Misplaced Pages

SirJohn HolmesGCVO KBE CMG
Holmes at Chatham House in 2016
British Ambassador to France
In office 2001–2006
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Michael Jay
Succeeded by	Peter Westmacott
British Ambassador to Portugal
In office 1999–2001
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Stephen Wall
Succeeded by	Glynne Evans
Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
In office 1997–1999
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Alex Allan
Succeeded by	Jeremy Heywood
Personal details
Born	John Eaton Holmes (1951-04-29) 29 April 1951 (age 73) Preston
Spouse	Penelope Morris ​(m. 1976)​
Children	3
Education	Preston Grammar School
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Awards	CMG (1997) CVO (1998) KBE (1999) GCVO (2004)

Sir John Eaton Holmes GCVO KBE CMG (born 29 April 1951) is a British former diplomat who is the current Chairman of the Electoral Commission.

Early life

Holmes was born on 29 April 1951 in Preston, in the north of England. He was educated at Preston Grammar School and went on to study Greats at Balliol College, Oxford. He was brought up in Penwortham, a middle-class suburb of Preston, where he went to school at Crookings Lane Primary and was in the same class as Howard Mendel, a Natural History Museum entomologist. Holmes played cricket for Lancashire schoolboys and was also a tennis player. He was a member of Penwortham Congregational Tennis Club where he won the junior singles as a teenager. He entered the Welsh Open as a student and was defeated by Buster Mottram. Holmes also played football as a schoolboy, representing Penwortham Hill Rovers junior side. One of the coaches for Penwortham Hill Rovers was Tommy Lawrenson, father of the Liverpool footballer, Mark Lawrenson who grew up in Blundell Lane, Penwortham, a few hundred yards from Holmes's house at 23 Queensway. Holmes's father was an English teacher at Preston Grammar. His mother was also an educated woman but didn't work full-time. His elder brother David too was a pupil at Preston Grammar.

Career

He entered the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1973. After spending three years as a desk officer in London, including a period of temporary duty at the British Mission to the UN in New York, he was appointed to the British Embassy in Moscow as a 3rd Secretary Chancery, and subsequently promoted 2nd Secretary.

On returning to the FCO in 1978, he first took up an appointment in the Near East and North Africa Department before becoming Assistant Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary in 1982.

In 1984 Holmes was posted to the British Embassy in Paris as 1st Secretary (Economic). He returned to London in 1987 as Assistant Head of the Soviet Department and between 1989 and 1991 he was seconded to Thomas De La Rue & Co, before moving to India as Economic and Commercial Counsellor at the High Commission in New Delhi.

He returned to London in 1995, first as Head of the European Union Department in FCO and then as Private Secretary, and subsequently Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Between 1999 and autumn 2001, John Holmes was Ambassador to Portugal. He was Ambassador to France from October 2001 until 2007. From January 2007 to August 2010 he was Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In February 2008 after eight months of the blocking of the crossings into Gaza by the Israelis, Holmes described the situation of the people of Gaza as "grim and miserable" and pointed out they were living on a tenth of what had been available a year earlier.

In 2012, at the request of the Ministry of Defence, he conducted an Independent Medal Review of post 1945 campaign medals, his findings being accepted by the Government.

Later life

He was director of the Ditchley Foundation from September 2010 to August 2016, succeeding Sir Jeremy Greenstock. He became Chair of the Electoral Commission in January 2017.

Personal life

In 1976 he married Penelope Morris, an author and trustee of Women for Women UK; the couple have three daughters: Sarah, Lucy and Emilie.

Honours

Holmes was awarded the CMG in 1997 in the Resignation Honours List of former Prime Minister John Major for his service as Principal Private Secretary. In 1998 he was appointed CVO and in the New Year Honours of 1999 knighted KBE on the recommendation of Tony Blair on leaving the senior job at No. 10 Downing Street, a higher honour than normally bestowed, because of his work on the Northern Ireland Peace Talks. In 2004 Queen Elizabeth II promoted him to GCVO at the conclusion of her state visit to France to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale.

Publications

• The Politics of Humanity: The Reality of Relief Aid, Head of Zeus, London, 2013. ISBN 1781850917

References

1. Senior British diplomat named new UN humanitarian chief, United Nations News Service, 3 January 2007
2. "Sir John Holmes independent medal review, 2014 update". Gov.uk. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
3. Sir John Holmes announced as new Director of the Ditchley Foundation Archived 8 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 25 February 2010
4. "Lady Penelope Holmes". Women for Women. Archived from the original on 18 May 2014.
5. "Page 8912 | Supplement 54850, 1 August 1997 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
6. The London Gazette, 18 December 1998
7. "Page 7 | Supplement 55354, 31 December 1998 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
8. "Honours and Awards | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2022.

