Simon McDonald, Baron McDonald of Salford

Simon Gerard McDonald, Baron McDonald of Salford, KCMG KCVO (born 9 March 1961) is a former British diplomat who was the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service until September 2020. Sir Simon was the last professional head of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office before the creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.


The Lord McDonald of Salford

KCMG KCVO
Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Head of HM Diplomatic Service
In office
September 2015  September 2020
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Theresa May
Boris Johnson
Sec. of StatePhilip Hammond
Boris Johnson
Jeremy Hunt
Dominic Raab
Preceded bySir Simon Fraser
Succeeded bySir Philip Barton as Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
British Ambassador to Germany
In office
2010–2015
MonarchElizabeth II
PresidentChristian Wulff
Joachim Gauck
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded bySir Michael Arthur
Succeeded bySir Sebastian Wood
British Ambassador to Israel
In office
2003–2006
MonarchElizabeth II
PresidentMoshe Katzav
British Prime MinisterTony Blair
Israeli Prime MinisterSharon, Olmert
Preceded bySir Sherard Cowper-Coles
Succeeded bySir Tom Phillips
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
11 February 2021
Life peerage
Personal details
Born (1961-03-09) 9 March 1961
Salford, England
NationalityBritish
Spouse(s)Olivia Wright
Children4 (2 sons, 2 daughters)
Alma materPembroke College, Cambridge
OccupationDiplomat

Career

McDonald was educated at De La Salle College, Salford, and read History at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1982 and served in Jeddah, Riyadh, Bonn and Washington, D.C. as well as in London. He was Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary 2001–03; Ambassador to Israel 2003–06; Director for Iraq at the FCO 2006–07; Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister and Head of the Overseas and Defence Secretariat at the Cabinet Office 2007–10; and was appointed Ambassador to Germany in October 2010.[1][2]

In September 2015, McDonald became Permanent Under-Secretary in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service, replacing Sir Simon Fraser.[3][4][5] As of 2015, McDonald was paid a salary of between £180,000 and £184,999 by the Foreign Office, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.[6]

In April 2020, McDonald stated to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that it was a political decision to opt out of an EU scheme to bulk-buy ventilators and protective equipment for NHS workers to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. The comments raised concerns that ministers had put Brexit ahead of responding to the public health crisis.[7]Following comments, Matt Hancock used Downing Street's daily press briefing to state that as far as he knew, they had been no political decision not to participate.[8] McDonald subsequently wrote to the committee chairperson, Tom Tugendhat, stating that he had "inadvertently and wrongly" misadvised the committee "due to a misunderstanding".[8]

In June 2020, it was announced that McDonald would take early retirement in autumn 2020. The move stemmed from the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the Department for International Development, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson signalling that he wanted a new leader to head up the combined department.[9]

McDonald was nominated for a crossbench life peerage in the 2020 Political Honours.[10] On 27 January 2021, he was created Baron McDonald of Salford, of Pendleton in the City of Salford for life.

Honours

McDonald was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2004 New Year Honours[11] and Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to British foreign policy and British interests in Germany.[12][13] He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) during the Queen's state visit to Germany in June 2015.[14]

Family

In 1989 Simon McDonald married Olivia, daughter of Sir Patrick Wright, later Baron Wright of Richmond, who had also been Permanent Under-Secretary at the FCO (1986–1991). Simon and Olivia have two sons and two daughters.[1]

References

  1. McDONALD, Simon Gerard, Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press Dec 2013
  2. Simon McDonald CMG, British Ambassador to Germany, gov.uk
  3. "Appointment of new Permanent Under Secretary to the FCO". Foreign & Commonwealth Office. 29 July 2015.
  4. Fraser, Simon (29 July 2015). "Simon Fraser on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 31 July 2015. Many congrats to @SMcDonaldFCO on his appointment as my successor @foreignoffice. Great choice.
  5. Parker, George (31 July 2015). "Top Foreign Office mandarin cautions on hollowing out UK diplomacy". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  6. "Senior officials 'high earners' salaries as at 30 September 2015 - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  7. Wintour, Patrick; Boffey, Daniel (21 April 2020). "Matt Hancock forced to deny 'political' opt-out from EU ventilators". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  8. "Top civil servant 'wrong' about EU equipment claim". BBC News. 21 April 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  9. "Foreign Office boss Sir Simon McDonald to step down early after department merger plan". Sky News. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  10. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/political-peerages-2020
  11. "No. 57155". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2003. p. 3.
  12. "No. 60895". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2014. p. b4.
  13. "Birthday Honours lists 2014". gov.uk. Honours. HM Government. 14 June 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  14. "No. 2360003". The London Gazette. 30 June 2015. p. 2742.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles
Principal Private Secretary
to the Foreign Secretary

2001–2003
Succeeded by
Sir Geoffrey Adams
Preceded by
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles
British Ambassador to Israel
2003–2006
Succeeded by
Sir Tom Phillips
Preceded by
Sir Michael Arthur
British Ambassador to Germany
2010–2015
Succeeded by
Sir Sebastian Wood
Government offices
Preceded by
Sir Simon Fraser
Permanent Under-Secretary at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office

2015–2020
Succeeded by
Sir Philip Barton
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