O'Donnell announced after the 2010 General Election that he would step down within that Parliament and did so at the end of 2011.[1][2] 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.[3][4] 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.[5] In 2012, he joined Frontier Economics as a senior advisor.[6]
From 1997 to 1998, O'Donnell was the United Kingdom's executive director to both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, again in Washington, before returning to HM Treasury to serve as both director of Macroeconomic Policy and Prospects and also head of the Government Economics Service, with overall responsibility for the professional economists in Her Majesty's Government. A year later, in 1999, he was appointed managing director of Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance, with responsibility for Fiscal Policy, International Development, and European Union Economic and Monetary Union.
Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service
On 8 July 2002, O'Donnell took over from Sir Andrew Turnbull as Permanent Secretary of the Treasury following the appointment of Sir Andrew as Cabinet Secretary.[8] Three years later, on 15 June 2005, it was announced that O'Donnell would again replace Turnbull, this time as Cabinet Secretary, on the latter's imminent retirement.[9] He took up office in August 2005.[10]
O'Donnell is known for his "wondrous interpersonal gifts"[11] and his informal style. He regularly visited Civil Service departments outside London "to meet civil servants at work".[12]
During his time as Cabinet Secretary, his authority was seen as absolute, giving rise to the affectionate nickname "GOD" based on his initials as they appeared in Government papers.[13]
The annual remuneration for this position was £235,000.[14]
In his role as Cabinet Secretary, O'Donnell was responsible for overseeing the review of Christopher Meyer's controversial memoirs, DC Confidential, in November 2005. The previous month he had told the Public Administration Select Committee that it was "wrong" for civil servants to publish personal memoirs.
Channel 4 News on 10 August 2010 had reported that O'Donnell would leave his post before the end of the current Parliament.[15]
In January 2011, it emerged that O'Donnell had decided not to publish correspondence sent between Tony Blair and George W Bush prior to the 2003 invasion. The papers were, however, provided to the Iraq Inquiry itself. His reasoning is explained in several documents between himself and Sir John Chilcot.[16]
In November 2010, O'Donnell published a draft copy of the Cabinet manual. This document outlines the laws, rules and conventions that apply to the British executive.[17]
On 11 October 2011, it was announced by Downing Street that O'Donnell was to retire at the end of the year. His successor was announced as the Downing StreetPermanent SecretaryJeremy Heywood.[18] However the roles of Cabinet Secretary, Head of the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office were split.[19]
On 22 December 2011, O'Donnell said that the future of the Union is one of several "enormous challenges" facing the political establishment in the coming years. "Over the next few years there will be enormous challenges, such as whether to keep our kingdom united," he warns officials and politicians.[20]
On 10 January 2012, O'Donnell was created a life peer as Baron O'Donnell, of Clapham in the London Borough of Wandsworth, and was introduced in the House of Lords, where he sits as a crossbencher, on 12 January 2012.[31] In his first speech in the House of Lords, in June 2012, he warned that too many Treasury officials were leaving, that staff are underpaid, and that the Treasury may be struggling to address the problems caused by the ongoing global financial turmoil.[32]
Political views
O'Donnell supports a liberal immigration policy, saying in 2011 that "When I was at the Treasury I argued for the most open door possible to immigration … I think it's my job to maximise global welfare not national welfare." He has repeated this view in a milder form in newspaper articles, and thinks that his views about immigration are in the interests of the average British person, notwithstanding some short-term losers.[33]
In July 2017 he warned that "there was no way Brexit would happen smoothly."[34]
Personal interests
O'Donnell is a keen sportsman, having played football for the University of Warwick First XI and for Oxford, earning two Blues in 1973/4 and 1974/5.[35] While Permanent Secretary at the Treasury he won a football medal at the annual Civil Service Sports Day—the first Permanent Secretary to do so. He has played for the Mandarins Cricket Club for many years, the third Cabinet Secretary to do so (the others being Sir Robin Butler and Sir Andrew Turnbull). He is a supporter of Manchester United.[36]
O'Donnell was formerly a governor of his alma mater, Salesian College, Battersea.
Honours
O'Donnell has received several appointments to the Most Honourable Order of the Bath: he was appointed Companion (CB) in the 1994 New Year Honours,[38]Knight Commander (KCB) in the 2005 Birthday Honours[39] and Knight Grand Cross (GCB) in the 2011 Birthday Honours.[40] The Parliamentary Public Administration Committee cited the example of at least one of O'Donnell's appointments (his knighthood) to the Order as automatic honours granted due to his position and not for exceptional service, although it is not specified if all of his honours were granted solely due to his position or if some were due to exceptional service.[41]
^Goodhart, David (2017). "Ch. 1. The Great Divide". The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN978-1849047999.
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