Sir Christopher John Rome Meyer (22 February 1944 – 27 July 2022) was a British diplomat who served as

Ambassador to the United States The following table lists ambassadors to the United States, , sorted by the representative country or organization. See also *Ambassadors of the United States Notes {{reflist, 30em External linksCurrent and former Ambassadors to the United Sta ...

(1997–2003), Ambassador to Germany (1997), and the chairman of the

Press Complaints Commission The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC closed on Monday 8 September 2014, and was replaced by the Ind ...

(2003–2009). He was married to Catherine Laylle, founder of the charity Parents & Abducted Children Together and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

, and an active board member of th
Transatlantic Forum for Education and Diplomacy

Early life and education

Meyer was born in

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The ...

, Buckinghamshire, on 22 February 1944, to Reginald Henry Rome Meyer and his wife, Eve. Reginald was a flight lieutenant in Coastal Command of the RAF who was killed in action over the Greek island of

Icaria Ikaria, also spelled Icaria (; ), is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, 10 nautical miles (19 km) southwest of Samos. Administratively, Ikaria forms a separate municipality within the Ikaria regional unit, which is part of the North Ae ...

13 days before his son was born; in 2011, Meyer visited the island and met witnesses of the shooting-down and burial of his father. Meyer was educated at

Lancing College Lancing College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils aged 13–18 in southern England, UK. The school is located in West S ...

, a boarding independent school for boys (now co-educational), near the town of Lancing in West Sussex, the

Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV () is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges ('' lycées'') in France. The school educates more ...

in Paris and

Peterhouse Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, where he graduated in History (he was an honorary fellow of Peterhouse from 2002 on). After graduating, he attended the

Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies The School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C. The school also maintains campuses in Bologna, Italy and Nanjing, China. The school is devoted to the study of int ...

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Diplomatic career

Meyer began his career in the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

in 1966 in the West and Central African Department as desk officer for French-speaking African countries. Following a year's training in the Russian language, his first posting, at the age of 24, was as third secretary to the British embassy in Moscow in 1968, where for his first year he was the ambassador's private secretary. From 1970 to 1973 he was second secretary at the British embassy in Madrid. This was followed by five years in London: firstly, as the head of the Soviet section in the East European and Soviet Department, and, secondly, as speech-writer to Foreign Secretaries

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the L ...

Anthony Crosland Charles Anthony Raven Crosland (29 August 191819 February 1977) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and author. A social democrat on the right wing of the Labour Party, he was a prominent socialist intellectual. His influe ...

and

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 to 1979, and later ...

. Meyer was then sent from 1978 to 1982 to the UK permanent representation to the European Communities in Brussels, followed by two years as political counsellor in the British embassy in Moscow. He returned to London in 1984 to become

press secretary A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Dutie ...

to the Foreign Secretary, Sir

Geoffrey Howe Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015), known from 1970 to 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, was a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to ...

, a position which he occupied until 1988, when he went for a year to Harvard University's Centre for International Affairs as a visiting fellow. This was followed by five years at the British embassy in Washington, D.C., as minister-commercial and deputy head of mission. He returned to London in 1994 to become Prime Minister

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

's press secretary and government spokesman. He was posted briefly to Germany as

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

in 1997, but was transferred in the same year to Washington as Britain's ambassador to the United States.

HM Ambassador to the United States

His final posting was as

British Ambassador to the United States The British ambassador to the United States is in charge of the British Embassy, Washington, D.C., the United Kingdom's diplomatic mission to the United States. The official title is His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the United States of A ...

from 1997 until his retirement in 2003. He underwent emergency heart surgery just before the

invasion of Iraq An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives ...

in March 2003. Meyer gave evidence about his time in the role to the

Iraq Inquiry The Iraq Inquiry (also referred to as the Chilcot Inquiry after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot)

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC)

Meyer was appointed chairman of the

, the UK press's self-regulating body, in March 2003. During his tenure from 2003 to 2009, Meyer introduced a number of reforms to enhance the profile, independence and credibility of the Commission. These included increasing the majority of independent Commissioners, introducing independent scrutiny of the PCC's internal processes and decision-making, instituting PCC "away-days" twice a year in the cities and towns of the UK and extending the PCC's remit to online editions of newspapers, including audio-visual material. This led to a significant increase in public use of the PCC, with complaints about the press rising from 2,630 in 2002 to 4,698 by the time Meyer retired as chairman. He was also responsible for developing the PCC's pre-publication activity, including its anti-harassment service, which proved highly effective in protecting people from the unwanted attention of media scrums. Meyer's tenure coincided with the gaoling in 2007 of the ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...

'' reporter,

Clive Goodman Clive Goodman (born 17 September 1957, in Hammersmith, London) is an English journalist, former royal editor and reporter for the ''News of the World''. He was arrested in August 2006 and jailed in January 2007 for intercepting mobile phone mess ...

, and the enquiry agent,

Glenn Mulcaire Glenn Michael Mulcaire (born 8 September 1970) is an author and English private investigator and former non-league footballer. He was closely involved in the News International phone hacking scandal, and was imprisoned for six months in 2007 for ...

, for

phone hacking Phone hacking is the practice of exploring a mobile device, often using computer exploits to analyze everything from the lowest memory and CPU levels up to the highest file system and process levels. Modern open source tooling has become f ...

offences under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. This prompted the resignation of

Andy Coulson Andrew Edward Coulson (born 21 January 1968) is an English journalist and political strategist. Coulson was the editor of the ''News of the World'' from 2003 to 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to ...

, the editor of the ''News of the World''. Later, as the phone hacking scandal spread, the PCC, and Meyer himself, were criticised for not having done more to punish those responsible. However, Meyer's powers as chair were relatively limited in this respect; Baron Ivor Judge, the then

Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English and ...

