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John Sawers

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Sir
John Sawers
GCMGFRUSI
Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service
In office
1 November 2009 – 1 November 2014
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
David Cameron
Preceded bySir John Scarlett
Succeeded bySir Alex Younger
Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations
In office
1 August 2007 – 1 November 2009
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded bySir Emyr Jones Parry
Succeeded bySir Mark Lyall Grant
Director-General for Political Affairs at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
In office
2003–2007
Preceded bySir Peter Ricketts
Succeeded bySir Mark Lyall Grant
British Ambassador to Egypt
In office
2001–2003
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded bySir Graham Boyce
Succeeded bySir Derek Plumbly
Personal details
Born
Robert John Sawers

(1955-07-26)26 July 1955(age 68)
Warwick,England
Alma materUniversity of Nottingham
University of St Andrews
University of the Witwatersrand
Harvard University
Occupation
  • Intelligence officer
  • civil servant
  • diplomat

Sir Robert John SawersGCMGFRUSI(born 26 July 1955) is a British intelligence officer, diplomat and civil servant. He wasChief of the Secret Intelligence Service(MI6),[1]a position he held from November 2009 until November 2014.[2]He was previously theBritish Permanent Representativeto theUnited Nationsfrom August 2007 to November 2009.[3][4]

Early life and education[edit]

Born inWarwick,[5]Sawers was brought up in a family of five children inBathand educated at theCity of Bath Boys' School(which becameBeechen Cliff Schoolbefore he left), where he still holds the 440-yard hurdles school record.[6]He is a descendant of the historicStratford familythrough his maternal grandmother.[7]He studiedphysicsand philosophy at theUniversity of Nottingham[8]and later spent periods at the Universities ofSt Andrews,WitwatersrandandHarvard.[5]

After completing his degree at Nottingham he served as secretary of thestudents' unionfor a year.[9][10]

Career[edit]

Foreign and Commonwealth Office[edit]

Sawers joined theForeign and Commonwealth Officein 1977.[11]In his early career, Sawers worked inYemenandSyria,on behalf ofMI6.[1][12][13]He became Political Officer inDamascusin 1982 and then returned to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to take up the role of Desk Officer in theEuropean UnionDepartment in 1984 and Private Secretary to the Minister of State in 1986.[11]

He was based inPretoriaand thenCape TowninSouth Africafrom 1988 to 1991[11]during the first part of the transition fromapartheid.[14]He returned to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office yet again to take up the roles of Head of European Union Presidency Planning Unit in 1991 and Principal Private Secretary toDouglas Hurdin 1993.[11]

From 1995 to 1998 he was in theUnited Statesand spent a year as an International Fellow atHarvard University[11]and later at the British Embassy inWashington D.C.,where he headed the Foreign and Defence Policy team.[11]

From January 1999 to summer 2001 he was Foreign Affairs Adviser to UK Prime MinisterTony Blair,[11]dealing with all aspects of foreign and defence policy and working closely with international counterparts.[14]The period included theKosovo War.He also worked on theNorthern Ireland peace processand the implementation of theGood Friday Agreement.He reviewed the Iraq sanctions policy during this period and issued a document that included consideration of regime change.[15]

He served two years in theMiddle Eastas Ambassador toEgyptfrom 2001 to 2003,[11]and for three months was the British Government's Special Representative inBaghdadassisting in the establishment of theCoalition Provisional Authorityas the transitional government during theOccupation of Iraq.[11]

In August 2003 Sawers was appointed Director General for Political Affairs at theForeign and Commonwealth Office.In this post he advised the UK Foreign Secretary on political and security issues worldwide and negotiated on behalf of the Foreign Secretary with international partners in theG8,EU and UN. He was particularly involved in policy onIran,Iraq,Afghanistanand theBalkans.Sawers headed the British team in theEU-3negotiations over Iran's nuclear program in 2006,[16]utilising his scientific background in discussions of nuclear matters.[17]

In 2007 he became British Permanent Representative to theUnited Nations.[11]

Sawers is a governor of theDitchley Foundation,which aims to promote international, especially Anglo-American, relations.[18][19]

Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service[edit]

Sawers was announced as chief of theSecret Intelligence Serviceon 16 June 2009, succeeding SirJohn Scarlett.He took up his appointment in November 2009.[1]In July 2009 his family details were removed from the social networking siteFacebookfollowing media interest in the contents.[20]On10and16 December2009 Sawers gave evidence toThe Iraq Inquiry.[15][21]In July 2010 his salary was revealed to the public to be in the range of £160,000 to £169,999.[22]

During theSyrian Civil WarSawers supported theChief of the Defence StaffGeneral Sir David Richardsin drawing up plans to train and equip a Syrian rebel army of 100,000 to overthrow PresidentBashar al-Assad,as an alternative option to thegovernment's planfor limited direct military involvement. The plans were rejected by theUK National Security Councilas too ambitious.[23]Ultimately on 29 August 2013, Parliament refused to support the government's plan to participate in military strikes against the Syrian government.[24]

Sawers announced his intention to stand down from running the Secret Intelligence Service by November 2014, the fifth anniversary of his appointment.[2]He was replaced byAlex Younger.[25]

Advisory boards and professorship[edit]

After retiring as Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service Sawers became Partner and Chairman of Macro Advisory Partners,[26]before becoming the Executive Chairman of Newbridge Advisory.[27]He also became a Visiting Professor in theDepartment of War StudiesatKing's College London.[28]He is a member of the Steering Committee of theBilderberg Conferencesand participated in conferences since 2014[29]On 14 May 2015 he was appointed independent non-executive director ofBP Global.[30]

