HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Gus O’Donnell Appointed as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury [June 2002]
The press release issued by HM Treasury on 26 June 2002.
The Prime Minister has announced today the appointment of Gus O’Donnell as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury in succession to Sir Andrew Turnbull, recently appointed Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service.
Commenting on the appointment, the Chancellor Gordon Brown said:
“Sir Andrew Turnbull is an outstanding public servant and his promotion to Cabinet Secretary is very well deserved. Sir Andrew has played a crucial role over the past four years in helping raise the level of professionalism and expertise in the Treasury and strengthening the department’s capacity, working alongside other Government departments, to push forward public sector reform. I am delighted to welcome Gus O’Donnell, who has been a first-rate Managing Director of Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance, as the new Permanent Secretary to the Treasury.”
Gus O’Donnell said:
“I am delighted and honoured to have been appointed Permanent Secretary. It is a privilege to be taking over from Sir Andrew Turnbull. I look forward to building on his achievements in making the Treasury a more professional and diverse department, and in working with other Government departments to deliver better public services, a higher sustainable rate of economic growth and rising prosperity and improved employment opportunities for all.”
Gus O’Donnell’s successor as Managing Director, Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance will be Jon Cunliffe, currently Managing Director, Finance Regulation and Industry. Jon Cunliffe’s successor will be appointed in due course by open competition.
Notes to Editors
The new appointments will take effect from next month.
2. Gus O’Donnell will remain Head of the Government Economic Service. As Managing Director, Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance (MPIF), Jon Cunliffe will be the G7 Deputy and the UK Government’s representative on the EU’s Economic and Finance Committee. As before, the Permanent Secretary and Managing Director MPIF will share responsibility for being the Treasury representative on the Monetary Policy Committee and the OECD’s WP3 Committee. As before, the Head of MPIF and the Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury, Ed Balls, will sit on the International Monetary and Financial Committee Deputies’ Committee, with Mr Balls as the Chairman. Ed Balls will continue to be the G20 Deputy.
3. Gus O’Donnell, 49, has been Managing Director, Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance since 1999. From 1998-9 he was Director of Macroeconomic Policy and Prospects, and from 1997-98 was the UK’s Executive Director to the IMF and World Bank. He has been Head of the Government Economics Service since 1998. Mr O’Donnell studied economics at the University of Warwick and Nuffield College Oxford. He joined the Treasury as an economist in 1979, having spent four years as an economics lecturer at the University of Glasgow. Subsequent posts in Government included being Press Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1989-90) and Press Secretary to the Prime Minister (1990-94). Mr O?Donnell is married with one daughter. His interests include football, cricket, golf and tennis.
4. Jon Cunliffe, 49, has been Managing Director, Finance Regulation and Industry, since 2001. He was previously Director, Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance, leading Treasury work on the international financial system, its institutions (IMF, World Bank etc), the G7 summit and non-EU economies. Previous jobs in the Treasury have included leading the Treasury’s work on operational independence of the Bank of England and on European Monetary Union, management of the Government’s foreign currency reserves, UK Alternate Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Public Sector Pay. Mr Cunliffe joined the civil service in 1980 and spent the early part of his career in the Departments of Environment and Transport.
