Nick Macpherson
{{Short description|British civil servant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
|name = The Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court
|honorific-suffix = GCB
|image = Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court, 2023.jpg
|caption= Official portrait, 2023
|office = Permanent Secretary to the Treasury
|chancellor = Gordon Brown
Alistair Darling
George Osborne
|term_start = 2005
|term_end = 2016
|predecessor = Sir Gus O'Donnell
|successor = Sir Tom Scholar
|office1 = Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
|term_start1 = 4 October 2016
Life Peerage
|term_end1 =
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|7|14|df=y}}
|birth_place =
|death_date =
|death_place =
|education = Balliol College, Oxford (BA)
University College, London (MSc)
}}
Nicholas Ian Macpherson, Baron Macpherson of Earl's Court, {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB}} (born 14 July 1959) is a former senior British civil servant. He served as the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury from 2005 to 2016.
Macpherson was Permanent Secretary to three Chancellors. He managed the department through the financial and wider economic crisis which began in 2007.
Macpherson was nominated for a crossbench peerage in David Cameron's 2016 resignation Honours,{{Cite web |title=Resignation Peerages 2016 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/543973/resignation_peerages_2016.pdf |website=GOV.UK}} and joined the House of Lords on 4 October 2016.{{Cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-macpherson-of-earl's-court/4586|title = Contact information for Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court - MPS and Lords - UK Parliament}}
Early life
Macpherson was educated at Ashdown House and Eton College.Who's Who 2010, A & C Black, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-4081-1414-8}} He later attended Balliol College, Oxford (where he read Politics and Economics){{Cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmpubacc/519/8042811.htm|title=House of Commons – Public Accounts – Minutes of Evidence|last=Commons|first=The Committee Office, House of|website=www.publications.parliament.uk|access-date=2016-08-27}} and University College London.
Career
Macpherson first worked as an economist at the CBI and Peat Marwick Consulting.{{cite web | url=http://archive.treasury.gov.uk/press/2001/p51_01.html | title=Senior Civil Service appointments at HM Treasury (press release) | accessdate=2009-01-28 | date=2001-04-11 | author=HM Treasury | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805073557/http://archive.treasury.gov.uk/press/2001/p51_01.html | archivedate=2009-08-05 }}
=Treasury=
Macpherson entered HM Treasury in 1985. From 1993 to 1997, he was Principal Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer; he oversaw the transition from Kenneth Clarke to Gordon Brown as Chancellor. From 1998 to 2001, he was Director of Welfare Reform. From 2001 to 2004, he was head of the Public Services Directorate, where he managed the 2000 and 2002 spending reviews. From 2004 to 2005 Macpherson managed the Budget and Public Finance Directorate, where he was responsible for tax policy and the budget process.
Macpherson succeeded Sir Gus (now Lord) O'Donnell as Permanent Secretary of the Treasury, when the latter moved to be the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service in 2005. Macpherson came to prominence during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum when he advised George Osborne against entering into a currency union with any Scottish independent state, which was contrary to initial Scottish National Party plans. He stepped down from the Treasury on 31 March 2016.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/04/treasury-permanent-secretary-sir-nicholas-macpherson-step-down |title=Treasury permanent secretary Sir Nicholas Macpherson to step down |author=Phillip Inman |newspaper=The Guardian |date=4 January 2016 |accessdate=4 January 2016}}
=Other positions=
Macpherson was a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, and is a visiting professor at King's College London.
Macpherson is Chairman of C. Hoare & Co and on the Board of British Land and the Scottish American Investment Trust.[http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/britishland3/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=389&newsid=830346 British Land appoints Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court GCB as a Non-Executive Director]
Personal life
He is the father of Fred Macpherson, frontman and vocalist of indie rock band Spector.{{cite web| url = https://www.timeout.com/london/music/keeping-it-real-fred-macpherson| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130531233348/http://www.timeout.com/london/music/keeping-it-real-fred-macpherson| archive-date = 2013-05-31| title = Keeping it real with Spector's Fred MacPherson – See Spector live in London – Time Out Music}}
Honours
Macpherson was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2009 New Year Honours,{{London Gazette |issue=58929 |date=31 December 2008 |page=2 |supp=y }} and promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the same Order (GCB) in the 2015 Birthday Honours.{{Cite web |title=PRIME MINISTER'S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE BIRTHDAY HONOURS LIST 2015 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/434869/Queens_birthday_honours_list_2015.pdf |website=GOV.UK |page=5}}{{London Gazette |issue=61256 |date=13 June 2015 |page=3 |supp=y}}
Macpherson was nominated for a life peerage in the 2016 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours and was created Baron Macpherson of Earl's Court, of Earl's Court in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, on 4 October.{{London Gazette |issue=61729 |date=12 October 2016 |page=21644}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04f8fbg BBC Radio 4 Profile]
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{{succession box|title=Managing Director, Public Services
HM Treasury |years=2001–2004 |before=Sir John Gieve |after=Jonathan Stephens}}
{{succession box |title=Managing Director, Budget and Public Finances
HM Treasury |years=2004–2005 |before=Sir Robert Culpin |after=Mark Neale
as Managing Director, Budget, Tax and Welfare{{cite web|url= http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/resourceaccounting180706.pdf|title= Resource Accounts 2005–06|accessdate= 2009-01-28|author= HM Treasury|url-status= dead|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120218204839/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/resourceaccounting180706.pdf|archivedate= 2012-02-18}}}}
{{succession box |title=Permanent Secretary of HM Treasury |years=2005–2016 |before=Sir Gus O'Donnell |after=Tom Scholar}}
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{{s-bef|before=The Lord Caine}}
{{s-ttl|title=Gentlemen
Baron Macpherson of Earl's Court }}
{{s-fol|after=The Lord Ricketts}}
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{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, Nicholas}}
Category:British people of Dutch descent
Category:Crossbench life peers
Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Category:Permanent Secretaries of HM Treasury
Category:Private secretaries in the British Civil Service
Category:People educated at Ashdown House
Category:People educated at Eton College
Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Category:Alumni of University College London