Stephen Wall

Sir Stephen Wall GCMG LVO (born January 1947) is a retired British diplomat who served as Britain's ambassador to Portugal and Permanent Representative to the European Union.

For the English cricketer, see Stephen Wall (cricketer).

Sir Stephen Wall GCMG LVO
48th British Ambassador to Portugal
In office 1993–1995
Preceded by	Hugh James Arbuthnott
Succeeded by	Roger Westbrook
7th British Permanent Representative to the European Union
In office 1995–2000
Preceded by	John Kerr
Succeeded by	Nigel Sheinwald
Personal details
Born	John Stephen Wall[1] January 1947

Biography

Wall, who was educated at Douai School[1] and Selwyn College, Cambridge, entered the Diplomatic Service in 1968.[2] His early postings included the United Nations, Addis Ababa and Paris.[2] On his return to London in 1974, he worked in the Foreign Office News Department and was later seconded to the press office of James Callaghan, who was then Prime Minister.[3] He subsequently served as Assistant Private Secretary to David Owen, the Foreign Secretary and Lord Carrington, David Owen's successor.[2]

Wall spent four years at the British Embassy, Washington, D.C. from 1979 to 1983, when he returned to the Foreign Office.[2] From 1983 to 1988 he served as Assistant Head, and later Head, of the Foreign Office's European Community Department (Internal.) He was Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary from 1988 to 1991, serving under Geoffrey Howe, John Major and Douglas Hurd.[2] He was Private Secretary to Prime Minister John Major from 1991 to 1993, responsible for foreign policy and defence issues.[3]

Wall was sent as Ambassador to Portugal in 1993, and he remained there until 1995, when he was named as Britain's Permanent Representative to the European Union.[4] He returned to London in 2000 to takes charge of the Cabinet Office's European Secretariat. He remained in that post until 2004, and during that period he was EU adviser to Tony Blair.[4] He was named as principal adviser to Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster in June 2004, and he served until June 2005.[5]

From 2009 to 2019 Sir Stephen Wall was chairman of Cumberland Lodge, an educational charity initiating fresh debate on the burning questions facing society.[6] From 2005 to 2014, he was a Council Member at UCL and was Council Chair from 2008 to 2014. He was Chair of the pro-EU 'Federal Trust' from 2010 to 2020.

From 2009 to 2014 he was co-chair of the Belgo-British Conference.

He is Chair of The Kaleidoscope Trust Board – a charity campaigning for LGBT rights overseas.[7] He has worked as an Official Historian at the Cabinet Office, writing the Official History of Britain's relationship with the rest of the European Union.

Personal life

Wall was married with one son.[8]. He divorced in 2014. In 2019 he married Dr Edward (Ted) Sumner.

In 2014, Stephen Wall came out publicly as homosexual. He was Equalities Champion at UCL for LGBT+ issues.

Wall has stated that reading Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion led him to abandon his Catholic faith.[9]

Bibliography

• A Stranger in Europe: Britain and the EU from Thatcher to Blair (OUP 2008)[10]
• "The Official History of Britain and the European Community, Volume II: From Rejection to Referendum,1963 – 1975" (Routledge 2012); and Volume III: 'The Tiger Unleashed,1975 - 1985" ( Routledge 2018)

Offices held

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Sir Anthony Galsworthy	Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary 1988–1990	Succeeded by Sir Richard Gozney
Preceded by Sir John Holmes	Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs to the Prime Minister 1991–1993	Succeeded by Francis Campbell
Preceded by Hugh James Arbuthnott	British Ambassador to Portugal 1993–1995	Succeeded by Roger Westbrook
Preceded by John, The Lord Kerr of Kinlochard	British Permanent Representative to the European Union 1995–2000	Succeeded by Sir Nigel Sheinwald
Government offices
Preceded by David Bostock	Director-General, European Secretariat Cabinet Office 2000–2004	Succeeded by Sir Kim Darroch

References

1. "Pupils of the Schools at Paris, Douai and Woolhampton" (PDF). Douai Abbey.
2. "Sir Stephen Wall, GCMG LVO". University of Edinburgh School of Law. Archived from the original on 7 April 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
3. "Uncivil servants. Former special adviser Stephen Wall describes life inside the No 10 media machine". New Statesman. 17 October 2005. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
4. "Sir Stephen Wall". Business for New Europe. Archived from the original on 17 April 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
5. "Spinning against the Vatican". The hermeneutic of continuity. 1 December 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
6. Cumberland Lodge: Trustees
7. http://kaleidoscopetrust.com/about-us/kaleidoscopes-team/
8. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b68e6be6-a08c-11e4-9aee-00144feab7de.html#axzz49lT9CnIL
9. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b077gtw1
10. Denis MacShane (26 April 2008). "'Are Eu ready?' No, we're not". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 September 2010.