Sir Roy Alexander Stone (June 1961 – 12 May 2025) was a British civil servant. From 2000 until 2021, he was Principal Private Secretary to the

Government Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

Career

Born in 1961, Stone joined HM Civil Service in 1977 to work in project management in the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

(MoD). In 1983, he moved to the

MoD Procurement Executive The MoD Procurement Executive was the acquisition organisation of the Ministry of Defence. The Procurement Executive (widely known as ''PE'') was established on 2 August 1971 as a single procurement agency for all three services with Derek Rayner ...

. In 1988, he joined the staff at

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...

as a duty clerk, then working as a parliamentary clerk from 1989 to 1998."Stone, Sir Roy (Alexander)"
''Who's Who'' (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2019). Retrieved 10 March 2020. In 1998, he joined the office of the Government Chief Whip and worked as deputy to the Principal Private Secretary, Murdo Maclean. Stone succeeded Maclean on the latter's retirement in 2000 and has held the office since."New Year Honours - High Awards"
(Cabinet Office, 28 December 2018). Retrieved 10 March 2020. Part of his role was to ensure that there was enough parliamentary time to pass the government's legislation; this entailed liaising with government ministers and opposition officials.Jill Sherman, "Chief Whip's link to retire", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 4 September 2000, p. 11.

Honours

He was appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

"for parliamentary and public service" in the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, and a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in the

2019 New Year Honours The 2019 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

. In justifying his knighthood, the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

stated that Stone "is an outstanding senior civil servant... responsible for the effective operation of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

Business Management team ... he has given unstinting service to twelve Chief Whips, and has played a vital role in delivering the Government's legislative priorities over this period".

Personal life

Stone died on 12 May 2025. Tributes were paid to him in the

the following day.

References

1961 births 2025 deaths British civil servants Knights Bachelor Commanders of the Order of the British Empire {{UK-gov-bio-stub