The Right Honourable Stephen O'Brien |
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Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator | |
Assumed office 29 May 2015 |
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Secretary-General | Ban Ki-moon |
Preceded by | Valerie Amos |
Undersecretary of State for International Development | |
In office 6 May 2010 – 4 September 2012 |
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Prime Minister | David Cameron |
Preceded by | Michael John Foster |
Succeeded by | Lynne Featherstone |
Shadow Secretary of State for Industry | |
In office 11 November 2003 – 6 May 2005 |
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Leader | Michael Howard |
Preceded by | Tim Yeo (Trade and Industry) |
Succeeded by | David Willetts (Trade and Industry) |
Member of Parliament for Eddisbury |
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In office 22 July 1999 – 30 March 2015 |
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Preceded by | Alastair Goodlad |
Succeeded by | Antoinette Sandbach |
Personal details | |
Born |
Stephen Rothwell O'Brien 1 April 1957 Mtwara, Tanganyika (now Tanzania) |
Political party |
Social Democratic Party (Before 1988) Conservative (1988–present) |
Spouse(s) | Gemma Townshend |
Alma mater |
Emmanuel College, Cambridge University of Law |
Stephen Rothwell O'Brien (born 1 April 1957) is a British politician and diplomat who is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. He assumed office on 29 May 2015, succeeding Valerie Amos. He was formerly a Member of the United Kingdom Parliament (MP), representing Eddisbury. He was first elected in a by-election in July 1999, after Alastair Goodlad was made British High Commissioner in Australia by Tony Blair and thus had to leave Parliament. A member of the Conservative Party, within the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition he was appointed as the Parliamentary Undersecretary of State in the Department for International Development. In September 2013 he became the Prime Minister's Envoy to the Sahel, encompassing nine countries across North and West Africa. In order to take up the position of United Nations Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, he stood down from the UK Parliament.
He was born in Mtwara, Tanganyika Territory, and educated at Loretto School in Mombasa, at the Handbridge School (Chester), the Heronwater School (Abergele), Sedbergh School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, he gained an MA in Law in 1979, then collected an MA from the College of Law in Chester in 1980. After two years, he qualified as a Solicitor in 1983 and practised until 1988 at solicitors Freshfields (City of London). From 1988–98, he was Group secretary and Director of Strategic and Corporate Affairs at Redland plc. He was the Executive Director of Redland Clay Tile in Mexico from 1994–98. O'Brien is a former member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).