External links

• HOLMES, Sir John (Eaton), Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2013
• Senior Staff, The Ditchley Foundation

Government offices
Preceded byAlex Allan	Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister 1997–1999	Succeeded byJeremy Heywood
Diplomatic posts
Preceded byStephen Wall	British Ambassador to Portugal 1999–2001	Succeeded byDame Glynne Evans
Preceded bySir Michael Jay	British Ambassador to France 2001–2006	Succeeded bySir Peter Westmacott
Positions in intergovernmental organisations
Preceded byJan Egeland ()	Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator 2007–2010	Succeeded byValerie Amos, Baroness Amos ()

v t e United Nations
Secretary-General: António Guterres Deputy Secretary-General: Amina J. Mohammed General Assembly President: Dennis Francis
UN System	Charter Preamble Principal organs Secretariat Secretary-General selections Deputy Secretary-General Under-Secretary-General General Assembly President International Court of Justice Statute Security Council Elections Members President Reform Veto power Economic and Social Council President Trusteeship Council Funds, programmes, and other bodies Culture of Peace IAEA IPCC ITC MINURSO OHCHR SCSL UNAIDS UNCDF UNCITRAL UNCTAD UNDGC UNDP UNDPO peacekeeping UNEP OzonAction UNEP/GRID-Arendal UNEP-WCMC UNFPA UN-HABITAT UNHCR UNHRC UNICEF UNICRI UNIDIR UNITAR UN-Oceans UNODC UNOPS UNOSAT UNRISD UNRWA UNSDG UNSSC UNU UNU-CRIS UNU-OP UNV UN Women WFP Specialized agencies FAO ICAO IFAD ILO IMF IMO IOM ITU UN Tourism UNESCO UNIDO UPU WFEO WHO WIPO WMO World Bank Group IBRD IDA IFC Secretariat offices and departments Headquarters Conference Building General Assembly Building Secretariat Building Department of Economic and Social Affairs Department of Peace Operations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Dag Hammarskjöld Library Department for Safety and Security Division for Palestinian Rights Office at Geneva Palace of Nations Office at Nairobi Office at Vienna Office for Disarmament Affairs Office for Outer Space Affairs Office for Partnerships Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Office of Internal Oversight Services Office of Legal Affairs Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States Office of Counter-Terrorism Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Office on Sport for Development and Peace UN organizations by location
Members and observers	Founding members Full members Security Council Permanent members Permanent representatives to the UN list General Assembly Observers European Union
History	Preceding years International Telegraph Union Universal Postal Union Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 Permanent Court of Arbitration International Office of Public Hygiene League of Nations archives covenant organization member states Preparatory years Declaration of St James's Palace (1941) Atlantic Charter (1941) Declaration by United Nations (1942) Moscow Conference (1943) Tehran Conference (1943) Bretton Woods Conference (1944) Dumbarton Oaks Conference (1944) Yalta Conference (1945) Conference on International Organization (1945) Genocide Convention (1948) Activities Enlargement Peacekeeping missions timeline governed territories UNPOL Universal Declaration of Human Rights drafting Human Rights Day World Heritage Convention Convention on the Rights of the Child committee Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Indigenous Caucus Sustainable Development Goals Declaration on the Rights of Peasants
Resolutions	Security Council vetoes General Assembly 66th 67th Security Council Cyprus Iran Iraq Israel Lebanon Nagorno-Karabakh North Korea Palestine Syria Western Sahara Yemen
Elections	Secretary-General 2021 2016 International Court of Justice 2023 2022 2021 2020 2017 2014 2011 General Assembly President (2016) Security Council (2016)
Related	Outline Advisory Committee of Local Authorities Art Collection Security Council mural Block By Block Bretton Woods system Celestial Sphere Woodrow Wilson Memorial CCISUA Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Criticism Delivering as One Drug control treaties Expulsion from the United Nations Ex Tempore Federal Credit Union FICSA Flag Honour Flag Four Nations Initiative Global Compact International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons International Day of Peace International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World International Narcotics Control Board International School Hanoi Interpretation Service Laissez-passer Memorial Cemetery Korea Military Staff Committee Millennium Declaration Millennium Summit Model United Nations Official languages Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Postal Administration Ralph Bunche Park Reform SDG Publishers Compact Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners Treaty Series Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons UN Mandate UN Sacco UN Special UNICEF club United Nations Day United Nations in popular culture United Nations Medal United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights United Nations Radio United Nations television film series University for Peace Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge Withdrawal from the United Nations Women in peacekeeping World Federation of United Nations Associations
World portal

• 1951 births
• Living people
• People from Preston, Lancashire
• Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
• Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
• Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
• Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Portugal
• Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to France
• Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations
• Principal Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister
• People educated at Preston Grammar School
• British officials of the United Nations