Paul Deighton, Baron Deighton

The Right Honourable
The Lord Deighton
KBE
Deighton speaking at the Moët Hennessy Financial Times Club dinner in London, 2011
Commercial Secretary to the Treasury
Incumbent
Assumed office
3 January 2013
Preceded by The Lord Sassoon
Personal details
Born 18 January 1956
Carshalton, Surrey, UK
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge

Paul Clive Deighton, Baron Deighton,[1] KBE (born 18 January 1956) is a British politician who has served as Commercial Secretary to HM Treasury since January 2013. Deighton is a former investment banker who previously served as Chief Executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), the organisation responsible for planning the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Personal life

Deighton was born in Carshalton, Surrey on 18 January 1956.[2] He was educated at Wallington County Grammar School before going on to Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.[3] He is married and has two adult sons.[4]

Career

Deighton began his career at Bank of America[4] and moved on to Security Pacific National Bank, where he specialised in corporate banking.[3] In 1983, he joined investment bank Goldman Sachs, initially based in London.[2] He spent two years at their New York office from 1994, where he was joint Head of Controllers.[5][6] In 1996 he returned to London, where he was promoted to Head of European Operations and became a partner in the firm.[6] In 2000 he became their Chief Operating Officer for Europe.[2][6]

Deighton was appointed CEO of LOCOG after applying to an advertisement in The Economist.[4] His appointment was announced on 19 December 2005.[7] Deighton, a sports enthusiast,[4] commented that it was "the only job I would have considered leaving Goldman Sachs for".[7] He has been credited with contributing to the success of the London Olympics.[8][9][10] Deighton received the Olympic Order from Count Jacques Rogge in 2012.[11]

In September 2012 Deighton was appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron a junior minister in HM Government as Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, with effect from January 2013.[8] The announcement stated that he would lead on infrastructure and economic delivery, with responsibility for implementing the Government's National Infrastructure Plan and supporting the Culture Secretary with the 2012 Olympics legacy.[12] The delay in his taking up the appointment was necessary to allow him to complete his duties at LOCOG.[8][13]

To make him accountable to Parliament, he was created a life peer on 1 November 2012 as Baron Deighton, of Carshalton in the County of Surrey,[14] and introduced in the House of Lords the same day.[1]

Deighton was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 New Years Honours for services to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.[15][16]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 House of Lords Minutes of Proceedings for Thursday 1 November 2012
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Hubbard, Alan (2 July 2006). "Paul Deighton: 'The date 27 July 2012 is tattooed inside and outside my head'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 6 June 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  3. 3.0 3.1 O'Connor, Ashling (2 March 2009). "Ex-banker Paul Deighton stays bullish about staging the Olympics". The Times. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Rees, Jon (31 August 2008). "Why I was proud of our 2012 handover". This is Money. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  5. Rossingh, Stephanie (8 June 2012). "Ex-Goldman Olympics Boss Tackles Terror to Toilets". Bloomberg Markets (Bloomberg L.P.). Retrieved 5 September 2012. |first2= missing |last2= in Authors list (help)
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Paul Deighton, Esq". Debrett's People of Today. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  7. 7.0 7.1 "Deighton handed top Olympic role". BBC News Online. 19 December 2005. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 "London Olympics chief executive lands government job". Agence France-Presse. 4 September 2012. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  9. "PM reshuffle aimed to quell unrest". Press Association. 4 September 2012. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  10. Gibson, Owen (4 September 2012). "Olympics CEO Paul Deighton to take on Treasury role". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  11. "Thank you, London!". Olympic.org. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  12. Downing Street statement on Paul Deighton appointment, PoliticsHome, 4 September 2012, retrieved 6 September 2012
  13. William, Helen (1 November 2012). "Olympics chief Paul Deighton takes seat in House of Lords". The Independent. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  14. The London Gazette: no. 60320. p. 21265. 6 November 2012.
  15. "Knights Bachelor". Cabinet Office. 29 December 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  16. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 60367. p. 7. 29 December 2012.

External links