In Conversation with Lord Simon McDonald

Lord Simon McDonald is a former Permanent Under Secretary and Head of the UK Diplomatic Service (2015-2020), and a currently member of the House of Lords. After graduating from Cambridge in 1979, he joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, where his jobs included speechwriter to the Foreign Secretary, Private Secretary to the Permanent Under-Secretary (PUS), Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary and Director for Iraq. Overseas he worked in Saudi Arabia (twice), Germany (twice, including as ambassador), the United States, and Israel (as ambassador). He was Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown (2007 - 2010), and PUS and Head of the Diplomatic Service (2015 - 2020). In 2021 he was introduced to the House of Lords as Lord McDonald of Salford. We are delighted to welcome him to STEAR to speak about his career, the importance of diplomacy, and particularly his work in both Europe and Asia. Given Lord McDonald’s high-level government and diplomatic experience across the globe,  this event is a must-see for any budding young diplomats and your chance to ask your most burning questions about a career in foreign policy!