Richard Thomas James Wilson, Baron Wilson of Dinton, (born 11 October 1942) is a

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 ...

member of the

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, ...

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

and former Cabinet Secretary.

Career

Richard Wilson was born in

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

. He was educated at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, and ...

(1956–60 and where he much later chaired the College Council (the governing body)) and

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

(1961–65), where he was awarded the degree of

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

(LLM). He was called to the Bar but, rather than practice, entered the Civil Service as an assistant principal in the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

in 1966. He subsequently served in a number of departments including 12 years in the

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rel ...

where his responsibilities included nuclear power policy, the privatisation of

Britoil Britoil plc was originally a privatised British oil company operating in the North Sea. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company was acquired by BP in 1988, becoming a brand of it.Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

under

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 ...

from 1987 to 1990 and after two years in the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

was appointed Permanent Secretary of the

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

in 1992. He became

Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office The Permanent Under-Secretary of State of the Home Office is the permanent secretary of the Home Office, the most senior civil servant in the department, charged with running its affairs on a day-to-day basis. Home Office Permanent Secretaries ...

in 1994 and

Secretary of the Cabinet The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office, known informally as the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, is the second-most senior civil servant of the Cabinet Office. It was conventionally joined with the positions of Cabinet Se ...

and Head of the Home Civil Service in January 1998, retiring in 2002. Wilson was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

(CB) in the 1991 New Year Honours, promoted to

Knight 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 mili ...

(KCB) in the

1997 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1997 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

and to

Knight Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Grand ...

(GCB) in the 2001 New Year Honours. After retiring as Cabinet Secretary, he was created a

life 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 ...

on 18 November 2002 with the title Baron Wilson of Dinton, ''of Dinton in the County of Buckinghamshire''. In September of that year, he was made

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

of Emmanuel College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He has been Non-executive Director of

British Sky Broadcasting Group plc Sky Group Limited is a British media conglomerate, media and telecommunications conglomerate, which is a division of Comcast, and headquartered in London. It has operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Ital ...

and is currently Chairman of C. Hoare & Co, Non-executive Director of Xansa plc and Chair of the Board of Patrons of

The Wilberforce Society The Wilberforce Society (TWS) is an independent, non-partisan, student think tank, named after MP, Cambridge alumnus and abolitionist William Wilberforce, based at the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 2009 and is a registered charity. T ...

References

External links

Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 20 November 2009 (video)Emmanuel College website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson of Dinton, Richard Wilson, Baron 1942 births Living people Wilson of Dinton Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Welsh civil servants People educated at Radley College Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Masters of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Civil servants in the Board of Trade Civil servants in the Department of Energy (United Kingdom) Civil servants in the Cabinet Office Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for the Environment Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for the Home Department Cabinet Secretaries (United Kingdom) Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics Life peers created by Elizabeth II