Geoffrey Arthur
Sir Geoffrey Arthur (19 March 1920- 15 May 1984) was a senior British diplomat and civil servant.[1]
Education
Arthur's education at Christchurch College, Oxford was interrupted by military service in Egypt, Iran and Iraq during the Second World War. On his return to Oxford, he studied Arabic and Persian.[2]
Diplomatic Service
Arthur joined the Foreign Service in 1947, spending the earlier part of his career in Baghdad, Ankara and Cairo, as well as West Germany.[3]
Stephen Dorril notes the following episode in the run-up to the Suez crisis in October 1956:
- A Middle East specialist in the Foreign Office, Geoffrey Arthur, proposed on the 10th a long term 'Machiavellian scheme' for an Iraqi-Syrian union, to be co-ordinated with the Americans and Iraqis. This was to be achieved by means of 'propaganda and bribery within Syria', 'the rapid build up of Iraqi forces,', and 'overt and covert measures to counter Saudi influence in Syria.'[4]
According to Dorril, Arthur was the Foreign Office Adviser to MI6 between 1963 and 1966.[5]
In 1967, he was appointed Ambassador to Kuwait, and in 1970 Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.[6]
A biography at St Anthony's College, Oxford describes his role in the latter post as follows:
- During this time he presided over the British military withdrawal and negotiated the political settlement that culminated in the creation of the United Arab Emirates.[7]
Stephen Dorril claims that Arthur also supported the 1970 coup against the Sultan of Oman:
- Geoffrey Arthur similarly claimed to have been far away in hospital when the coup occurred, though others disputed this and cited his central role in the coup planning.[8]
Arthur served as Deputy Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1973 to 1975.[9] According to some sources, he chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee during this time.[10]
On 9 August 1973, Arthur met the Irish Ambassador Donal O'Sullivan and reassured him that Britain had not been involved in the 1972 Dublin bombings and that it had not authorised any activity in Ireland other than intelligence-gathering by the bank-robbers Keith and Kenneth Littlejohn.[11]
Notes
- ↑ Sir Geoffrey Arthur Collection, Middle East Centre, St Anthony's College, Oxford, accessed 8 August 2009.
- ↑ Sir Geoffrey Arthur Collection, Middle East Centre, St Anthony's College, Oxford, accessed 8 August 2009.
- ↑ Sir Geoffrey Arthur Collection, Middle East Centre, St Anthony's College, Oxford, accessed 8 August 2009.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, 2002, p.637.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, 2002, p.732.
- ↑ Sir Geoffrey Arthur Collection, Middle East Centre, St Anthony's College, Oxford, accessed 8 August 2009.
- ↑ Sir Geoffrey Arthur Collection, Middle East Centre, St Anthony's College, Oxford, accessed 8 August 2009.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, 2002, p.732.
- ↑ Sir Geoffrey Arthur Collection, Middle East Centre, St Anthony's College, Oxford, accessed 8 August 2009.
- ↑ Saki Dockrill and Geraint Hughes, Palgrave Advances in Cold War History, Palgrave Advances, 2006, p.16.
- ↑ We've no link to Dublin bombings, says Britain, Irish Independent, 31 December 2008.
