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Jonathan Powell (civil servant)

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Jonathan Powell
Powell in 2011
United Kingdom National Security Adviser
designate
Assumed office
December 2024
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byTim Barrow
Downing Street Chief of Staff
In office
2 May 1997 – 27 June 2007
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byDavid Wolfson (1985)
Succeeded byTom Scholar
Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Opposition
In office
1995 – 2 May 1997
LeaderTony Blair
Succeeded bySebastian Coe
Personal details
Born (1956-08-14) 14 August 1956 (age 68)
NationalityBritish
SpouseSarah Helm
Children4
Alma materUniversity College, Oxford
University of Pennsylvania

Jonathan Nicholas Powell (born 14 August 1956) is a British diplomat and civil servant. In November 2024, he was announced as the UK National Security adviser, serving in Downing Street under British prime minister Keir Starmer. He previously served as the second Downing Street Chief of Staff, under British prime minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007. He was the only senior adviser to last the whole period of Blair's leadership.[1] During this period Powell was also the chief British negotiator on Northern Ireland.

In 2007, Powell joined Morgan Stanley as a full-time senior managing director of its investment banking division.[2] He runs the charity Inter Mediate, which works on armed conflicts around the world. In 2014, David Cameron appointed Powell to be the UK's special envoy to Libya.[3]

In 2024, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer appointed Powell as a special envoy to resolve the Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute. Following the resolution of the dispute, he was appointed by Prime Minister Starmer to serve as the UK National Security Adviser.[4]

Early life and education

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Powell is the son of Air Vice-Marshal John Frederick Powell. He has three brothers: Charles, who was foreign policy advisor to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; Chris, a former advertising executive; and Roderick. Although Powell pronounces the family name in the conventional manner (to rhyme with 'towel'), Charles pronounces it as 'pole'.

Powell was educated at the Cathedral Choir School, Canterbury, and the King's School, Canterbury. He read history and gained a 2.1[5] at University College, Oxford[6] and the University of Pennsylvania. He then worked for the BBC as a journalist and Granada TV before joining the Foreign Office in 1979.[7][8]

Career

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Diplomatic career

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Powell joined the FCO in 1979 and was posted as Third Secretary, later Second Secretary, to Lisbon in 1981. He was subsequently posted to UKDEL CDE Stockholm in 1986 and to UKDEL CSCE Vienna in September 1986.[9] In November 2010, Powell wrote an article for The Guardian that was critical of the publication by WikiLeaks of the contents of US diplomatic cables. Powell argued, "It is very difficult to conduct diplomacy effectively when your confidential deliberations are made public in this way. Mutual trust is the basis of such relations and once that trust is breached, candid conversations are less likely. It is like having a conversation in the pub with your best mate about problems with your girlfriend and then finding the content, possibly with a bit of spin added, posted on the internet. You won't be having that conversation again any time soon."[10]

Powell was desk officer for the negotiations on giving Hong Kong back to the Chinese in 1983–85, and for the Two Plus Four talks on German unification from 1989 to 1990. Powell was posted to the British Embassy in Washington in 1991 and attached himself to Bill Clinton's Presidential campaign as an observer. He later introduced Tony Blair to Bill Clinton and his team after the election.[11]

Downing Street Chief of Staff

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Shortly after his election as Leader of the Labour Party, Tony Blair asked Powell to become his chief of staff. Powell initially declined the offer, although he later left the diplomatic service in 1995 to become the Chief of Staff to the Opposition Leader.[7] Following Labour's election victory in 1997, Powell was given the new official role of Downing Street Chief of Staff, a new position with the power to issue orders to civil servants, which was unprecedented for a political appointee.[7]

In the early years of the Blair Government, one of Powell's most crucial jobs was his role in the Northern Ireland peace talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement. In March 2008, Powell called for tactics used successfully in Northern Ireland to be applied to the War on Terrorism. He suggested that western governments hold talks with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, just as the British government negotiated with the Provisional IRA in order to bring about a peace deal in Northern Ireland. His suggestion was publicly rejected by the British Foreign Office.[12] His book Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland details the negotiations which led to the Agreement which devised and put in place a devolved, power-sharing government for Northern Ireland.

Powell continued to be both a key right-hand man for Blair throughout his time in office, as well as a trusted advisor on a wide range of policy issues. He was described by The Guardian as being "at the heart of all his (Blair's) key foreign policy initiatives."[13] It is believed he was questioned twice by police, the second time under caution, during the investigation into the Cash for Honours affair.[14] While many in Blair's "kitchen cabinet" – including Alastair Campbell – departed before Blair's resignation, Powell remained in Downing Street until June 2007.

In February 2012 Peter Oborne, a Daily Telegraph journalist, criticised Powell for divulging sensitive information about the activities of MI6 in Russia. He told a BBC documentary, Putin, Russia and the West, how MI6 had in 2006 used a "fake rock filled with surveillance devices as a means of communication with their agents in Moscow". Oborne described this as a "propaganda gift for Vladimir Putin", as it soon after featured heavily in a programme screened on prime-time Russian state TV. The footage was used to attack opponents of Putin who at the time, in 2006, had doubted Kremlin reports of MI6's activity in Russia. In the view of Oborne, "Powell’s indiscretion was used to make a full-frontal attack on some of the most respected independent critics of the regime" and Powell had become a "useful idiot" for Putin.[15]

