John Holmes (British diplomat)


For other people named John Holmes, see John Holmes (disambiguation).





Holmes at Chatham House in 2016


Sir John Holmes GCVO KBE CMG (born 29 April 1951) is a British former diplomat who is the current Chair of the Electoral Commission.




Contents





  • 1 Early life


  • 2 Career


  • 3 Later life


  • 4 Personal life


  • 5 Honours


  • 6 Publications


  • 7 References


  • 8 External links




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. Holmes is a gifted linguist. He studied Greats at Oxford. He was brought up in Penwortham, a middle-class suburb of Preston, where he went to school at Crookings Lane Primary. He was in the same class as Howard Mendel, the Natural History Museum entomologist. Holmes played cricket for Lancashire schoolboys and was also a good tennis player. He was a member of Penwortham Congregational Tennis Club where he won the junior singles as a teenager. He entered the Welsh Open as a student and was defeated by Buster Mottram. Holmes also played football as a schoolboy, representing Penwortham Hill Rovers junior side. One of the coaches for Penwortham Hill Rovers was Tommy Lawrenson, father of the Liverpool footballer, Mark Lawrenson who grew up in Blundell Lane, Penwortham, a few hundred yards from Holmes's house at 23 Queensway. Holmes's father was an English teacher at Preston Grammar. His mother was also an educated woman but didn't work full-time. His elder brother David too was a pupil at Preston Grammar.



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]


In 2012, at the request of the Ministry of Defence, he conducted an Independent Medal Review that recommended the widening of eligibility of a number of post 1945 campaign medals, his findings being accepted by the Government.[2]



Later life


He was director of the Ditchley Foundation from September 2010 to August 2016, succeeding Sir Jeremy Greenstock.[3] He became Chair of the Electoral Commission in January 2017.



Personal life


In 1976 he married Penelope Morris, an author and trustee of Women for Women UK;[4] the couple 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.[5] In 1998 he was appointed CVO[6] 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.[7] 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.[8]



Publications



  • The Politics of Humanity: The Reality of Relief Aid, Head of Zeus, London, 2013. .mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output .citation qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-maintdisplay:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
    ISBN 1781850917


References




  1. ^ Senior British diplomat named new UN humanitarian chief, United Nations News Service, 3 January 2007


  2. ^ "Sir John Holmes independent medal review, 2014 update". Gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-29.


  3. ^ Sir John Holmes announced as new Director of the Ditchley Foundation, 25 February 2010


  4. ^ "Lady Penelope Holmes". Women for Women. Archived from the original on 18 May 2014.


  5. ^ The London Gazette, 2 August 1997


  6. ^ The London Gazette, 18 December 1998


  7. ^ The London Gazette, 31 December 1998


  8. ^ The London Gazette, 25 June 2004




External links



  • HOLMES, Sir John (Eaton), Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2013


  • Senior Staff, The Ditchley Foundation











Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Stephen Wall

British Ambassador to Portugal
1999–2001
Succeeded by
Dame Glynne Evans
Preceded by
Sir Michael Jay

British Ambassador to France
2001–2006
Succeeded by
Sir Peter Westmacott
Positions in intergovernmental organisations
Preceded by
Jan Egeland (Norway)

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
2007–2010
Succeeded by
Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos (United Kingdom)








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