John Leahy (diplomat)

Sir John Leahy KCMG (born February 7, 1928) is a former senior British diplomat. Until recently, Leahy was Chairman of Lonrho. He was succeeded as Chairman by Sir John Craven.

Early career

Educated at Tonbridge School from 1941-46 [ [http://www.tonbridge-school.co.uk/pastfuture/notableots/diplomats.usml Tonbridge School website] ] , Leahy was aged 24 when he joined the Foreign Office in 1952.

Diplomat

In a series of diplomatic appointments, Leahy became assistant private secretary to Selwyn Lloyd, Minister of State, who later became Foreign Secretary during the Suez crisis. Leahy then served as Foreign Office spokesman before being seconded to the Northern Ireland Office as Under-Secretary of State.

Back at the Foreign Office, Leahy was appointed ambassador to South Africa and subsequently became the FCO's Deputy Under-Secretary of State (DUSS) for Africa and the Middle East. His last diplomatic appointment was as High Commissioner to Australia.

ensitive assignments

Regarded as having "a safe pair of hands", Leahy carried out a number of sensitive assignments on behalf of the British government, and came face to face with leading political figures of the day. In April 1984, prime minister Margaret Thatcher sent Leahy to negotiate the release of 16 Britons who had been taken hostage by the Angolan rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi. At the time, Savimbi's UNITA guerrilla movement was financed and supported militarily by the apartheid regime in South Africa. On April 26, 1984 Leahy succeeded in securing the release of the British hostages at the UNITA base in Jamba, Angola. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06EFDF1F38F937A25756C0A962948260 Leahy secures release of British hostages] ]

Post FCO

After his retirement from HM Diplomatic Service, Sir John Leahy held several non-executive appointments, including being a director of "the Observer" newspaper, before joining Lonrho as a non-executive director in October 1993. He became Chairman in November 1994. On 2 March 1995, after many internal upheavals, the company board dismissed the controversial businessman [(Tiny Rowland)] , one of the Joint Chief Executives. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/1993/10/20/lonrho.php Lonrho boardroom coup] ]

References

Bibliography

*"A Life of Spice" published 12/12/2006