Post Downing Street

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Powell was a banker at Morgan Stanley from 2008 to 2009. In 2011 he founded the charity Inter Mediate with Martin Griffiths[16] to work on armed conflicts around the world. Since 2013 he has also been a member of the Board of Save the Children International.[17]

In May 2014 British prime minister David Cameron appointed Powell as the UK special envoy to Libya to promote dialogue between rival factions in the country.[18]

In March 2017 he was appointed Honorary Professor in the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen's University Belfast.[19]

In September 2024, Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer appointed him as an envoy to negotiate with British Indian Ocean Territory and Mauritius regarding the Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute.[20] On 3 October an announcement from the UK and Mauritius stated that the issue had been resolved and that the UK was to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.[21]

National Security Adviser

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On 8 November 2024, he was announced as the next National Security Adviser, in succession to Sir Tim Barrow, and as such will once again be based in No 10 Downing Street.[22] He will take up the appointment in December 2024.[23]

Inquiries

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Powell's role as Downing Street Chief of Staff came under close scrutiny during the Hutton Inquiry, held following the death of David Kelly in 2003. Powell gave evidence to the inquiry on 18 August, and described several crucial meetings he had attended at which Kelly had been discussed before his name appeared in the media. An email sent by Powell to the JIC chairman John Scarlett in September 2002 was also highlighted, as it appeared to suggest that a dossier on the threat posed by Iraq should be toughened.[24] Many commentators criticised the style of government described by Powell as too informal, some dubbing it "sofa government", as many meetings were held in relaxed surroundings without proper notes being taken. The subsequent and separate Butler Report also emphasised these criticisms.[citation needed] Both the Hutton and Butler reports indicated Powell was very close to Blair.[citation needed]

On 18 January 2010 Powell gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry.[25]

Personal life

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Powell has four children: two daughters with his partner, Sarah Helm, and two sons from a previous marriage.[7]

Publications

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  • Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland, The Bodley Head, 2008. ISBN 1-84792-032-2.
  • The New Machiavelli: How to Wield Power in the Modern World, The Bodley Head, 2010. ISBN 1-84792-122-1.
  • Talking to Terrorists: How to End Armed Conflicts, The Bodley Head, 2014, ISBN 9781847922298; published in the United States with the title Terrorists at the Table: Why Negotiating Is the Only Way to Peace, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, ISBN 9781250069887.[26]
  • The Public Sector: Managing the Unmanageable, Kogan Page, 2013. ISBN 978-0-7494-6777-7. (Contributor).[27]

Radio

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Jonathan Powell". Global Political Strategies. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  2. ^ "Former Blair Aide Joins Top Bank". BBC. 7 December 2007. Retrieved 7 December 2007.
  3. ^ Black, Ian (23 May 2014). "David Cameron appoints Jonathan Powell as official envoy to Libya". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Britain names Jonathan Powell as national security adviser". Reuters. 8 November 2024.
  5. ^ Rentoul, John (26 September 2003). "Jonathan Powell: Driven, devoted and discreet: is this the last true Blairite?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  6. ^ Univ alumni, univalumni.org. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  7. ^ a b c d "Profile: Jonathan Powell". BBC. 14 July 2004. Retrieved 7 December 2007.
  8. ^ Powell, Jonathan (17 March 2008). "A moment in history: sitting down to talk with Adams and McGuinness". The Guardian.
  9. ^ The Diplomatic Service List 1989 (page 278), HMSO, ISBN 0-11-591707-1.
  10. ^ Powell, Jonathan, US embassy cables: Leaks happen. But on this industrial scale, whose interests are served?, The Guardian, 30 November 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  11. ^ Powell, Jonathan, "Jonathan Powell | UANI". Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2013., United Against Nuclear Iran
  12. ^ Ormsby, Avril (15 March 2008). "Powell says government "should talk to al Qaeda"". Reuters. Archived from the original on 19 March 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  13. ^ Powell, Jonathan (18 November 2007). "Why the West should not fear to intervene". London: Observer. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  14. ^ "Who's who: Cash for honours row". BBC. 20 July 2007. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  15. ^ The BBC’s distortion of the truth helps Putin suppress his critics, Telegraph, retrieved 2 February 2012
  16. ^ "Jonathan Powell". Inter Mediate. London. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  17. ^ "Annual Review 2013" (PDF). Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  18. ^ "David Cameron appoints former Blair aide as special envoy to Libya". Financial Times. 22 May 2014. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  19. ^ "News and Events – Jonathan Powell Appointment – Queen's University Belfast". www.qub.ac.uk.
  20. ^ Lammy, David (10 September 2024). "British Indian Ocean Territory/Chagos Archipelago". Hansard.
  21. ^ Harding, Andrew (3 October 2024). "UK will give sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius". BBC News.
  22. ^ "Appointment of Jonathan Powell as National Security Adviser". GOV.UK. Cabinet Office. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  23. ^ "Jonathan Powell: Starmer picks Blair aide as security adviser". BBC News. 8 November 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  24. ^ Jeffery, Simon (22 August 2003). "Jonathan Powell". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  25. ^ "Iraq inquiry: No deal in blood, says Jonathan Powell". BBC News. BBC. 18 January 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
  26. ^ Review: Loyd, Anthony (21–27 November 2014). "The enemy at my table". New Statesman. 143 (5237): 49.
  27. ^ Stevenson, Alexander (2013). The Public Sector: Managing The Unmanageable. Kogan Page Limited. ISBN 978-0-7494-6777-7.
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Government offices
Preceded by Downing Street Chief of Staff
1997–2007 		Succeeded by
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