Laureation address: The Lord Sedwill KCMG FRGS
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws
Laureation by Professor Brad MacKay, Senior Vice-Principal and Vice-Principal (International Strategy and External Relations)
Monday 27 June 2022
Vice-Chancellor, it is my privilege to present for the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, The Lord Sedwill.
“I’ve had a gun in my face; a bomb under my seat; I’ve been hosted by a man plotting to have me assassinated; I’ve been shot at, mortared and had someone come after me with a suicide vest”, was how Lord Sedwill responded to a question about how he handles what he refers to as “the political sniping which is a regrettable feature of modern governance. I simply remind myself that it really isn’t as bad as the real thing.”
And so, that summarises what has been an extraordinary career.
Mark Sedwill was born in Ealing, where he attended Bourne Grammar School, and was Head Boy. He then earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of St Andrews in 1987, and a Master of Philosophy in Economics from St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford in 1989 – the UK’s first and second ranked universities respectively – at least in one influential league table.
Following university, Mark joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office where he held an expansive and impressive array of positions – indeed, too many to name in case you have dinner reservations in town!
But to give you just a flavour, he held a multitude of roles between 1989 and 2013, having begun his career as the Second Secretary in the Security and Coordination Department, quickly followed by Second Secretary in Cairo between 1991 and 1994, his public service then included (but is by no means limited to!) the First Secretary in Iraq and a United Nations Weapons Inspector from 1996 to 1997, Private Secretary to Foreign Secretaries Robin Cook and Jack Straw between 2000 and 2003, Director of UK Visas in the Home Office between 2006 and 2008, Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010 (where the entire Afghani Cabinet turned out to his farewell ceremony and the Defence Minister as a parting gift returned an old Lee Enfield Rifle that he claimed was acquired during an earlier visit by the British to the country), and finally UK Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan between 2011 and 2013.
From Whitehall to Egypt and then Iraq, from the UN to Cyprus, from Pakistan to the MENA Department, from Afghanistan to a representative of NATO (and I have just given a small sampling of the expanse of his career and positions held), Lord Sedwill has exemplified the University’s motto, Ever to Excel.
In 2013 Mark was appointed Permanent Secretary in the Home Office, a role he held until 2017, and then in 2017 he was appointed, first as National Security Advisor, a job he was eminently well qualified for, and then to the surprise of many, not least of whom, I suspect, his own – as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service until his resignation in 2020.
Here he led over 400,000 UK civil servants in HM Government and the Devolved Administrations and was known for his “calm and shrewd advice”, and “unflappable good humour”, navigating one of the most tumultuous periods in recent history including a change of premiership, an election, Brexit and Covid.
Indeed, his distinguished service has been recognised by Her Majesty the Queen in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List with a Knighthood, and in 2020 he was made Baron Sedwill of Sherborne in the County of Dorset. He also holds a wide range of Fellowships and has been the recipient of numerous other awards and honours for his national and international public service.
Mark is widely respected across the political spectrum., As Mark demitted office the Prime Minister said, “after serving for decades with great distinction – [he] believes that [Lord Sedwill] has earned the gratitude of the nation.” And Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Office Minister at the time Helen Hayes said, “we pay tribute to the work Mark Sedwill has done.” And so do we manifest the nation’s gratitude in an honorary degree from his alma mater.
Vice-Chancellor, in recognition of his major contribution to diplomacy, national security, and UK policymaking, I invite you to confer the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, on Mark Sedwill.