Lilian Pauline Neville-Jones, Baroness Neville-Jones (born 2 November 1939) is a British politician and former civil servant who served as
Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) from 1993 to 1994. A member of the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, she served on the
National Security Council and was
Minister of State for Security and Counter Terrorism at the
Home Office from 2010 to 2011.
BOn 12 May 2010, Prime Minister
David Cameron appointed her as
Minister of State for Security and Counter Terrorism in the
Home Office with a permanent position on the newly created
National Security Council.
On 9 May 2011, the BBC reported that Neville-Jones had left her role as Security Minister at "her own request";
her security brief was taken over by
James Brokenshire
James Peter Brokenshire (8 January 1968 – 7 October 2021) was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, he served in Theresa May's cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2018, ...
. She was then immediately appointed as "Special Representative to Business on Cyber Security".
Education
Lady Neville-Jones was educated at
Leeds Girls' High School
Leeds Girls' High School (LGHS) was an independent, selective, fee-paying school for girls aged 3–18 founded in 1876 in Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It merged with Leeds Grammar School in 2005 to form The Grammar School at Le ...
and
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (Modern History).
Career
Civil Service
Neville-Jones was a career member of
Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service
His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Home Civil Service, which ...
from 1963 to 1996, during which time she served in British Missions in
Rhodesia,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
,
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
and
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
. Between 1977 and 1982 she was seconded to the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
where she worked as Deputy and then
Chef de Cabinet
In several French-speaking countries and international organisations, a (French; literally 'head of office') is a senior civil servant or official who acts as an aide or private secretary to a high-ranking government figure, typically a minist ...
to Commissioner
Christopher Tugendhat.
From 1991 to 1994 she was Head of the Defence and Overseas Secretariat in the
Cabinet Office and Deputy Secretary to the
Cabinet. During 1993 and 1994 she was Chairman of the
Joint Intelligence Committee. From 1994, until her retirement, she was Political Director in the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in which capacity she led the British delegation to the
Dayton
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
negotiations on the
Bosnia peace settlement. In 2003 the
Bosnian leader
Alija Izetbegović
Alija Izetbegović (; ; 8 August 1925 – 19 October 2003) was a Bosnian politician, lawyer, Islamic philosopher and author, who in 1992 became the first president of the Presidency of the newly independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovin ...
commented that during these negotiations she "never tried to conceal her dislike for us".
BBC
She was appointed a
BBC governor in January 1998. Her final post was as chairman of the Governors'
World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
Consultative Group. Neville-Jones was chairman of the
Audit Committee
An audit committee is a committee of an organisation's board of directors which is responsible for oversight of the financial reporting process, selection of the independent auditor, and receipt of audit results both internal and external.
In a U ...
from 1998 until standing down from that position in September 2004 and left the BBC on 31 December 2004.
Defence
From 2002 to 2005, Neville-Jones was non-executive chairman of the part Government-owned defence technology company
QinetiQ, which was
privatised
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
for £1.3 billion in February 2006. She was chairman of the Information Assurance Advisory Council until 2007.
Politics
In January 2006 she joined one of the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
's new 'policy groups' on national security.
On 2 July 2007 her appointment as a
working peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
and
Shadow
A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, ...
Security Minister was announced. Her title was gazetted as ''Baroness Neville-Jones, of Hutton Roof in the
County of Cumbria'' on 15 October 2007.
On 9 January 2009, Lady Neville-Jones warned that
Israel's ongoing war in the Gaza Strip would encourage revolutionary
Islamism in Arab countries and
Islamic terrorism beyond, and called for a revival of the
Middle East peace process
Middle or The Middle may refer to:
* Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits.
Places
* Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man
* Middle Bay (disambiguation)
* Middle Brook (disambiguation)
* Middle Creek ( ...
.
On 13 May 2010, she was appointed
Minister of State for Security and Counter Terrorism in David Cameron's Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government, and was also sworn of the
Privy Council.
On 31 March 2011 she told ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' that Britain's Muslim population needs to be persuaded by the Government that Britain is a single nation, and that they can't just "rub along together" but must be persuaded that their long-term future lies in Britain. Neville-Jones later spoke out against "internet hate preaching and jihadist rhetoric", arguing that the
murder of Lee Rigby
On the afternoon of 22 May 2013, a British Army soldier, Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was attacked and killed by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London ...
was likely to have been inspired by such material.
On 9 May 2011, Neville-Jones left her post as Minister of State for Security and Counter-Terrorism in the Home Office at her own request.
In November 2014, Neville-Jones presented a speech at the
Halifax International Security Forum
Halifax International Security Forum (also Halifax Forum or HFX) is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. It is a forum and network for international government and military officials, academic exper ...
, which she prefaced with an op-ed in a Toronto newspaper. She wrote about the
quantum technology revolution and related that the "policy failure" of the
2003 Iraq War
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...
was due to "outdated intelligence, lack of ability to test agent information against other sources and misinterpretation of apparent battlefield evidence".
Positions
Neville-Jones is an honorary fellow of
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and an honorary doctor of the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
and the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
. In August 2013, the Council on CyberSecurity announced that she had joined the organization's Advisory Board.
Honours
Appointed a
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the
1987 Birthday Honours
Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in sup ...
, she was raised to
Dame Commander
Commander ( it, Commendatore; french: Commandeur; german: Komtur; es, Comendador; pt, Comendador), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders.
The title of Commander occurred in the medieval mil ...
(DCMG) in the 1995
New Year's 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 ...
. Neville-Jones also received the
Légion d'honneur (Chevalier) in 2009. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013.
Styles
* Pauline Neville-Jones (1939–1987)
* Pauline Neville-Jones,
CMG (1987–1995)
* Dame Pauline Neville-Jones,
DCMG
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III.
...
(1995–2007)
* ''The Right Honourable'' The Baroness Neville-Jones,
DCMG
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III.
...
(2007–2010)
[Debrett's People of Today''](_blank)
/ref>
* ''The Right Honourable'' The Baroness Neville-Jones, DCMG
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III.
...
PC (2010–present)
References
External links
Profile on the Conservative Party website
Guardian, 3 July 2007 Joining the Shadow Team
Interview with the Alligator magazine, 23 January 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neville-Jones, Pauline Neville-Jones, Baroness
1939 births
Living people
People educated at Leeds Girls' High School
Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Fellows of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
BBC Governors
Chairs of the Joint Intelligence Committee (United Kingdom)
Civil servants in the Cabinet Office
Conservative Party (UK) life peers
Diplomatic peers
Dames Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Members of HM Diplomatic Service
Qinetiq
BBC 100 Women
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
British women diplomats
20th-century British diplomats
Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II