Simon McDonald

Lord McDonald of Salford   (diplomat)
Born	Simon Gerard McDonald 9 March 1961 Salford, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Pembroke College (Cambridge)
Children	4
Spouse	Olivia Wright
Member of	Franco-British Colloque
UK Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service 2015-2020.  Member of the House of Lords  In office 27 January 2021 - Present Appointed by Boris Johnson  HM Diplomatic Service In office 1982 - September 2020  Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary  In office 2001 - 2003 Preceded by Sherard Cowper-Coles  UK/Ambassador/Israel  In office 2003 - 2006 Preceded by Sherard Cowper-Coles Succeeded by Tom Phillips  UK/Ambassador/Germany  In office 2010 - 2015  Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs  In office September 2015 - September 2020 Preceded by Simon Fraser  Master of Christ's College In office 1 September 2022 - Present Employer Christ's College (Cambridge)

Simon Gerard McDonald, Baron McDonald of Salford is a British former diplomat who was the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service until September 2020. He was the last professional head of the FCO before the creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

On 23 November 2021, Lord McDonald was elected Master-Elect of Christ's College, Cambridge, with a term of office beginning 1 September 2022.

Diplomatic career

Simon 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.

In September 2015, McDonald became Permanent Under-Secretary in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service, replacing Sir Simon Fraser. 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.

Ventilators and PPE

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. 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. McDonald subsequently wrote to the committee chairperson, Tom Tugendhat, stating that he had "inadvertently and wrongly" misadvised the committee "due to a misunderstanding".

Early retirement

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.

Peerage

Simon McDonald was nominated for a crossbench life peerage in the 2020 Political Honours. On 27 January 2021, he was created Baron McDonald of Salford and made his maiden speech on 2 March 2021.

Crossing fingers at Downing Street

On 4 July 2022, the BBC reported:

Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure to reveal what he knew about allegations of inappropriate behaviour concerning Chris Pincher when he was appointed deputy chief whip.

On 5 July 2022, Lord McDonald tweeted:

This morning I have written to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards - because No 10 keep changing their story and are still not telling the truth.

Chris Mason, political editor of the BBC, commented:

In his most stinging line of all Lord McDonald likened Downing Street statements to "telling the truth and crossing your fingers at the same time and hoping that people are not too forensic in their subsequent questioning". Day by day this means ministers are being sent out with lines to take that disintegrate within hours of them being said out loud - not only humiliating for the ministers concerned but toxic for trust in the leadership of the party, and the country.

 

A Document by Simon McDonald

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:Lord McDonald's letter of 5 July 2022	Letter	5 July 2022	Chris Pincher Boris Johnson Kathryn Stone Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards 10 Downing Street	When Lord McDonald took to Twitter at 7:30 this morning, he knew the political firestorm he would create. But, quite simply, he had had enough of Number 10′s obfuscation and downright lies about the Chris Pincher scandal. And he was determined to set the record straight. (Huffington Post)

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Herzliya Conference/2006	21 January 2006	24 January 2006	Israel Tel Aviv Reichman University	A 2006 conference on Israeli security needs.
Munich Security Conference/2010	5 February 2010	7 February 2010	Germany Munich Bavaria	An anti-war demonstration outside described it as "Nothing more than a media-effectively staged war propaganda event, which this year had the purpose of justifying the NATO troop increase in Afghanistan and glorifying the continuation of the war as a contribution to peace and stability."

 

Events Witnessed

Event	Location(s)	Description
Munich Security Conference/2013	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 49th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2014	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 50th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2015	Germany Munich Bavaria	"400 high-ranking decision-makers in international politics, including some 20 heads of state and government as well as more than 60 foreign and defence ministers, met in Munich to discuss current crises and conflicts."

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