Masters of the Bench

Recently retired as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, Sir Gus joined the British Embassy in Washington in 1985, serving as the First Secretary of the Economics division.  In 1989 he became Press Secretary for the Chancellor of the Exchequer before transferring to serve as Press Secretary to the Prime Minister from 1990 to 1994.  From 1997 to 1998, he was the UK's Executive Director to both the IMF and the World Bank, again in Washington, before returning to the Treasury to serve as both Director of Macroeconomic Policy and Prospects and also Head of the Government Economics Service.  In 2002, he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Treasury. Gus O'Donnell studied economics at the University of Warwick and Nuffield College Oxford.  He joined the Treasury as an economist in 1979, having spent four years as an economics lecturer at the University of Glasgow.  Sir Gus has played for the Mandarins Cricket Club for many years and is a keen supporter of Manchester United.