Lilian Pauline Neville-Jones, Baroness Neville-Jones {{postnominals|country=GBR|DCMG|PC}} (born 2 November 1939) is a British politician and former civil servant who served as Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) from 1993 to 1994. A member of the Conservative Party, she served on the National Security Council and was Minister of State for Security and Counter Terrorism at the Home Office from 2010 to 2011.

On 12 May 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron appointed her as Minister of State for Security and Counter Terrorism in the Home Office with a permanent position on the newly created National Security Council.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8679082.stm |title=Cameron chairs first UK security council meeting |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=12 May 2010 |access-date=12 May 2011}}

On 9 May 2011, the BBC reported that Neville-Jones had left her role as Security Minister at "her own request";{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13338508 |title=Security minister Baroness Neville-Jones steps down |date=9 May 2011 |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |access-date=12 May 2011}} her security brief was taken over by James Brokenshire.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/james-brokenshire-takes-on-security-role-2282850.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/james-brokenshire-takes-on-security-role-2282850.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=James Brokenshire takes on security role |last=Johnson |first=Wesley |date=12 May 2011 |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=12 May 2010}} She was then immediately appointed as "Special Representative to Business on Cyber Security".{{cite news|title=Security minister Baroness Neville-Jones steps down|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8503602/Security-minister-Baroness-Neville-Jones-steps-down.html}}

Education

Lady Neville-Jones was educated at Leeds Girls' High School and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (Modern History).{{cite web | url=http://www.lmh.ox.ac.uk/Alumni/Prominent-alumni.aspx | title=LMH, Oxford – Prominent Alumni|access-date=20 May 2015}}

Career

=Civil Service=

Neville-Jones was a career member of Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service from 1963 to 1996, during which time she served in British Missions in Rhodesia, Singapore, Washington, DC and Bonn. Between 1977 and 1982 she was seconded to the European Commission where she worked as Deputy and then Chef de Cabinet to Commissioner Christopher Tugendhat.The Diplomatic Service List 1989 (page 263), HMSO, {{ISBN|0-11-591707-1}}.

From 1991 to 1994 she was Head of the Defence and Overseas Secretariat in the Cabinet Office and Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet. During 1993 and 1994 she was Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. From 1994, until her retirement, she was Political Director in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in which capacity she led the British delegation to the Dayton negotiations on the Bosnia peace settlement. In 2003 the Bosnian leader Alija Izetbegović commented that during these negotiations she "never tried to conceal her dislike for us".Inescapable Questions (2003), page.310.

Before she left the civil service, Neville-Jones was openly critical of the Foreign Office for passing her over for the post of ambassador to France.{{cite web |author1=Decca Aitkenhead |author1-link=Decca Aitkenhead |title=From Welsh secretary in Barry to Our Woman in Belarus |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/from-welsh-secretary-in-barry-to-our-woman-in-belarus-1323881.html |website=The Independent |access-date=20 March 2024 |date=14 January 1996}}

= Business dealings with Milosevic =

In 1996, shortly after resigning from the Foreign Office, Neville-Jones and her former boss Douglas Hurd were hired by NatWest Markets, a British bank, to travel to Belgrade and negotiate a privatisation deal with Slobodan Milosevic for Serbia's state telecoms industry.{{cite web|title=IAAC|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/may/13/pauline-neville-jones-conservatives}}

The money from the deal revitalised Milosevic's dictatorship and may have helped fund his later war in Kosovo. Neville-Jones and Hurd were extensively criticised for their decision to take part in the deal.{{cite web|title=IAAC|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/may/13/pauline-neville-jones-conservatives}}

=BBC=

She was appointed a BBC governor in January 1998. Her final post was as chairman of the Governors' World Service Consultative Group. Neville-Jones was chairman of the Audit Committee from 1998 until standing down from that position in September 2004 and left the BBC on 31 December 2004.

=Defence=

From 2002 to 2005, Neville-Jones was non-executive chairman of the part Government-owned defence technology company QinetiQ, which was privatised for £1.3 billion in February 2006. She was chairman of the Information Assurance Advisory Council until 2007.{{cite web|title=IAAC|url=http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240083002/Burton-takes-over-from-Neville-Jones-at-IAAC}}

=Politics=

File:From left to right Dean Godson and Baroness Neville - Jones DCMG PC.jpg

In January 2006 she joined one of the Conservative Party's new 'policy groups' on national security.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}

