Geoffrey Tantum

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Person.png Geoffrey Tantum Companies House Companies In The UK Company Dircetor Check PowerbaseRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(soldier, spook, deep politician?, diplomat, businessman)
Geoffrey Tantum.jpg
Geoffrey Tantum receives an a award for services rendered to Bahrain
BornGeoffrey Alan Tantum
November 1940
NationalityUK
Alma materHampton Grammar School, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Oxford University/St John's College
Children • Laura Tantum
• Katie Tantum
Member ofEquilibrium Gulf Limited, Le Cercle
Sandhurst, MI6, Former(?) secretary of Le Cercle

Employment.png Director

In office
2013-03-14 - 2013-06-30
EmployerModac Global Limited

Employment.png Director

In office
2013-12-03 - 2014-03-31
EmployerEquilibrium Gulf Limited
Resigned

Employment.png Director

In office
2002-02-20 - 2005-02-08
EmployerPetra Software Limited
"?" contains an extrinsic dash or other characters that are invalid for a date interpretation.

Employment.png Le Cercle/UK secretary

In office
?
EmployerLe Cercle

Employment.png 

In office
1966 - Present
EmployerMI6

Employment.png 

In office
1959 - 1966
EmployerUK/Army

Sir Geoffrey Alan Tantum CMG OBE MA MCIL is a former MI6 controller for the Middle East.[1][2] He reportedly met with Jonathan Aitken every six weeks and swapped information.[3][4] He was awarded an OBE in 1995.[5] His name was on a list of 117 MI6 operatives posted on the internet in the 1990s by disaffected spook Richard Tomlinson.[6] He was named by The Independent as UK secretary of Le Cercle.[7]

Background

Geoffrey Tantum attended Hampton Grammar School, then RMA Sandhurst, then obtained a 1st Class degree in Oriental Studies (Arabic) from St John’s College Oxford.[3]

Career

Geoffrey Tantum worked in the UK military from 1959–66, then joined MI6.[3] Having a degree in Arabic, he focused on the Middle East. "The report was based on a tape-recording by a British agent of President Ali Khameni of Iran, giving orders to leaders of Iran's secret service on how they should destabilise Saudi Arabia by a series of terrorist bombings of Saudi government buildings and British and US military offices in Riyadh and Dharan."[8]

Later activities

Since 2002, he was been a director of a range of UK companies, including Equilibrium Gulf Limited, "an innovative ethical UK-based geo-strategic advisory company with an international focus".[9][1] His co-directors in Petra Software Limited were George Ritchie Gray, Caroline Anne Tantum, Jeremy Michael Wooding and Ralph Douglas.[2] In 2005, he was working for Gulf Consultancy Services, UK.[10] He was a director of South Pool Property Investments Limited from 2003-07-21 to 2013-01-31.[11]

"Geoffrey continues to act as a personal adviser to a senior Gulf client. Geoffrey is a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists in both Arabic and Italian, has broadcast on Arab TV and radio stations and published work on medieval Muslim warfare."[12]

Connections

Laura Tantum, a daughter, ran the Universal Exports Charity Foundation, named after the company used as a cover for MI6 in the James Bond films.[13] Katie Tantum is another daughter.[14]

In 2018 Tantum was honoured "for his outstanding service and contributions in the development of relations between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Kingdom for over twenty years, during which he promoted common interests and cooperation between the two kingdoms."[15]

Exposure

He attended Le Cercle and was named by The Independent as its UK secretary.[16]

Cover-up

Tantum is not known to have ever had a Wikipedia page. As of July 2019, the only known mentions of him are his inclusion in the 1995 New Year Honours and the 2018 Birthday Honours.

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References