Sir Paul Lever KCMG (born 31 March 1944) is a retired British ambassador.

Career

Paul Lever was educated at St Paul's School, London and The Queen's College, Oxford. He joined the Diplomatic Service on leaving Oxford in 1966. After a year at 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) he was sent to Finland to learn Finnish and served at the embassy in Helsinki 1967–71. He later served as '' chef de cabinet'' to

Christopher Tugendhat Christopher Samuel Tugendhat, Baron Tugendhat (born 23 February 1937) is a British Conservative Party politician, businessman, company director, journalist and author. He was a Member of Parliament from 1970 to 1977, then a member of the Europ ...

, then vice-president of the EEC, and as head successively of the UN, Defence, and Security Policy departments in the FCO. He was head of the UK delegation to the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in Vienna, with the rank of

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 ...

, 1990–92; assistant Under-Secretary at the FCO 1992–94; chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee 1994–96; Director for EU and Economic Affairs at the FCO 1996–97; and Ambassador to Germany 1997–2003.LEVER, Sir Paul’
''Who's Who 2014'', A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2013 Lever retired from the Diplomatic Service in 2003 and was Global Development Director, RWE Thames Water, 2003–06 and Chairman of the Royal United Services Institute 2004–09.

Books

His book ''Berlin Rules: Europe and the German Way'' (2017) argued that Germany is the dominant power in the European Union, and uses that power to protect the German economy. Lever argues that a federal Europe seems nonthreatening to federal Germany, and by embracing pan-Europeanism they can escape their past.

Honours

Lever was appointed

CMG CMG may refer to: Companies * Capitol Music Group, a music label * China Media Group, the predominant state radio and television broadcaster in the PRC * China Media Group Co., Ltd., publicly listed Chinese holding company in the media sector * ...

in 1991 and knighted KCMG in the

1998 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1998 for the United Kingdom, Barbados, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Christopher and Nevis were announced on 30 December 1997, ...

. He was awarded an honorary LLD degree by Birmingham University in 2001List of Honorary Graduates since 2000
University of Birmingham and an honorary fellowship of his ''alma mater'', The Queen's College, Oxford, in 2006.

Works

* ''Europa in zehn Jahren: wie wird es aussehen?''. Vortrag. Hamburg : Übersee-Club, 2002 * ''Berlin Rules: Europe and the German Way''. Tauris, 2017

References

External links

Interview with Sir Paul Lever
British Diplomatic Oral History Programme, Churchill College, Cambridge, 7 November 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lever, Paul 1944 births Living people People educated at St Paul's School, London Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Members of HM Diplomatic Service Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Chairs of the Joint Intelligence Committee (United Kingdom) Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Germany Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George 20th-century British diplomats