Sir David Elliott Spiby Blatherwick, (born 13 July 1941), is a retired
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
diplomat. After joining the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
in 1964 he served in a number of diplomatic posts in Kuwait, Ireland, Egypt and at the United Nations in New York. He was appointed the British ambassador to Ireland from 1991 to 1995, and ambassador to Egypt from 1995 to 1999. Following his retirement he has served on the
boards
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* Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat
** Plank (wood)
** Cutting board
** Sounding board, of a musical instrument
* Cardboard (paper product)
* Paperboard
* Fiberboard
** Hardboard, a t ...
of a number of organisations.
Education and career
Born on 13 July 1941, he was educated at
Lincoln School and
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road.
Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...
and joined the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
in 1964.
He attended the
Middle East Centre for Arabic Studies from 1964 to 1966.
Between 1966 and 1968 he became a
Third
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then later a Second Secretary at the Foreign Office before being appointed to the
diplomatic service
Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to ...
in 1968.
His first overseas posting was
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
from 1968 followed by
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
in 1970.
He was promoted to First Secretary and returned to work at the Foreign Office from September 1973.
In July 1977 he was appointed
Head of Chancery
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...
in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
.
He was promoted to
counsellor and from March 1981 to 1983 he was seconded to the Political Affairs Division of the
Northern Ireland Office
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO; ga, Oifig Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Oaffis'') is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for N ...
.
Following criticism of the British government by
Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich after the death of hunger strikers
Raymond McCreesh
Raymond McCreesh ( ga, Réamonn Mac Raois, 25 February 1957 – 21 May 1981) was an Irish volunteer in the South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In 1976, he and two other IRA volunteers were captured while attemp ...
and
Patsy O'Hara
Patsy O'Hara (Irish: Peatsaí Ó hEadhra; 11 July 1957 – 21 May 1981) was an Irish republican hunger striker and member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).
Biography
O'Hara was born in Bishop Street, Derry, Northern Ireland. He ...
in May 1981, Blatherwick advised 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 not ...
,
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 (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
, on a possible response to the Cardinal.
Documents related to the hunger strike, including Blatherwick's advice note, were released by the British Government in 2012 and published on the
Conflict Archive on the Internet
CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) is a database containing information about Conflict and Politics in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present. The project began in 1996, with the website launching in 1997. The project is based within Ul ...
website.
During his time in Northern Ireland he met with the
Ulster Unionist
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the I ...
politician,
David Trimble
William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, (15 October 1944 – 25 July 2022) was a British politician who was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005. He was ...
. Blatherwick described Trimble as initially suspicious of the motives of both the Northern Ireland Office and the Foreign Office, who he saw as pandering to the
nationalists
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
. However Trimble later came to the view that Blatherwick was not planning to sell out Ulster but was instead "looking for some formulation that would quieten things down."
In March 1983 he became Head of the Energy Science and Space Department at the Foreign Office.
He was appointed counsellor and Head of Chancery at the
UK mission to the United Nations
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
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and served there from June 1986 to 1989.
He returned to the Foreign Office again in 1989, this time as Superintending Under-Secretary and Principal Finance Officer with responsibility for planning and co-ordination of expenditure and oversight of delegated budgets.
He served as
ambassador to Ireland from 10 September 1991 to 29 March 1995,
and
ambassador to Egypt from May 1995 to 10 February 1999.
He retired from the diplomatic service in 1999.
After retirement
Following his retirement he took up a number of
board
Board or Boards may refer to:
Flat surface
* Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat
** Plank (wood)
** Cutting board
** Sounding board, of a musical instrument
* Cardboard (paper product)
* Paperboard
* Fiberboard
** Hardboard, a ty ...
positions. He was a director of the British Egyptian Society from 20 July 1999 to 17 April 2005 and the Middle East Association from 3 May 2000 to 1 September 2006.
His knowledge of Irish affairs led to his appointment in January 2003 as the British Joint Chairman of
Anglo-Irish Encounter
Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...
, a non-governmental organisation established in 1983 which is mainly concerned with cultural and social issues
between the two countries.
He was a
trustee
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...
of the British Egyptian Foundation for Children with Special Needs
charity
Charity may refer to:
Giving
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing
* Ch ...
before it was disbanded in July 2011.
Blatherwick became
Chairman
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
of the Egyptian-British Chamber of Commerce in December 1999,
a position he still holds . He has been a trustee of the
British University in Egypt
The British University in Egypt (BUE) is a private Egyptian university in Al Shorouk City, Cairo, Egypt. Founded in September 2005, through an inter governmental agreement, the university provides a British style of education and awards degree ...
since it opened in 2005 and still continues in this role . He had been involved with the initial proposals for the new university during his time as ambassador to Egypt in 1998.
In April 2004 Blatherwick was one of 52 former British diplomats to sign a letter criticising
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 th ...
for his policies on the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. A week later several of the signatories, including Blatherwick, were criticised by
The Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings.
It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...
for not disclosing their business links to the region. On 15 September 2010, Blatherwick, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in ''The Guardian'', stating their opposition to
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
's
state visit to the UK.
Honours
He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1973, a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1990 and a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1997.
Personal life
He married Margaret Clare Crompton in 1964.
Blatherwick is a patron of
Humanists UK
Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious be ...
.
Works
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blatherwick, David
1941 births
Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Egypt
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Ireland
Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Living people
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Place of birth missing (living people)
People educated at Lincoln Grammar School
British humanists