Edward Llewellyn, Baron Llewellyn of Steep

Early life and career

He attended Eton College at the same time as Cameron, though Llewellyn was two years above him. Llewellyn left Eton in 1983 and spent a brief amount of time working at Conservative Central Office, before studying at New College, Oxford, where he was steward (i.e. president) of the College JCR. New College contemporaries included Rageh Omaar, Steve Hilton and Ian Katz.

Political career

After leaving Oxford, he was employed as an aide to former Governor Chris Patten in Hong Kong, as Patten's 'Chef de Cabinet' following Patten's appointment as a European Commissioner, and then to the former Liberal Democrat Leader Paddy Ashdown in his role as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Llewellyn was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1997 Birthday Honours and promoted to Officer (OBE) in the 2006 New Year Honours.

Chief of Staff to David Cameron

Following David Cameron's victory in the Conservative leadership election in December 2005, Llewellyn was hired to be Cameron's personal Chief of Staff in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition. Llewellyn continued in this role until 2010.

Negotiations over Coalition

He served as part of the Conservative negotiating team, along with George Osborne, William Hague and Oliver Letwin, when they were negotiating a possible deal with the Liberal Democrats after the 2010 General Election. Their negotiations were successful and they created the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement leading to the formation of a coalition government.

Downing Street Chief of Staff

Cameron became Prime Minister and appointed Llewellyn to the post of the Downing Street Chief of Staff. In July 2011, several newspapers reported that Llewellyn asked Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates not to speak to Cameron about the News International phone hacking scandal.

E-mails released by Cameron's office showed Llewellyn's reply: "On the other matters that have caught your attention this week, assuming we are thinking of the same thing, I am sure you will understand that we will want to be able to be entirely clear, for your sake and ours, that we have not been in contact with you about this subject."

Following the Conservative Party's election victory at the United Kingdom general election, 2015, Llewellyn was sworn of the Privy Council on 14 May 2015.

House of Lords

In August 2016, he was nominated for a life peerage in David Cameron's Resignation Honours and was created Baron Llewellyn of Steep, of Steep in the County of Hampshire, on 20 October.

Ambassador to France

It was announced on 23 September 2016 that he would become Her Majesty's Ambassador to France, and it was reported that he will not sit in the House of Lords while serving as Ambassador. He took up the post on 9 November 2016, being referred to as Edward Llewellyn.