Peter Smithers

Sir Peter Henry Berry Otway Smithers (9 December 1913 in Yorkshire, England – 8 June 2006 in Vico Morcote, Switzerland) was a United Kingdom Conservative Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament for Winchester for 14 years, and a junior Minister in the early 1960s. He also served as Secretary General of the Council of Europe from 1964 to 1969.

He was educated at Harrow School and Magdalen College, Oxford. He received a First Class Honours Degree in modern history. He was called to the bar from the Inner Temple in 1936.

Smithers became an officer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1937 and by 1958 he retired as a lieutenant commander. During the Second World War he was associated with intelligence work, being a friend and colleague of Ian Fleming, who arranged for Smithers diplomatic career. Smithers' Financial Times obituary suggests he was the model for Fleming's most famous character, Commander James Bond. Other possibilities are discussed in Inspirations for James Bond.

He received a number of diplomatic postings, being Assistant Naval Attaché at Washington, D.C., and Acting Naval Attaché at Mexico City (also covering part of Central America).

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