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Andrew Turnbull, Baron Turnbull, (born 21 January 1945) is a British politician and civil servant who served as the head of
Her Majesty's Civil Service His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, which ...
and Cabinet Secretary between 2002 and 2005, when he was succeeded by Sir Gus O'Donnell. He now sits in the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
as a
crossbencher A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
.


Education

Turnbull was educated at
Enfield Grammar School Enfield Grammar School (abbreviated to EGS; also known as Enfield Grammar) is a boys' Comprehensive school and sixth form with academy status, founded in 1558, situated in Enfield Town in the London Borough of Enfield in North London. Histor ...
and
Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
, where he studied economics.


Career

Turnbull was appointed an Overseas Development Institute Fellow in 1968 and was posted to work as an economist in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Foreign Trade in Lusaka, Zambia. Turnbull served as
Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister The Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is a senior official in the United Kingdom Civil Service who acts as principal private secretary to the prime minister of the United Kingdom. The holder of this office i ...
under
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
and
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Hunting ...
(1988–1992). He served as Defra permanent secretary then
Permanent Secretary to the Treasury The UK Permanent Secretary to the Treasury is the most senior civil servant at HM Treasury. The post originated as that of Assistant Secretary to the Treasury in 1805; that office was given new duties and renamed in 1867 as a Permanent Secretaryship ...
(1998–2002), the latter traditionally the second-highest-ranking Civil Service post, before succeeding to the highest-ranking post. The two most senior civil service roles at the top of government have in recent decades been filled by the same individual. As head of the
civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
, Lord Turnbull was akin to the chief executive of the organisation, though the lines of reporting are somewhat more complex than is typical in the private sector since Permanent Secretaries (senior civil servants within each department of government) report to ministers. As Cabinet Secretary, a post created in 1916, Turnbull was responsible for the organisation of the
Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government object ...
, providing support to the
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
and to the government as a whole. When Turnbull succeeded to the dual role on 2 September 2002, Prime Minister
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
asked him to focus on the management of the civil service, and to make its reorganisation his priority. Turnbull was appointed a Companion of the
Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) a ...
(CB) in 1990, a Commander of the
Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...
(CVO) in the
1992 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published i ...
and promoted to Knight Commander of the
Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) a ...
(KCB) in the
1998 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supplem ...
. He was created a
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
as Baron Turnbull, of
Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...
in the
London Borough of Enfield The London Borough of Enfield () is a London borough in North London. It borders the London boroughs of Barnet to the west, Haringey to the south, and Waltham Forest to the southeast. To the north are the districts of Hertsmere, Welwyn Hat ...
, on 11 October 2005. He has taken on directorships, and in 2007 was listed as Senior Executive Advisor with
Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...
. He is also a trustee of international development charity Zambia Orphans Aid UK, of which he was formerly the chairman.


Controversy


Iraq war

Turnbull became involved in controversy when on 28 February 2004 he wrote a formal letter admonishing ex-minister
Clare Short Clare Short (born 15 February 1946) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2003. Short was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 ...
for making media statements alleging that
British intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains intelligence agencies within three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. These agencies are responsible for collecting and analysing foreign and d ...
had intercepted communications from (among others)
Secretary General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-ge ...
Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...
. Short made the confidential letter public, and in turn rebuked Turnbull for allegedly allowing the government decision-making machinery to crumble in the run-up to the
2003 Iraq war The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...
. Short suggested that the government's legal expert,
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
Lord Goldsmith, had been "leant on" to provide advice that war would be legal. She argued that Turnbull had been responsible for what she alleged was inadequate Cabinet scrutiny of the legal advice, of the basis for the decision to go to war and the alternatives: : ''"He allowed us to rush to war in Iraq without defence and overseas policy meeting, looking at all the military options and the diplomatic options and political options. (He) allowed the Joint Intelligence Committee to meet with
Alastair Campbell Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster and activist known for his roles during Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair's spokesman and campaign director ...
chairing it."'' In March 2005, Lord Turnbull revealed that Lord Goldsmith's opinion on the legality of the Iraq War was only one page long. Turnbull gave evidence to the
Iraq Inquiry The Iraq Inquiry (also referred to as the Chilcot Inquiry after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot)


Opinion of Gordon Brown

On 20 March 2007, the day before the 2007 budget was announced, he gave an interview with the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' in which he described
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
as acting with "Stalinist ruthlessness", contrary to the convention that former civil servants do not talk to the media about serving government ministers.


Environmental views

He is a trustee of the
Global Warming Policy Foundation The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) is a charitable organization in the United Kingdom whose stated aims are to challenge what it calls "extremely damaging and harmful policies" envisaged by governments to mitigate anthropogenic global ...
. In 2011, the Foundation issued a report under Turnbull's name, which stated that global temperatures were "on a plateau". The report also called for more scepticism about
global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
.


Personal life

Lord Turnbull has been married to his wife Diane since 1967 and has two sons. He lists his hobbies as golf, opera and sailing. He has also served on the
Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...
Board of Governors, and was its chairman from 2009 to 2015.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turnbull, Andrew 1945 births Living people Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Permanent Secretaries of HM Treasury Cabinet Secretaries (United Kingdom) Crossbench life peers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Booz Allen Hamilton people People educated at Enfield Grammar School Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Principal Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister Life peers created by Elizabeth II