Former Warwick Alumnus and current Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, Sir Gus O’ Donnell, has been appointed as Cabinet Secretary in succession to Sir Andrew Turnbull KCB CVO. Sir Gus will take over as the prime minister’s key official this summer when Sir Andrew is due to retire.

News of Sir Gus’s promotion comes shortly after he was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, becoming a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. The Queen has also been pleased to approve that Sir Gus be appointed Head of the Home Civil Service.

Sir Gus graduated from Warwick in 1973 with a first in economics. He continued his study at Oxford, then undertook a brief spell as a lecturer at Glasgow University, before joining the Treasury in 1979. In his Treasury career, he was seconded to Washington in the early 80s before working for Nigel Lawson then John Major during their time as chancellor. After leaving Downing Street in 1994, he became deputy director of the Treasury and returned to Whitehall in 1997 when Labour came to power. In 2002 he was appointed permanent secretary at the Treasury.

Speaking on his promotion, Sir Gus said: 'I am deeply honoured to be appointed. I passionately believe that our excellent, professional and impartial civil service is an asset to the country. My priority will be to make sure that across the civil service we have the right skills to deliver the high quality services the public deserves and demands, and to build strong partnerships with those elsewhere in society who deliver these services. To this end we need to inject even more pace and passion into the reform programme already in place under Sir Andrew's outstanding leadership'.