On 2 July 2007 her appointment as a working peer and Shadow Security Minister was announced. Her title was gazetted as Baroness Neville-Jones, of Hutton Roof in the County of Cumbria on 15 October 2007.{{London Gazette |issue=58462 |date=27 September 2007 |page=14057 |supp=y}}{{London Gazette |issue=58492 |date=25 October 2007 |page=15425}}

On 9 January 2009, Lady Neville-Jones warned that Israel's ongoing war in the Gaza Strip would encourage revolutionary Islamism in Arab countries and Islamic terrorism beyond, and called for a revival of the Middle East peace process.{{cite episode |title=9 January 2009 |series=PM |series-link=PM (Radio 4) |credits=Eddie Mair |network=BBC Radio |station=BBC Radio 4 |airdate=9 January 2009 |minutes=11}}

On 13 May 2010, she was appointed Minister of State for Security and Counter Terrorism in David Cameron's Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government, and was also sworn of the Privy Council.

On 31 March 2011 she told The Daily Telegraph that Britain's Muslim population needs to be persuaded by the Government that Britain is a single nation, and that they can't just "rub along together" but must be persuaded that their long-term future lies in Britain.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8420083/Britons-need-to-see-themselves-as-a-single-nation-says-Security-Minister.html |title=Britons need to see themselves as a single nation, says Security Minister |last=Gardham |first=Duncan |date=31 March 2011 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=12 May 2011}} Neville-Jones later spoke out against "internet hate preaching and jihadist rhetoric", arguing that the murder of Lee Rigby was likely to have been inspired by such material.{{cite news|last=Dominiczak |first=Peter |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/10075306/Woolwich-attack-We-must-tackle-hate-preaching-over-the-internet-security-experts-say.html |title=Woolwich attack: We must tackle hate preaching over the internet, security experts say |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=23 May 2013}}

File:Pauline Neville-Jones and Ahmed Rashid at HISF 2012.jpg at the Halifax International Security Forum 2012]]

On 9 May 2011, Neville-Jones left her post as Minister of State for Security and Counter-Terrorism in the Home Office at her own request.

In November 2014, Neville-Jones presented a speech at the Halifax International Security Forum, which she prefaced with an op-ed in a Toronto newspaper. She wrote about the quantum technology revolution and related that the "policy failure" of the 2003 Iraq War was due to "outdated intelligence, lack of ability to test agent information against other sources and misinterpretation of apparent battlefield evidence".[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/intelligence-the-state-must-be-fit-for-the-purpose/article21680912/ G+M: "Intelligence: the state must be fit for the purpose" (Neville-Jones) 21 Nov 2014]

Positions

Neville-Jones is an honorary fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and an honorary doctor of the University of London and the Open University. In August 2013, the Council on CyberSecurity announced that she had joined the organization's Advisory Board.[http://www.counciloncybersecurity.org/about-us/advisory-board Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917021956/http://www.counciloncybersecurity.org/about-us/advisory-board |date=17 September 2013 }}, counciloncybersecurity.org; accessed 22 March 2016. She is also an Advisory Board member at the Council on Geostrategy.{{Cite web |title=Advisory Board |url=https://www.geostrategy.org.uk/advisory-board/ |access-date=30 October 2024 |website=Council on Geostrategy}}

File:Chevalier légion d'honneur 2.png

Honours

Appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1987 Birthday Honours,{{London Gazette |issue=50948 |date=13 June 1987 |page=3 |supp=y}} she was raised to Dame Commander (DCMG) in the 1995 New Year's Honours.{{London Gazette |issue=54255 |date=29 December 1995 |page=3 |supp=y}} Neville-Jones also received the Légion d'honneur (Chevalier) in 2009. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013.{{Cite news |date=2013-10-20 |title=100 Women: Who took part? |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-24579511 |access-date=2022-12-18}}

Styles

Pauline Neville-Jones (1939–1987)
Pauline Neville-Jones, CMG (1987–1995)
Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, DCMG (1995–2007)
The Right Honourable The Baroness Neville-Jones, DCMG (2007–2010)[http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/36961/(Lilian)-Pauline-Neville-Jones-NEVILLE-JONES Debrett's People of Today]
The Right Honourable The Baroness Neville-Jones, DCMG PC (2010–present)

References

External links

[http://www.conservatives.com/People/Peers/Neville-Jones_Pauline.aspx Profile on the Conservative Party website]
[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/jul/03/conservatives.politics Guardian, 3 July 2007 Joining the Shadow Team]
[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200607/ldhansrd/text/71015-0001.htm Hansard, 15 October 2007, Introduction to the House of Lords]
[http://www.thealligatoronline.com/?article/142 Interview with the Alligator magazine, 23 January 2010]