Sir Hayden Phillips

Sir Gerald Hayden Phillips (9 February 1943 – 10 April 2026) was an English civil servant.

Early life and education Gerald Hayden Phillips was born on 9 February 1943. He was educated at Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, Clare College, Cambridge, and Yale University. and was Economic Adviser, 1970–72, Principal 1972–74, and Assistant Secretary, and Principal Private Secretary to the Home Secretary (Roy Jenkins), 1974–76. From 1977 to 1979 he served as Deputy Chef de Cabinet to Roy Jenkins as President of the European Commission. He returned to the Home Office as Assistant Secretary from 1979 to 1981, and then as Assistant Under-Secretary of State from 1981 to 1986. From 2006 to 2007 he undertook a review of the funding of political parties, and in 2007 chaired inter-party talks on political funding.

Phillips played the part of Colonel Dent in the 2011 film of Jane Eyre and the part of Sir Sebastian D'ath in the 2022 James Bond film No Time to Die.

He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Wiltshire in 2017.

Phillips died on 10 April 2026, at the age of 83.