn Shuckburgh, was a British diplomat. In the 1950s he was at the heart of affairs in London, as Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, and from 1954 to 1956 as Assistant Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office in charge of Middle East affairs. In 1986 he published the diaries he wrote during the Suez Crisis, titled Descent to Suez.
Sir John Anthony Cecil Tilley was a British diplomat. He was British Ambassador to Brazil from 1921 to 1925, and Ambassador to Japan from 1926 to 1931.