Gus O'Donnell
Augustine Thomas O'Donnell, Baron O'Donnell, GCB, FBA, FAcSS (born 1 October 1952) is a former British senior civil servant and economist, who between 2005 and 2011 (under three Prime Ministers) served as the Cabinet Secretary, the highest official in the British Civil Service.
The Right Honourable The Lord O'Donnell | |
|---|---|
Official Portrait, 2021 | |
| Cabinet Secretary | |
| In office 1 August 2005 – 31 December 2011 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair Gordon Brown David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Andrew Turnbull |
| Succeeded by | Sir Jeremy Heywood |
| Head of the Home Civil Service | |
| In office 1 August 2005 – 31 December 2011 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair Gordon Brown David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Andrew Turnbull |
| Succeeded by | Sir Bob Kerslake |
| Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary | |
| In office 1 August 2005 – 31 December 2011 | |
| Minister | John Hutton Hilary Armstrong Ed Miliband Liam Byrne Tessa Jowell Francis Maude |
| Preceded by | Andrew Turnbull |
| Succeeded by | Ian Watmore |
| Permanent Secretary for the Treasury | |
| In office 8 July 2002 – 2 August 2005 | |
| Chancellor | Gordon Brown |
| Preceded by | Andrew Turnbull |
| Succeeded by | Nicholas Macpherson |
| Downing Street Press Secretary | |
| In office 1990–1993 | |
| Prime Minister | John Major |
| Preceded by | Bernard Ingham |
| Succeeded by | Christopher Meyer |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 10 January 2012 Life Peerage | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 October 1952 South London, United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | University of Warwick (BA) Nuffield College, Oxford (MPhil) |
O'Donnell announced after the 2010 General Election that he would step down within that Parliament and did so at the end of 2011. His post was then split into three positions: he was succeeded as Cabinet Secretary by Sir Jeremy Heywood, as Head of the Home Civil Service by Sir Bob Kerslake (in a part-time role), and as Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office by Ian Watmore. Whilst Cabinet Secretary, he was regularly referred to within the Civil Service, and subsequently in the popular press, as GOD; this was mainly because of his initials. In 2012, he joined Frontier Economics as a senior advisor.