, said in a 2011 lecture to the Human Rights Law Conference, "To criticise the PCC for failing to exercise powers it does not have is rather like criticising a judge who passes what appears to be a lenient sentence, when his power to pass a longer sentence is curtailed." Meyer had himself reminded the

Leveson Inquiry The Leveson Inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices, and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. A serie ...

in his witness statement, submitted on 14 September 2011, and at his appearance before the Inquiry on 31 January 2012 that phone hacking was a crime under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and that it was not in the remit of the PCC either to apply the criminal law or to carry out investigations that rightfully belonged to the police.

Honours

In 1998, he was appointed Knight Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(KCMG). Meyer was a non-executive director of the Arbuthnot Banking Group. He was also chairman of the advisory board of Pagefield and an honorary fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge University. He was a Liveryman of the

Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company ...

and a Freeman of the City of London and, on 3 April 2012, he was appointed Court Assistant ''honoris causa'' by the Company. From 2013 Meyer was a Senior Associate Fellow of the

Royal United Services Institute The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI, Rusi) is a defence and security think tank with its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1831 by the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley ...

. Meyer was named in 2010 the Morehead-Cain Alumni Distinguished Visiting Professor at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

Writing

Meyer published his memoirs, ''DC Confidential'', in November 2005, with extracts serialised in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

''. The book gave rise to considerable controversy. It was attacked by members of the Labour government (Deputy Prime Minister

John Prescott John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (31 May 1938 – 20 November 2024) was a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the ...

called Meyer a "red-socked fop"), while a group of MPs urged him to "publish and be damned". Meyer gave a detailed rebuttal of his critics in written evidence submitted to the House of Commons Select Committee on Public Administration. In 2005, the memoirs were included in his books of the year by Jim Hoagland, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''s commentator on foreign affairs, who described them as "thorough" and "credible". In 2009 he published a second book, ''Getting Our Way'', a 500-year history of British diplomacy that accompanied a

BBC 4 BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

television series of the same name. He was again in the news with this book, serialised this time in ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' and ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', and again openly critical of the Labour Government under which he served. In November 2013 Meyer published a third book, the

Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, Audible audiobooks, and other digital media via wireless networking ...

single, ''Only Child'', a personal memoir of his childhood interwoven with the story of how his father was shot down and killed in the Second World War. It includes interviews with still surviving witnesses of his father's crash and burial. Meyer was also a writer and speaker on international affairs.

Broadcasting

Meyer presented several television and radio documentaries on diplomacy for the BBC, including ''Mortgaged to the Yanks'' (

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

2006), ''Corridors of Power'', ''How to Succeed at Summits'', and ''Lying Abroad'', all for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

in 2006 and 2007. These were followed in 2009 by a BBC Radio 4 documentary series on the press called ''The Watchdog and the Feral Beast''. 2009 also saw him present a BBC television series ''Getting Our Way'', which chronicled episodes from British diplomatic history over the last 500 years and was later turned into a book. In 2012 he fronted a six-part international documentary series for

Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group, Sky Group Limited that launched in 2011 and broadcasts in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel airs original British-produced dramas like ''Fortitude (TV series), F ...

called "Networks of Power", which examined the power-brokers of Mumbai, Rome, Moscow, New York, Los Angeles and London. ''The Guardian'' found the series "immensely watchable" and described Meyer as "Paxmanesque – quizzical, authoritative, faintly mischievous". He frequently appeared on news and current affairs programmes, for example, providing analysis for the BBC's coverage of President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's state visit to Britain in May 2011. Meyer, when asked (in an interview with the BBC) "Which foreign government has the most influence on Washington?", unequivocally responded: "Israel." When he was then asked "And then?", he said, "Well, in the hit parade I think Israel is in a class of its own..."

Personal life

Meyer married Francoise Winskill in 1976; they had two sons and later divorced. In 1997, he married Catherine Laylle Volkman. He sat on the board of the charity his wife founded,

PACT Pact, The Pact or PACT may refer to: Entertainment * The Pact (novel), ''The Pact'' (novel), by Jodi Picoult, 1998 * The Pact (2002 film), ''The Pact'' (2002 film), adaptation of Picoult's ''The Pact (novel)#Film adaptation, The Pact'' * The Pac ...

(Parents and Abducted Children Together). Meyer was admitted to hospital on the afternoon of 11 July 2018 after an alleged attack by two youths at

London Victoria station Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street, the mai ...

. He was 74 at the time, and had been doing a significant amount of television work regarding U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's UK visit. A 15-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, but were released under investigation while enquiries into the incident continued. However a witness later came forward to claim that Meyer was not attacked and that he was injured after accidentally falling over. The boy pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm without intent to Meyer on 11 July 2018. Meyer died on 27 July 2022, aged 78, at his holiday home in

Megève Megève (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France with a population of more than 3,000 residents. The town is well known as a ski resort near Mont Blanc in the French Alps. Co ...

, in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such a ...

. His cause of death was variously reported as either heart failure or a stroke.

Books

* Christopher Meyer (2005), ''DC Confidential'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson. () * Christopher Meyer (2009), ''Getting Our Way: 500 Years of Adventure and Intrigue: the Inside Story of British Diplomacy'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson () * * Christopher Meyer (2023), ''Survivors'', Whitefox Publishing Ltd ().

References

External links

*''The Guardian''
Sir Christopher Meyer's memoirsJLA, speaker profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Christopher 1944 births 2022 deaths 20th-century British diplomats 21st-century British diplomats 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English memoirists Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Germany Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the United States Harvard Fellows Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Lycée Henri-IV alumni Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies alumni People educated at Lancing College People from Beaconsfield Press secretaries Spouses of life peers