The Lord Geidt | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2018 | |
| Private Secretary to the Sovereign | |
| In office 8 September 2007 – 17 October 2017 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Deputy | Edward Young |
| Preceded by | Sir Robin Janvrin |
| Succeeded by | Sir Edward Young |
| Deputy Private Secretary to the Sovereign | |
| In office 2005–2007 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Secretary | Sir Robin Janvrin |
| Preceded by | Mary Francis |
| Succeeded by | Edward Young |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 3 November 2017 Life peerage | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1961-08-17)17 August 1961 (age 64)[1] Marylebone,London, England |
| Political party | None (crossbencher) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence(s) | Outer Hebrides, Scotland |
| Education | Dragon School Glenalmond College |
| Alma mater | King's College London Trinity Hall, Cambridge Magdalen College, Oxford |
Christopher Edward Wollaston MacKenzie Geidt, Baron Geidt,GCB, GCVO, OBE, QSO, PC, FKC (born 17 August 1961) is a member of theHouse of Lords, former Courtier.[2] He wasPrivate Secretary toQueen Elizabeth II from 2007 to 2017.[3]
Between 28 April 2021 and 15 June 2022 he was the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests to Prime MinisterBoris Johnson.
Born inMarylebone, London, son ofmagistrates' court chief clerk Mervyn Bernard Geidt (1926–1991) and Diana Cecil MacKenzie (1928-2012),[4][5] Geidt grew up on theIsle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.[6][7] Geidt attended theDragon School inOxford andGlenalmond College inPerth and Kinross. He graduated in War Studies fromKing's College London, and in International Relations fromTrinity Hall, Cambridge.[8] He is aFellow of King's College London (FKC), anHonorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and anHonorary Bencher of Middle Temple.[9][10][11]
An Army Scholar, Geidt enlisted in theScots Guards and attended theRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst from 1982 to 1983; he did not pass out and receive a commission as he was invalided from the army.[12] He was later commissioned in theIntelligence Corps,[8] serving in theBritish Army from 1987 to 1994.[12]
In 1987, Geidt joined the staff of theRoyal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, becoming an Assistant Director.[13] From 1994 he worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in diplomatic posts inSarajevo,Geneva andBrussels.[8]
In 1991, Geidt and Anthony de Normann sued the journalistJohn Pilger and Central Television over the documentaryCambodia: The Betrayal, in which they were accused of being members of theSAS secretly engaged in the training of theKhmer Rouge ofCambodia. Geidt and de Normann accepted "very substantial" damages and all costs.[14] In a related libel actionAnn Clwyd MP, then shadow minister for overseas development, issued a public apology to Geidt and de Normann and agreed to meet all legal costs.[15]
During and after the war in Bosnia (1992–1995), Geidt was deployed to liaise with the Bosnian Serb leadership, includingRadovan Karadžić,Momčilo Krajišnik and GeneralRatko Mladić, all later indicted forwar crimes.[16][17][18] He assisted the High Representative,Carl Bildt, in negotiating with Serbian PresidentSlobodan Milošević for the removal of Karadžić from thepresidency of Republika Srpska in 1996.[19]
Geidt is the Honorary Regimental Colonel of theLondon Scottish Regiment, having succeededGeorge, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen in 2016. He was appointed Honorary Colonel 1st Battalion The Highlanders Army Cadet Force on 1 December 2024.[20]
Geidt was recruited to theRoyal Household in 2002 as Assistant Private Secretary to the Queen. He was promoted to Deputy Private Secretary in 2005. He then served as theQueen's Private Secretary from 2007 to 2017.
During his time as Private Secretary, Geidt was alsoKeeper of the Royal Archives and aTrustee of theRoyal Collection and of the Queen'sSilver JubileeTrust (later the Queen's Trust). He remains a Trustee of the Queen ElizabethDiamond Jubilee Trust and is also Chairman of theQueen's Commonwealth Trust.[21][22][23][24]
As Private Secretary, Geidt was a member of the so-called 'golden triangle' of senior British officials – the others being theCabinet Secretary and thePrincipal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister – with key responsibilities in the event of ahung parliament in the United Kingdom, as happened in 2010.[25]
After ten years as Private Secretary, Geidt stepped down in October 2017 and was succeeded bySir Edward Young.[26] He was subsequently createdBaron Geidt, of Crobeg in theCounty of Ross and Cromarty, and sits as aCrossbench peer in theHouse of Lords.[27] In early March 2019, he was appointed a PermanentLord-in-waiting.[28]
Geidt became chair of the Council ofKing's College London in 2016, took an advisory role in the arms, security and aerospace companyBAE Systems until April 2021, and serves as chair of a board in the asset management companySchroders. According to the diaries ofSir Alan Duncan, Geidt worked for theSultan of Oman. In November 2021, academic staff at King’s College London wrote publicly complaining that Geidt had failed to disclose and manage conflicts of interest, breaching university policy. This included failure to state in the register of interests that he had been working for the Sultan of Oman, or manage conflicts with BAE Systems and Schroders, as the university had investments in BAE Systems up to 2020 and in Schroders, and had ‘multiple partnerships’ with Oman state bodies in medical care and dentistry.[29][30]
On 28 April 2021, it was announced thatPrime MinisterBoris Johnson had appointed Geidt as the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests.[31]
On 28 May 2021, Geidt published a report onallegations surrounding the financing of refurbishments made to11 Downing Street. The report concluded that Johnson did not breach the Ministerial Code and that no conflict of interest, or reasonably perceived conflict of interest, arose. However, Geidt expressed that it was "unwise" for Johnson to have proceeded with refurbishments without "more rigorous regard for how this would be funded".[32][33]
In December 2021 it was reported that Geidt was considering resigning his role as standards adviser for Johnson.[34][35][36] The Conservative Party was fined £17,800 for improperly declaring this donation.Shadow First Secretary of StateAngela Rayner called on Lord Geidt to reopen his investigation into funding of the refurbishment, and the Liberal Democrats have called for an independent public inquiry. Geidt's predecessor SirAlex Allan resigned when his findings into alleged bullying of civil servants byPriti Patel, theHome Secretary, in November 2020, were overruled by Boris Johnson.[37]Nick Cohen commented inThe Guardian that "Lord Geidt, Johnson's ministerial standards adviser, now cuts a pathetic figure. The credulous man actually believed the prime minister when he said he knew nothing about a businessman buddy, Lord Brownlow, paying for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat until the media mentioned it in February 2021."[38] On 12 January 2022, in theHouse of Commons, MPChris Bryant described Lord Geidt's reputation as "tarnished" by his involvement with Johnson.[39]
In his annual report of May 2022, Geidt said that he had avoided offering unprompted advice to Boris Johnson about the latter's obligations under his own ministerial code because if it had been rejected, he would have had to resign.[40]
On 14 June 2022, Geidt appeared at a Parliamentary committee, and was widely criticised, including as the "ultimate establishment stooge... who passes for Boris Johnson’s moral guardian."[41] On 15 June 2022, Geidt resigned from the role.[42][43]The Scotsman said the reason for his resignation was that he was "tasked to offer a view about the Government's intention to consider measures which risk a deliberate and purposeful breach of the Ministerial Code".[44]The Daily Telegraph said he "had finally resigned over a row with the Prime Minister over trade policy".[45]BBC News said the resignation was due to a request for advice on a trade issue that had left him with no choice but to quit. Geidt maintained he was asked to advise this week on an issue he believed would be a deliberate breach of the ministerial code. Geidt wrote "This request has placed me in an impossible and odious position," He wrote the concept that the prime minister "might to any degree be in the business of deliberately breaching his own code is an affront" that would amount to suspending the code "to suit a political end. This would make a mockery not only of respect for the code but licence the suspension of its provisions in governing the conduct of Her Majesty's ministers. I can have no part in this."[46]
On 17 June 2022 a second letter appeared about Geidt's resignation. Geidt said he resigned due to the government's "openness" to breaking international law. Geidt maintained that statements to the effect that it was because of steel tariffs were a "distraction" and the issue was far wider. Geidt stated the steel tariffs issue was “simply one example of what might yet constitute deliberate breaches by the United Kingdom of its obligations under international law, given the government’s widely publicised openness to this”. Geidt was the second ethics adviser to resign under Johnson; SirAlex Allan resigned in 2020.[47][48]
In 1996, Geidt married Emma Charlotte Angela Neill, younger daughter ofPatrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen.[49] The couple have two daughters.
He currently lives and farms on theIsle of Lewis, in theOuter Hebrides.[50]
Geidt was appointed aPrivy Counsellor (PC) in 2007.[51] He was promoted to a Life Peerage to beBaron Geidt, of Crobeg in the County of Ross and Cromarty on 3 November 2017.[27]
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| Court offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Private Secretary to the Sovereign 2007–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of King's College London 2016–2025 | Followed by |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Geidt | Followed by |