Honours[edit]

Sawers was appointed aCompanion of the Order of St Michael and St George(CMG) in the1996 New Year Honours.[31]He was subsequently made aKnight Commander(KCMG) of the same Order in the2007 Birthday Honours[32]and promoted toKnight Grand Cross(GCMG) in the2015 New Year Honoursfor services to national security.[33][34]He is a Senior Associate Fellow of theRoyal United Services Institute(FRUSI).[19]

Personal life[edit]

Sawers is married, with two sons and a daughter. He enjoys hiking, playing tennis, cycling and watching theatre.[5][9]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcMichael Evans (16 June 2009)."Outsider Sir John Sawers appointed new head of MI6".The Times.London.Retrieved16 June2009.
  2. ^abEwen Macaskill; Richard Norton-Taylor (26 June 2014)."MI6 chief Sir John Sawers to step down".The Guardian.Retrieved5 July2014.
  3. ^"Permanent Representative — Sir John Sawers".United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations, Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Archived fromthe originalon 9 April 2009.Retrieved16 June2009.
  4. ^A & C Black (2012)."SAWERS, Sir (Robert) John".Who's Who 2012, online edition.Oxford University Press.Retrieved2 May2012.
  5. ^abc"The 'James Bond' taking top job at MI6".BBC. 1 November 2009.Retrieved1 September2009.
  6. ^"Ex-Bath pupil to head M16".Bath Chronicle.17 June 2009. Archived fromthe originalon 20 June 2009.Retrieved17 June2009.
  7. ^Sawers family genealogy site (run by David Sawers, brother of John) - Stratford lineage
  8. ^"Alumni: Sir John Sawers, former MI6 Chief: international security in a modern world".University of Nottingham.Retrieved22 October2018.
  9. ^abBarber, Lionel (19 September 2014)."Lunch with the FT: Sir John Sawers".Financial Times.Retrieved22 October2018.
  10. ^"How safe are we?"(PDF).CONN3CT.University of Nottingham. Autumn 2015. p. 8.Retrieved22 October2018.
  11. ^abcdefghij"Beckett: Senior Diplomatic Service Appointments".Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 10 December 2006. Archived fromthe originalon 5 December 2007.Retrieved16 June2009.
  12. ^"Lunch with Sir John Sawers".FT.com.Retrieved29 December2014.
  13. ^"SIS - The Chief".Archived fromthe originalon 15 April 2012.Retrieved19 March2013.
  14. ^abLaura Roberts (28 October 2010)."Sir John Sawers: profile of MI6 chief".Daily Telegraph.Retrieved12 January2015.
  15. ^abMichael Savage (1 February 2010)."Plan to oust Saddam drawn up two years before the invasion".The Independent.Archivedfrom the original on 13 June 2022.Retrieved10 February2010.
  16. ^Kaveh L Afrasiabi (1 April 2006)."Iran: Options for a face-saving solution".Asia Times.Archived from the original on 10 April 2006.Retrieved17 June2009.{{cite news}}:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  17. ^Laura Trevelyan (16 June 2009)."New MI6 boss is 'excellent dancer'".BBC.Retrieved17 June2009.
  18. ^"The Governors".Ditchley Foundation. Archived fromthe originalon 28 September 2012.
  19. ^ab"Sir John Sawers".RUSI.Retrieved22 October2018.
  20. ^"MI6 chief's Facebook details cut".BBC News.BBC. 5 July 2009.Retrieved5 July2009.
  21. ^"Iraq violence 'may have prompted UK rethink'".BBC News.BBC. 17 December 2009.Retrieved29 January2010.
  22. ^"Quango chiefs' salaries revealed".BBC News.2 July 2010.Retrieved2 July2010.
  23. ^Richard Spencer (4 July 2014)."Britain drew up plans to build 100,000-strong Syrian rebel army".Daily Telegraph.Retrieved4 July2014.
  24. ^Robert Winnett (29 August 2013)."Syria crisis: No to war, blow to Cameron".Daily Telegraph.Retrieved1 January2014.
  25. ^"Appointment of the new Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)".GOV.UK.Press releases. Her Majesty's Government. 3 October 2014.Retrieved3 October2014.
  26. ^"Partners".Macro Advisory Partners. Archived fromthe originalon 4 February 2015.
  27. ^"Sir John Sawers".Newbridge Advisory.Retrieved7 August2019.
  28. ^"War Studies Annual Lecture".King's College London. 2015.Retrieved20 January2015.
  29. ^"Steering Committee".Bilderberg Meetings. Archived fromthe originalon 22 August 2018.Retrieved18 September2017.
  30. ^"Sir John Sawers".BP. 14 May 2015.Retrieved22 October2018.
  31. ^"No. 54255".The London Gazette(Supplement). 29 December 1995. p. 3.
  32. ^"No. 58358".The London Gazette(Supplement). 16 June 2007. p. 3.
  33. ^"No. 61092".The London Gazette(Supplement). 31 December 2014. p. N3.
  34. ^"New year honours 2015"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 31 December 2014.Retrieved31 December2014.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Principal Private Secretary
to the Foreign Secretary
1993–1995 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs
to the Prime Minister
1999–2001 		Succeeded by
Preceded by British Ambassador to
Egypt
2001–2003 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Director-General, Political of the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
2003–2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Permanent Representative of the
United Kingdom to the United Nations
2007–2009 		Succeeded by
Government offices
Preceded by Chief of the SIS
2009–2014 		Succeeded by
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