Britain’s man inside the UN
Daniel Korski 11:09am
Sir John Holmes, the highest placed Briton at the UN, is leaving his job early. A long-serving Foreign Office mandarin, Sir John’s appointment by UN chief Ban Ki-Moon to be the UN’s Coordinator for Humanitarian Relief originally came as a surprise. The post is responsible for oversight of all emergencies requiring UN humanitarian assistance, and acts as the focal point for relief activities. Everyone had assumed that the British diplomat’s background lent itself more readily to the top political job at the UN, rather than the humanitarian portfolio.
But Sir John (who will replace Jeremy Greenstock as director of Ditchley Park), has by all accounts done very well in the job and will be missed at the increasingly dysfunctional UN headquarters, which is haemorrhaging senior staff at an alarming rate.
Holmes’s impending departure has set off rumours not only about who will replace him, but about which job Britain might grab should the UN secretary-general reshuffle his top team. For years, the post of Under-Secretary General for the UN’s Department of Political Affairs was British almost by rights, with mandarins like Marack Goulding and Kieran Prendergast occupying the role for years. It is no secret the Foreign Office would like to have that job back. The French government, in turn, is said to want the vacant Humanitarian Coordinator job: Frenchman Alain le Roy now runs the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
Tony Blair’s former Middle East envoy, Michael Williams, a long-time UN official, is tipped as the leading candidate to replace Sir John. But it may be worth reconsidering who the best Briton for the job really is. If Britain goes for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the government should appoint Paddy Ashdown. If it goes for the humanitarian job, it should tap up former Defence Secretary Des Browne. If it gets the slot of Under-Secretary General for the UN’s Department of Political Affairs, then someone like Sherard Cowper-Coles would be a good fit.
Britain’s role at the UN has been slipping. Under Kofi Annan, there were three high-ranking British officials on his staff: Mark Malloch Brown, Kieran Prendergast and David Veness. Now there is only one. Britain needs to send a heavy-hitter to New York not only to enhance London’s influence, but help buck up the Ban Ki-Moon’s administration.
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Cuffleyburgers
March 2nd, 2010 11:18am Report this commentI once saw a porno film starring him - he may not be much of a diplomat but he has the most enormous willy
Jon Rosenberg
March 2nd, 2010 11:26am Report this commentGoodness it couldn't be that Gordon Brown wish to get some friend of his in place now, who has a long mandate. A man or woman that the conservatives, should they win power, will find hard to remove. I'm sure that cant have anything to do with the timing of this appointment.
Sir Graphus
March 2nd, 2010 11:39am Report this commentPerhaps we could appoint some placeman mediocrity similar to Cathy Ashton.
The Bellman
March 2nd, 2010 1:44pm Report this commentAh yes, that well-known heavy-hitter Des 'Two Jobs' Browne, a man rejected by the Sri Lankan government as a British envoy, and whose tenure at Defence was characterised by his dismal handling of the Iranian hostage-taking.
So if by 'hitter' you mean 'placeman' and by 'heavy' you mean 'mediocre', yes.
JohnAnt
March 2nd, 2010 3:59pm Report this commentHow about the PM?
He's a heavy hitter, allegedly.
KB
March 2nd, 2010 10:07pm Report this commentSurely Rowan Laxton ticks all the boxes?
emortimer
March 3rd, 2010 8:20am Report this commentIt's not quite as simple as this. People working in the Secretariat are supposed to serve the UN as whole, and are forbidden by the Charter from taking instructions from any government. And while the Secretary-General certainly has to pay attention to the wishes of member states - especially those of a permanent member of the Security Council - he does have some discretion about whom he appoints. When Kofi Annan made Mark Malloch Brown head of the UN Development Programme in 1999 it was actually contrary to the British government's expressed wish, since the UK had signed up for a (Danish) EU candidate. Annan accepted that the job should go to a European, but insisted that he had the right to choose which European. When it came to appointing a new head of Peacekeeping in 2000, he insisted that France give him a choice of three candidates, and actually chose the one that the French government was pushing least out of the three. And again in 2005 his choice of Mark Malloch Brown as chef de cabinet was very much a personal one, which effectively made it impossible for Sir Kieran Prendergast to remain at the head of the Department of Political Affairs, since having three Brits at that level within the Secretariat was more than the traffic would bear. (Sir Kieran was replaced shortly aftewards by Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria.)
It's to be hoped that Mr. Ban will show the same firmness and independence in choosing a successor to Sir John Holmes.
Edward Mortimer (Chief Speechwriter to the Secretary-General, 1998-2006)
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