View source for Richard Wilson, Baron Wilson of Dinton

{{Short description|British civil servant and crossbench peer (born 1942)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name             = The Lord Wilson of Dinton
|honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB}}
|image            = Official portrait of Lord Wilson of Dinton crop 2, 2019.jpg
|caption          = Official portrait, 2019
|office           = [[Cabinet Secretary (United Kingdom)|Cabinet Secretary]]<br />[[Head of the Home Civil Service]]
|term_start       = 1998
|term_end         = 2002
|primeminister    = [[Tony Blair]]
|predecessor      = [[Robin Butler]]
|successor        = [[Andrew Turnbull, Baron Turnbull|Andrew Turnbull]]
|office1          = [[Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department]]
|term_start1      = 1994
|term_end1        = 1997
|predecessor1     = [[Clive Whitmore|Sir Clive Whitmore]]
|successor1       = [[David Omand|Sir David Omand]]
|birth_date       = {{birth-date and age|11 October 1942}}
| birth_place      = [[Glamorgan]], Wales
|education        = [[Radley College]]
|alma_mater       = [[Clare College, Cambridge]]
}}
'''Richard Thomas James Wilson, Baron Wilson of Dinton''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB}} (born 11 October 1942) is a [[crossbench]] member of the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[House of Lords]] and former [[Cabinet Secretary (United Kingdom)|Cabinet Secretary]].
==Career==
Richard Wilson was born in [[Glamorgan]]. He was educated at [[Radley College]]<ref>[http://www.radley.org.uk/or/OldRadleian/2006/pdfs/Gazette.pdf Old Radleian 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722202927/http://www.radley.org.uk/or/OldRadleian/2006/pdfs/Gazette.pdf |date=22 July 2011 }}</ref> (1956–60 and where he much later chaired the College Council (the governing body) and [[Clare College, Cambridge]] (1961–65), where he was awarded the degree of [[Master of Laws]] (LLM). He was called to the Bar but, rather than practise, entered the Civil Service as an assistant principal in the [[Board of Trade]] in 1966.
He subsequently served in a number of departments including 12 years in the [[United Kingdom Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] where his responsibilities included [[Nuclear power in the United Kingdom|nuclear power policy]],<ref name=britac-200906>{{cite journal |url=https://www.britac.ac.uk/sites/default/files/04-nuclear.pdf |title=UK Civil Nuclear Energy: What Lessons? |last=Wilson |first=Richard |journal=British Academy Review |volume=13 |page=17 |date=June 2009 |access-date=12 May 2018}}</ref> the privatisation of [[Britoil]], personnel and finance. He headed the Economic Secretariat in the [[Cabinet Office]] under [[Margaret Thatcher]] from 1987 to 1990 and after two years in the [[HM Treasury|Treasury]] was appointed Permanent Secretary of the [[Secretary of State for the Environment|Department of the Environment]] in 1992.
He became [[Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office]] in 1994 and [[Secretary of the Cabinet]] and Head of the Home Civil Service in January 1998, retiring in 2002.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Public Sector: Managing The Unmanageable|year=2013|author=Stevenson, Alexander|publisher=Kogan Page Limited |isbn=978-0-7494-6777-7}}</ref>
Wilson was appointed a [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]] (CB) in the [[1991 New Year Honours]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=52382 |date=31 December 1990 |page=3 |supp=y}}</ref> promoted to [[Knight Commander]] (KCB) in the [[1997 New Year Honours]]<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=54625 |date=31 December 1996 |page=3 |supp=y}}</ref> and to [[Knight Grand Cross]] (GCB) in the [[2001 New Year Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=56070 |date=30 December 2000 |page=2 |supp=y}}</ref>
After retiring as [[Cabinet Secretary (United Kingdom)|Cabinet Secretary]], he was created a [[life peer]] on 18 November 2002 with the title '''Baron Wilson of Dinton''', ''of [[Dinton, Buckinghamshire|Dinton]] in the [[Buckinghamshire|County of Buckinghamshire]]''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=56762 |date=25 November 2002 |page=14283}}</ref> In September of that year, he was made [[List of Masters of Emmanuel College, Cambridge|Master]] of [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]]. He has variously been a Non-executive Director of [[British Sky Broadcasting Group plc]], Chairman of [[C. Hoare & Co]], a Non-executive Director of [[Xansa]] and Chair of the Board of Patrons of [[The Wilberforce Society]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thewilberforcesociety.co.uk/patrons/|title=Board|access-date=14 September 2015|archive-date=12 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912193022/http://thewilberforcesociety.co.uk/patrons/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://www.sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1139188 Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 20 November 2009 (video)]
*[http://www.emma.cam.ac.uk/teaching/fellows/display/index.cfm?fellow=168 Emmanuel College website]
{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Terence Heiser|Sir Terry Heiser]]
| title = [[Permanent Secretary]] at the [[Department of the Environment (United Kingdom)|Department of the Environment]]
| years = 1992–1994
| after = [[Andrew Turnbull, Baron Turnbull|Sir Andrew Turnbull]]<br>(later, The Lord Turnbull)
}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Clive Whitmore|Sir Clive Whitmore]]
| title = [[Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department]]
| years = 1994–1997
| after = [[David Omand|Sir David Omand]]|
}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell|Sir Robin Butler]]
| title = [[Cabinet Secretary (United Kingdom)|Cabinet Secretary]] & [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)#Head of the Home Civil Service|Head of the Home Civil Service]]
| years = 1998–2002
| after = [[Andrew Turnbull, Baron Turnbull|Sir Andrew Turnbull]]|
}}
{{s-aca}}
{{succession box
| before = [[John Ffowcs Williams]]
| title = [[List of Masters of Emmanuel College|Master of]] [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]]
| years = 2002–2012
| after = [[Fiona Reynolds]]
}}
{{s-prec|uk}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Conrad Black|The Lord Black of Crossharbour]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom|Gentlemen]]'''<br />''Baron Wilson of Dinton'' '''
}}
{{s-fol|after=[[William Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk|The Lord Cullen of Whitekirk]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Masters of Emmanuel College}}
{{Heads of the Home Civil Service}}
{{Secretaries of the Cabinet}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson of Dinton, Richard Wilson, Baron}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Crossbench life peers|Wilson of Dinton]] <!--only title-->
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Welsh civil servants]]
[[Category:People educated at Radley College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Masters of Emmanuel College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Civil servants in the Board of Trade]]
[[Category:Civil servants in the Department of Energy (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Civil servants in the Cabinet Office]]
[[Category:Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for the Environment]]
[[Category:Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for the Home Department]]
[[Category:Cabinet Secretaries (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]