Sir John Eaton Holmes (born 29 April 1951) is a British former diplomat who is the current Chairman of the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

Early life

Holmes was born on 29 April 1951 in Preston, in the north of England. He was educated at

Preston Grammar School Winckley Square is situated near the centre of Preston, Lancashire, England, at the west end of Avenham. The square was first established in 1801, around Town End Field owned by Thomas Winckley, as an exclusive residential area for the town's ...

and went on to study Greats at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. He was brought up in

Penwortham Penwortham () is a town in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, on the south bank of the River Ribble facing the city of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The town is at the most westerly crossing point of the river, with major road and rail links cr ...

, a middle-class suburb of Preston, where he went to school at Crookings Lane Primary and was in the same class as Howard Mendel, a Natural History Museum entomologist. Holmes played cricket for Lancashire schoolboys and was also a tennis player. He was a member of Penwortham Congregational Tennis Club where he won the junior singles as a teenager. He entered the Welsh Open as a student and was defeated by

Buster Mottram Christopher "Buster" Mottram (born 25 April 1955 in Kingston upon Thames) is an English former tennis player and UK number 1 who achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15 in February 1983. Mottram represented Great Britain in the D ...

. Holmes also played football as a schoolboy, representing Penwortham Hill Rovers junior side. One of the coaches for Penwortham Hill Rovers was Tommy Lawrenson, father of the Liverpool footballer,

Mark Lawrenson Mark Thomas Lawrenson (born 2 June 1957) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender for Liverpool, among others, during the 1970s and 1980s. After a short career as a manager, he then became a radio, television and internet pu ...

who grew up in Blundell Lane, Penwortham, a few hundred yards from Holmes's house at 23 Queensway. Holmes's father was an English teacher at Preston Grammar. His mother was also an educated woman but didn't work full-time. His elder brother David too was a pupil at Preston Grammar.

Career

He entered the

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 ...

(FCO) in 1973. After spending three years as a desk officer in London, including a period of temporary duty at the British Mission to the UN in New York, he was appointed to the British Embassy in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

as a

3rd Secretary Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seatings ...

Chancery, and subsequently promoted

2nd Secretary Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seatings ...

. On returning to the FCO in 1978, he first took up an appointment in the Near East and North Africa Department before becoming Assistant Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary in 1982. In 1984 Holmes was posted to the British Embassy in Paris as

1st Secretary Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seatings ...

(Economic). He returned to London in 1987 as Assistant Head of the Soviet Department and between 1989 and 1991 he was seconded to Thomas De La Rue & Co, before moving to India as Economic and Commercial Counsellor at the High Commission in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. He returned to London in 1995, first as Head of the European Union Department in FCO and then as Private Secretary, and subsequently

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 is ...

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 ...

. Between 1999 and autumn 2001, John Holmes was

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. He was

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

from October 2001 until 2007. From January 2007 to August 2010 he was

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator is a high-level position in the United Nations that heads the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The current holder is Martin Griffiths of th ...

, appointed by

United Nations Secretary-General 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 ...

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

. In February 2008 after eight months of the blocking of the crossings into Gaza by the Israelis, Holmes described the situation of the people of Gaza as "grim and miserable" and pointed out they were living on a tenth of what had been available a year earlier. In 2012, at the request of the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

, he conducted an Independent Medal Review of post 1945 campaign medals, his findings being accepted by the Government.

Later life

He was director of the

Ditchley Foundation The Ditchley Foundation is a foundation that holds conferences, with a primary focus on British-American relations. It is based at Ditchley Park near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. It was established as a privately funded charity in 1958 by philan ...

from September 2010 to August 2016, succeeding

Sir Jeremy Greenstock Sir Jeremy Quentin Greenstock (born 27 July 1943) is a British retired diplomat, active from 1969 to 2004. Life and career Greenstock was educated at Harrow School and at Worcester College, Oxford. He was an assistant master at Eton College ...

. He became Chair of the Electoral Commission in January 2017.

Personal life

In 1976 he married Penelope Morris, an author and trustee of Women for Women UK; the couple have three daughters: Sarah, Lucy and Emilie.

Honours

Holmes was awarded the CMG in 1997 in the

Resignation Honours List The Prime Minister's Resignation Honours in the United Kingdom are honours granted at the behest of an outgoing prime minister following their resignation. In such a list, a prime minister may ask the monarch to bestow peerages, or lesser honours ...

of former Prime Minister

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 (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

for his service as Principal Private Secretary. In 1998 he was appointed CVO and in the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

of 1999 knighted

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

on the recommendation of

on leaving the senior job at No. 10 Downing Street, a higher honour than normally bestowed, because of his work on the Northern Ireland Peace Talks. In 2004

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

promoted him to

GCVO 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, or ...

at the conclusion of her state visit to France to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the

Entente Cordiale The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial de ...

Publications

''The Politics of Humanity: The Reality of Relief Aid''
Head of Zeus, London, 2013.

References

External links

HOLMES, Sir John (Eaton)
''Who's Who 2014'', A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2013
Senior Staff
The Ditchley Foundation {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, John 1951 births Living people People from Preston, Lancashire Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Portugal Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to France Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations Principal Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister People educated at Preston Grammar School British officials of the United Nations