15 December 2005
After 6 years as a strategy adviser to the Prime Minister, Lord Birt has decided to leave Number 10 to take up a position with Terra Firma.
The Prime Minister said:
"John Birt’s hardheaded analysis and ability to get to the heart of the most complex of problems has proved invaluable over a whole range of issues.
"I am very grateful to him for all he has done during his time at Downing Street".
Read the statement from Lord Birt
Lord Birt said:
"I told the Prime Minister at the time of the election that, for personal reasons, and with regret, I would need to leave Number 10 by the end of the year.
"It has been a privilege to advise Tony Blair over the past six years. I leave with an abiding sense of a radical, energetic and reforming Prime Minister, crystal clear about his goals, and of a government and civil service ever more capable of achieving them".
Notes for editors
1. Lord Birt’s appointment at Terra Firma has been approved, consistent with the terms of the Ministerial Code, by the Cabinet Secretary on the advice of the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. In case of unpaid advisers, it falls to the Cabinet Secretary, not the Prime Minister, to consider the Committee’s advice. The Cabinet Secretary, on the advice of the Committee, has approved the appointment subject to the condition that for twelve months from his last day of service, Lord Birt does not personally lobby UK Government Ministers or officials on behalf of the company. This is a standard provision in such appointments.
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