A talk by senior Home office official Mark Sedwill at 3 pm on Sunday 22 March at Fifehead Magdalen Church will provide a useful companion to the talk on recent developments in the Middle East by Brigadier John Deverell a few days later in Horsington. Mark Sedwill is the current Permanent Secretary to the Home Office and was previously Ambassador to Afghanistan and Senior UN Civilian Representative. The talk will be in aid of Church funds, and will be followed by refreshments. For catering please confirm if you are able to attend either to 01258 821111 or by e-mail lakemanra@aol.com.
Donations in aid of St Mary Magdalene Fifehead Church Funds
Biography
Mark took up the post of Permanent Secretary at the Home Office on 1 February 2013. He was previously Director General (political) at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Prime Minister’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mark studied at St Andrews and Oxford universities before joining the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1989. His first overseas posting in 1991 was as a Second Secretary in Cairo, followed by First Secretary in Iraq, then in Nicosia. Subsequent positions are as follows:
- Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretaries Robin Cook and Jack Straw in the run up to the 2003 Iraq invasion
- Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan, 2003 to 2006
- Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Department, 2006
- International Director at the UK Border Agency up to 2008
- Ambassador to Afghanistan, 2009
- NATO Senior Civilian Representative to Afghanistan, 2010
- Director General Afghanistan and Pakistan, 2010 to 2012, now expanded to include the rest of South Asia.