Bill Jeffrey was, until 2010, one of the United Kingdom’s most senior civil servants, with wide experience of justice, national security and conflict resolution.
Between early 1998 and late 2002, he was Political Director at the Northern Ireland Office, the most senior UK civil servant working exclusively on the Northern Ireland peace process in that period. He was involved in the final negotiation of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in 1998, and thereafter, intensively, in the efforts to implement the Agreement. He provided close support for a succession of Northern Ireland Secretaries and for the then Prime Minister Tony Blair. On behalf of Ministers, he conducted many of the detailed negotiations with the Irish Government and the Northern Ireland political parties, and was generally held to have gained and retained the trust of all sides.
Later in his career, Bill Jeffrey held senior posts in the Home Office (as head of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate) and in the Cabinet Office as Coordinator of UK security, intelligence and counter-terrorism efforts. Between 2005 and his retirement from Government service, he was Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, the civilian head of the Department.
Since his retirement, Bill has chaired the Board of the Police Foundation, a charity which conducts research and operates as the principal think tank on policing in the UK, and has undertaken a number of projects for Government. He has also retained a close interest in conflict resolution processes in Northern Ireland and other parts of the world, and in building government capability.
As a GPG associate, he has supported work to improve the capability of the Iraqi Parliament and improve its relations with Government; in Northern Iraq to enable the governing authorities in Nineveh Province to develop a medium term strategy for governing the province after the recovery of Mosul from ISIS; and in Kuwait to support the Government’s anti-corruption strategy.