John Major : Resources : John Major's Staff
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John Major's Staff 1990-1997
Principal Private Secretary
November 1990 - May 1992 - Andrew Turnbull
Andrew Turnbull had been Margaret Thatcher's PPS since 1988 and he had worked as an economist for the Zambian Government before joining the Treasury in 1970, spending some time working at the IMF. After leaving Downing Street in 1992 he spent time both in the Treasury and also as the Head of the Environment, Transport and the Regions Department. In April 2002 Sir Andrew Turnbull became the new Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service following the resignation of Sir Richard Wilson, a position he held until 2005. Later in 2005 he was elevated to the Peerage as Baron Turnbull of Enfield.
May 1992 - May 1997 - Alex Allan
Alex Allan came from the Treasury before spending some time as the PPS to Nigel Lawson from 1986 to 1989, and was then Under-Secretary for three years at the Treasury, then taking his role as Principal Private Secretary to John Major. He also served Tony Blair until August 1997, and became the British High Commissioner to Australia until 1999. He then took on the role of E-Envoy, responsible for delivery and co-ordination of Government policy on e-commerce before moving to Australia in 2001. Alex Allan's web-site can be found here and contains a number of his speeches on various subjects. In 2004 he was appointed Permanent Secretary to the Department of Constitutional Affairs and in November 1997 the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.
Chief Press Secretary
November 1990-January 1994 - Gus O'Donnell
Gus O'Donnell was born in 1952 and was a lecturer and economist at HM Treasury before becoming the Press Secretary for the Chancellor in 1989, and then Prime Minister in 1990 after John Major won the leadership election. From 1997 to 1998 he was Britain's representative to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank before returning to the Treasury. In 2002 O'Donnell became the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, and then in 2005 the Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet, a year he was also knighted as Sir Gus O'Donnell.
January 1994-January 1996 - Christopher Meyer
Chris Meyer was born in 1944 was was a civil servant at the Foreign Office before becoming the Press Secretary to the then Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe, and then the Prime Minister from 1994 to 1996. He was then moved to become the British Ambassador to Germany and then the British Ambassador to the United States from 1997 to 2003. He was knighted in 1998 as Sir Christopher Meyer and published his controversial memoirs in 2005, entitled DC Confidential.
January 1996-May 1997 - Jonathan Haslam
Jonathan Haslam was John Major's last Chief Press Secretary before briefly becoming the Director of Communications at the Department of Education and Employment. From 1997 to 2003 he was Director of Corporate Affairs at the London Metal Exchange before moving to become Group Director of Corporate Communications for Jarvis Plc.
Political Secretary
December 1990-March 1992 - Judith Chaplin
Judith Chaplin was born in 1939 and became assistant and political secretary to John Major in 1989 when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer. She left to fight the constituency of Newbury for the Conservatives in 1992, which she won, but she died in early 1993.
March 1992-November 1994 - Jonathan Hill
After leaving his role as Political Secretary, Jonathan Hill wrote a book about his time at Downing Street called "Too Close to Call" and started a communications company in 1998 called Quiller Consultants.
November 1994-May 1997 - Howell James
Howell James began his career at Capital Radio and TV-am before becoming Lord Young's special advisor in 1984. In 1987 he joined the BBC as their Director of Corporate Affairs and then in 1992 became the Director of Corporate and Government Affairs for Cable and Wireless, before moving to Downing Street in 1994. After the 1997 General Election, James was a founder partner of Brown Lloyd James and he joined the Cabinet Office as Permanent Secretary for Government Communications in July 2004.
Head of Policy Unit
December 1990-January 1995 - Sarah Hogg
Sarah Hogg was born in 1946 and educated as Ascot School and Oxford University. In 1968 she married Douglas Hogg, who was to become a Cabinet Minister following her departure from John Major's policy unit in 1995. She became economics editor for the Independent before joining John Major as policy advisor in December 1990. She co-wrote with Jonathan Hill the book "Too Close to Call" about her time at Downing Street. She now sits in the House of Lords as Viscountess Hogg and was a BBC Governor until 2004. She is now Chairman of Frontier Economics, 3i Group Plc, Deputy Chairman of GKN, a Director of Carnival Corporation and a Governor of the London Business School.
February 1995-May 1997 - Norman Blackwell
Norman Blackwell was born in 1952 and was educated at Latymer School, the Royal Academy of Music and then Cambridge University where he was Chairman of the Conservative Association in 1973. He became a partner with McKinsey and Company from 1978 to 1994, but spent two years away from them from 1986 to 1987 whilst working for Margaret Thatcher at her policy unit. He returned to the policy unit under John Major in February 1995 after leaving McKinsey. He was elevated to the Peerage in August 2007 as Baron Blackwell of Woodcote. He became a Director for Dixons from 2000 to 2003 and then a Director of Standard Life Assurance from 2003.
Parliamentary Private Secretary
November 1990-July 1994 - Graham Bright
July 1994-April 1997 - John Ward
July 1994-April 1997 - Lord McColl
