Sir John Chilcot GCB PC (1939 – 2021)

Pembroke Honorary Fellow Sir John Chilcot GCB PC has died at the age of 82.

Lord Smith, Master of Pembroke said: 'Pembroke was very proud to count Sir John as one of our most distinguished alumni, and an Honorary Fellow. He had a highly distinguished civil service career, was instrumental in starting the peace process in Northern Ireland, and wrote a forensic and insightful report on the Iraq war. He dedicated his life to public service; he achieved so much; and we will all miss him enormously.'

Sir John came up to Pembroke in 1957 as an Exhibitioner to read English, later switching to Modern & Medieval Languages.

After graduating in 1960, Sir John began working on a PhD but never completed it. Instead, he joined the Civil Service in 1963 and spent a significant portion of his career in the Home Office. In 1966 he was appointed as an assistant private secretary to then Home Secretary Roy Jenkins. He later served as principal private secretary to Home Secretaries Merlyn Rees and Willie Whitelaw (1978-1980) and as Deputy Under Secretary of State (1987-90). Stints outside the Home Office included working as private secretary to the head of the Civil Service, Sir William Armstrong (1971-1973) and in the Cabinet Office (1984-1986).

In 1990, Sir John was appointed Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office.  He was involved in talks with Sinn Fein to attempt to bring IRA violence to an end. Professor Niall Ó Dochartaigh, the author of "Contact: Back-channel Negotiation in Northern Ireland", wrote: 'In his own understated way John Chilcot was probably the single most important driver of the Northern Ireland peace process in the crucial early years.'

Sir John remained active after retiring in 1997, sitting on the National Archives Council, serving as president of the Police Foundation, and as the staff counsellor to the UK Security and intelligence agencies from 1999 to 2004. In 2004 he took part in the Butler Review of Intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.

In 2009 he was appointed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to head the Iraq Inquiry into the UK's involvement in the Iraq War. Published in 2016, the Iraq Inquiry Report heavily criticised the conduct of the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his government before the 2003 invasion and their subsequent failure to plan for its aftermath.

Sir John was knighted in 1994 and appointed a GCB in 1998. In 2004 he was appointed a Privy Councillor, and in 2019, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy. In 1998 Pembroke admitted him as an Honorary Fellow.

Sir John married artist Rosalind Forster in 1964, who survives him.

Image: Sir John Chilcot GCB PC, credit: British Academy