Sir David Robert Varney (11 May 1946 – 2 October 2024) was a British public servant who was the chairman of

HM Revenue and Customs His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a department of the UK government responsible for the collection of taxes, the payment of some forms of stat ...

from its establishment in April 2005 to the end of August 2006. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the 2006 New Year's honours list. In the same year he was awarded an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws (LL. D.) from the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

Early life and private sector career

Varney was born on 11 May 1946. After graduating in

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

from the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

, where he was President of the Students' Union, Varney joined

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

in 1968. In 1990 he was appointed Head of Marketing, Branding and Product Development for Shell International Petroleum and in 1991 was appointed a Managing Director of Shell UK with responsibility for downstream activities. He was appointed a Director of Shell International Petroleum in 1996. In June 1996 Varney joined BG (formerly

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...

), as Chief Executive designate of the proposed BG plc and was appointed Chief Executive the following year, overseeing the successful demerger of Lattice plc. He was Chairman of mobile phone operator mmO₂ between 2001 and 2004. He was also Chairman of

Business in the Community Business in the Community (BITC) is a British business-community outreach charity promoting responsible business, Corporate social responsibility, CSR, corporate responsibility, and is one of the The Prince's Charities, Prince's Charities of Cha ...

and president of the

Chartered Management Institute The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional institution for management based in the United Kingdom. It was founded as the British Institute of Management (BIM) in 1947 or 1948, merged with the Institution of Industrial Managers (I ...

HM Revenue and Customs

HM Revenue and Customs was formed from the merger of the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

and HM Customs & Excise in April 2005. Varney was appointed the first executive chairman of the merged organisation having carried out that role in a shadow capacity from October 2004. Varney's previous career as a private sector executive differs from the traditional career path of senior

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

heads. On taking the role, Varney faced a number of key challenges including maintaining business-as-usual while delivering around 12,000 staff cuts under the Gershon Review and moving jobs out of the South-East of England under the Lyons Review. Following the ending of his chairmanship of HM Revenue and Customs, he took up a role at

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury or HMT), and informally referred to as the Treasury, is the Government of the United Kingdom’s economic and finance ministry. The Treasury is responsible for public spending, financial services policy, Tax ...

as a

permanent secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

. In December 2006, he delivered the report "Service Transformation: a better service for citizens and businesses, a better deal for the taxpayer", which aimed to improve the UK's service performance in interacting with citizens and businesses.

Death

Varney died from a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain ...

on 2 October 2024, at the age of 78.

References

External links

Accountancy Age profileLyons Review
1946 births 2024 deaths Alumni of the University of Surrey Knights Bachelor Chairmen of the Board of Inland Revenue Chairpersons of the Board of HM Customs and Excise Chairmen of HM Revenue and Customs British civil servants Alumni of the Manchester Business School {{UK-gov-bio-stub