Sir Joseph Brian Donnelly (born 4 April 1945) is a retired British diplomat.

Early life and education

Brought up in

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

, he was educated at Workington Grammar School, The Queen's College Oxford (1963–66) (Wyndham scholar, MA, ed Cherwell),

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

(MA). He began an

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, but left in 1970 and began working at

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Unit ...

Diplomatic career

In 1973 he began working at the UK

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

. From 1975 to 1979 he served in the UK Mission to the UN as First Secretary for the

United Nations Economic and Social Council The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

, and then in Singapore. From 1984 to 1987 he was Deputy to the Chief Scientific Adviser in 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 objecti ...

. Subsequently he became Counsellor and Consul General in the Athens Embassy. In 1991 he attended the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

. He then became Head of the Non-Proliferation Department and represented the United Kingdom at the three preparatory committees for the 1995 Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons treaty Revision and Extension Conference. From 1995 to 1997 he became the United Kingdom Minister and Deputy Permanent Representative to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and the

Western European Union The Western European Union (WEU; french: Union de l'Europe occidentale, UEO; german: Westeuropäische Union, WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 ...

(WEU) in Brussels. From 1997 to 1999 he was Ambassador to Yugoslavia, and from 2001 to 2004 Ambassador to Zimbabwe.

Later career

After leaving the diplomatic service, he worked as a special adviser to the

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...

. In retirement he served on the

Commonwealth Scholarship Commission The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is an international programme under which Commonwealth governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries. History The plan was originally proposed b ...

from 2006 to 1012 becoming Deputy Chair, and the

Special Immigration Appeals Commission The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (also known by the acronym SIAC) is a superior court of record in the United Kingdom established by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act 1997 that deals with appeals from persons deported by t ...

.http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/35949/(Joseph)-Brian-DONNELLY He was made an honorary fellow of The Queen's College Oxford in 2015.

Private life

Donnelly married before going to the University of Wisconsin-Madison; they had one daughter. He married again 1n 1997 to author Julia Newsome. They live near

Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England, historically in Cumberland. The town is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, at the northern end of the former Cumberland Coalfield. Locatio ...

, West Cumbria.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelly, Brian 1945 births Living people Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Yugoslavia Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George British people of Irish descent Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Zimbabwe High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Zimbabwe NATO officials Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Fellows of The Queen's College, Oxford University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni People from Workington Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies