Simon Gerard McDonald, Baron McDonald of Salford, GCMG, KCVO (born 9 March 1961) is a British former diplomat who was the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service until September 2020. He was the last professional head of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office before the creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. He has been the Master of Christ's College, Cambridge since September 2022.
In July 2022 McDonald wrote a letter to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards stating that denials of previous allegations against Chris Pincher by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson were untrue.[1] The letter was described as an "extraordinary, devastating intervention", and was followed by resignations of senior cabinet ministers, ultimately leading to Johnson's announcement of his resignation on 7 July 2022.[2]
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- ^ "Chris Pincher: Lord McDonald's letter in full". BBC News. 5 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
- ^ "Boris Johnson to stand down as Tory leader after wave of resignations". BBC News. 7 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.