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'''Sir Peter Ricketts, KCMG''' (born 1952) is the [[Permanent Under Secretary]] of the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]], a senior [[British Civil Service|civil servant]] in the [[United Kingdom]].
Before Ricketts took over the position on the retirement of [[Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme|Sir Michael Jay]], he served as the [[Permanent RepresentativeRepresentatives from the United Kingdom to NATO |Permanent Representative to NATO]] in [[Brussels]]. ▼He was educated at [[Bishop Vesey's Grammar School|Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School]] [[Sutton Coldfield]], and [[Pembroke College, Oxford]] where he read English Literature. He joined the FCO in 1974 and his early postings were to Singapore and the UK Delegation to [[NATO]] in Brussels (where he met and married Suzanne, also then a member of the FCO, now a teacher of English as a Foreign Language).
In the early 1980s he worked on the Arab/Israel desk at the time of the Israeli invasion of Southern Lebanon, then as an Assistant Private Secretary to [[Sir Geoffrey Howe]], where the Middle East, the Falklands and the future of Hong Kong were his main focus.
Then he and his family spent four years in Washington, before he returned to the FCO for spells on Security Policy and as Head of Hong Kong Department in the early period of [[Chris Patten]]’s governorship.
In preparation for a posting to Paris as Economic and Finance Counsellor in 1995, Peter spent several months on secondment to the Treasury, followed by a short course on economics at the LSE. After two years in Paris, he returned to the FCO as Deputy Political Director, dealing particularly with the Balkans. He led the FCO team dealing with the Kosovo conflict and the arrival of NATO peacekeeping troops.
Then in quick succession he was Director International Security before being seconded to the Cabinet Office as Chairman of the [[Joint Intelligence Committee]]. He left that job one week before 9/11 to come back to the FCO as Political Director. His two years in that job were dominated by crisis management and post-conflict work: the military action in Afghanistan, then the UN diplomacy on Iraq followed by the war, with plenty of activity as well on EU foreign, security and defence policy.
From July 2003 he was UK Permanent Representative to NATO in Brussels, where he led an integrated team of FCO and MOD staff and military officers pursuing UK interests in NATO from the military deployment in Afghanistan to the future membership prospects of Ukraine.
▲Before Ricketts took over the position on the retirement of [[Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme|Sir Michael Jay]], he served as the Permanent Representative from the United Kingdom to NATO in [[Brussels]].
He and Suzanne have a son and a daughter.
Source: www.fco.gov.uk (slightly adapted)
==See also==
*[[Politics of the United Kingdom]]
{{DEFAULTSORT[[Category:Living people|Ricketts, Peter}}]]
[[Category:LivingBritish peoplecivil servants|Ricketts, Peter]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George |Ricketts, Peter]] ▼[[Category:British civil servants]]
▲[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
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