John Sawers

Sir Robert John Sawers (born 26 July 1955) is a British intelligence officer, diplomat and civil servant. He was Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), a position he held from November 2009 until November 2014.

Early life and education Born in Warwick, Sawers was brought up in a family of five children in Bath and educated at the City of Bath Boys' School (which became Beechen Cliff School before he left), where he still holds the 440-yard hurdles school record. He is a descendant of the historic Stratford family through his maternal grandmother. He studied physics and philosophy at the University of Nottingham and later spent periods at the Universities of St Andrews, Witwatersrand and Harvard.

Career Secret Intelligence Service Sawers joined MI6 in 1977 and was given Foreign and Commonwealth Office cover. He began his career as an intelligence officer and worked under diplomatic cover in Yemen and in Syria in 1982 as a political officer, on behalf of MI6.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Enjoying policy work more than intelligence work, Sawers transitioned to a mainstream diplomatic role in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, leaving MI6, and took up the role of Desk Officer in the European Union Department in 1984 and Private Secretary to the Minister of State in 1986. He returned to London and took up the roles of Head of European Union Presidency Planning Unit in 1991 and Principal Private Secretary to Douglas Hurd in 1993.

He next served two years in the Middle East as Ambassador to Egypt from 2001 to 2003, utilising his scientific background in discussions of nuclear matters.

In 2007 he became British Permanent Representative to the United Nations. On 10 and 16 December 2009 Sawers gave evidence to The Iraq Inquiry. In July 2010 his salary was revealed to the public to be in the range of £160,000 to £169,999.

During the Syrian Civil War Sawers supported the Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards in drawing up plans to train and equip a Syrian rebel army of 100,000 to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, as an alternative option to the government's plan for limited direct military involvement. The plans were rejected by the UK National Security Council as too ambitious. Ultimately on 29 August 2013, Parliament refused to support the government's plan to participate in military strikes against the Syrian government.

Sawers announced his intention to stand down from running the Secret Intelligence Service by November 2014, the fifth anniversary of his appointment. He was replaced by Alex Younger.

Advisory boards and professorship After retiring as Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service Sawers became Partner and Chairman of Macro Advisory Partners, before becoming the Executive Chairman of Newbridge Advisory. He also became a visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King's College London. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Conferences and participated in conferences since 2014 On 14 May 2015 he was appointed independent non-executive director of BP Global.

Sawers is a governor of the Ditchley Foundation, which aims to promote international, especially Anglo-American, relations. He was subsequently made a Knight Commander (KCMG) of the same Order in the 2007 Birthday Honours and promoted to Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to national security. He is a Senior Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (FRUSI).

Personal life Sawers is married, with two sons and a daughter. He enjoys hiking, playing tennis, cycling and watching theatre.