Michael Charles Williams, Baron Williams of Baglan (11 June 1949 – 23 April 2017) was a British diplomat and

crossbench 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 ...

life peer.

Education

Williams attended Sandfields Comprehensive School, Baglan in

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...

. He was later to use the village name of 'Baglan' in his title on entering 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 Westminste ...

as a Labour peer in 2010. He received bachelor's degree from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

in 1971 and a master's degree in the Politics of Developing Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies ( SOAS), in 1973. He subsequently earned a doctorate in Politics, also from SOAS. He then lectured in politics at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

from 1978 to 1980.

Career

Lord Williams was the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Special Coordinator for Lebanon. He was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in August 2008. Williams previously served as UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on the Situation in the Middle East. Prior to that, he was the Director for the Asia and the Pacific Division in the Department of Political Affairs. From 1999 to 2005, Williams was the Special Adviser to two UK Foreign Secretaries,

Robin Cook Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook (28 February 19466 August 2005) was a British Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 wh ...

(1999–2001) and

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 ...

(2001–2005). He held a number of senior positions with the UN in the 1990s, including Director of Human Rights in the UN Transitional Administration in Cambodia (UNTAC) and Director of Information in the UN Protection Force in Former Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR). His previous experience ranged from working for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the BBC World Service and Amnesty International. He was a member of the Executive Committee and Council of Chatham House (Royal Institute for International Affairs). He had written widely on Asian politics, international security and peacekeeping. He had been a Trustee of the

BBC Trust The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...

since 2011. He had served as Chair of the Trustee Board of the British humanitarian demining charity MAG (

Mines Advisory Group The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) is a non-governmental organization that assists people affected by landmines, unexploded ordnance, and small arms and light weapons. MAG takes a humanitarian approach to landmine action. They focus on the impact ...

) since 2013. Williams was made a life peer in the 2010 Dissolution Honours list. He was created Baron Williams of Baglan, ''of

Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot ( cy, Castell-nedd Port Talbot) is a county borough in the south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county borough borders Bridgend County Borough and Rhondda Cynon Taf ...

in Glamorgan'' on 23 July 2010 and, on being introduced into the

, took his seat on the Labour benches. He was granted a 12-month

leave of absence The labour law concept of leave, specifically paid leave or, in some countries' long-form, a leave of absence, is an authorised prolonged absence from work, for any reason authorised by the workplace. When people "take leave" in this way, they are ...

from the House which ended in October 2011, and sat as a crossbencher. Williams died in Britain in April 2017 aged 67.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Michael C. 1949 births 2017 deaths Alumni of University College London Alumni of SOAS University of London Academics of the University of East Anglia Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II British officials of the United Nations Trustees of the British Broadcasting Corporation Council and directors of Chatham House