Charles Powell

Charles Powell   (diplomat, politician, businessman)
Born	6 July 1941
Parents	John Frederick Powell
Spouse	Carla Bonardi
Member of	Barrick Gold, Council on Foreign Relations/Global Board of Advisors, European Council on Foreign Relations, Henry Jackson Society, International Institute for Strategic Studies/Advisory Council, Le Cercle
Le Cercle, House of Lords, Key advisor to Thatcher, on the payroll of various defence companies  British Business Ambassador In office 2010 - Present  Co-Chairman In office 2006 - 2014 Employer Asia Task Force  Chairman In office 1995 - 2005 Employer China-Britain Business Council Preceded by Donald Rumsfeld Succeeded by Anthony Cooke, Charles Powell  Chairman of Said Business School Foundation In office 1997 - Present  Chairman In office 2005 - Present Employer Rolls Royce International Advisory Board Preceded by Charles Powell  Director In office 1995 - Present Employer Louis Vuitton Moet-Hennessy Preceded by Piero Ostellino  Director In office 1992 - Present Employer Jardine Matheson Group Companies  Private Secretary to The Prime Minister In office 1983 - 1991

Background

Charles Powell was educated at The Cathedral Choir School, Canterbury, The King's School, Canterbury and then got a BA in modern history from New College, Oxford in 1963.

Career

Charles Powell became a diplomatic in 1963. His first posting was as Third Secretary to Helsinki in 1965, where he was promoted to Second Secretary. In 1968, he returned to London, spending three years at the FCO. He was posted as First Secretary to Washington, D.C. in 1971, and became the Ambassador's Private Secretary. Subsequent postings were to Bonn in 1974 and, as Counsellor, to UKREP Brussels in 1980. He was seconded to 10 Downing Street and served as Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher (1983 to 1990) and then as Private Secretary to John Major (1990 to 1991). During his time working for Mrs Thatcher, he became one of her most trusted foreign policy aides, and helped broker the controversial al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

Russian Business

E. P. Heidner refers to Lord Powell as a "key member" of "Diligence and its sister company New Bridge... demonstrat[ing] the Western political and financial muscle working with the Yeltsin family".

House of Lords

He is a member of the House of Lords and has been on a range of committees since 2000:

• Procedure Committee Jun 2015 -
• Constitution Committee Jun 2010 - Mar 2015
• European Union Committee Nov 2006 - Apr 2010
• EU Sub-Committee B - Internal Market Nov 2006 - Apr 2010
• Economic Affairs Committee Jun 2005 - Nov 2006
• EU Sub-Committee C - Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development Policy Nov 2003 - Nov 2004

Brunei conflict of interest

In 2005, it was revealed that Powell had been acting as Tony Blair's special envoy to Brunei, an unpaid role, for several years. This was controversial because Powell was on the payroll of BAE Systems, and the company was at the time in dispute with Brunei over the purchase of three warships. Lord Powell denied a conflict of interest over both his links to BAE and the fact his brother Jonathan Powell was serving as Tony Blair's chief of staff.

Companies

As of 2015, he was receiving a salary in the following capacities:

• Chairman, Advisory Board, Rolls-Royce International
• Chairman, Advisory Board, Bowmark Capital
• Member, International Advisory Board, Barrick Gold
• Member, Advisory Board, Thales UK
• Member, International Advisory Board, ACE Insurance
• Adviser, BAE Systems
• Adviser, HCL Technologies (India)

Deep political connections

He attended Le Cercle in the early 1990s. As of 2015, he was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations/Global Board of Advisers.

Family

His brother, Jonathan Powell, was chief of staff to Tony Blair throughout his period as UK Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007, and his father was Air Vice-Marshal John Frederick Powell.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Munich Security Conference/2009	2009	2009	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 45th Munich Security Conference
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."
Munich Security Conference/2012	3 February 2012	5 February 2012	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 48th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2013	1 February 2013	3 February 2013	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 49th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2014	31 January 2014	2 February 2014	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 50th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2015	6 February 2015	8 February 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."
Munich Security Conference/2016	12 February 2016	14 February 2016	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 52nd Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2017	17 February 2017	19 February 2017	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 53rd Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2018	12 February 2018	14 February 2018	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 54th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2019	15 February 2019	17 February 2019	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 55th Munich Security Conference, which included "A Spreading Plague" aimed at "identifying gaps and making recommendations to improve the global system for responding to deliberate, high consequence biological events."
Munich Security Conference/2020	14 February 2020	16 February 2020	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 56th Munich Security Conference, in 2020, "welcomed an unprecedented number of high-ranking international decision-makers."
Munich Security Conference/2022	18 February 2022	20 February 2022	Germany Munich Bavaria	Slightly less than 1/3 of the 664 of the participants have pages here

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