Robert Armstrong

Sir Robert Temple Armstrong, Baron Armstrong of Ilminster was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford University. He was with the Treasury between 1950 and 1964. He held the office of Assistant Secretary of the Cabinet Office between 1964 and 1966, the office of Assistant Secretary of Treasury between 1967 and 1968, Joint Principal Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1968, Under-Secretary of the Treasury between 1968 and 1970, Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister between 1970 and 1975, Deputy Under-Secretary to the Home Office between 1975 and 1977, Private Under-Secretary to the Home Office between 1977 and 1979.

He was invested as a Knight Commander, Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) in 1978 and held the office of Secretary to the Cabinet between 1979 and 1987. He was invested as a Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath (G.C.B.) in 1983.

He was a director of NM Rothschild & Sons in 1988, a director of Shell Transport and Trading in 1988, a director of BAT Industries between 1988 and 1997 and was created a Baron in 1988. He was a director of the Bank of Ireland in 1991 and a director of Carlton TV between 1991 and 1995. He held the office of Chancellor of Hull University in 1994.

Armstrong, the new Secretary to the Cabinet, "effortlessly took on the role as her most senior closest official adviser" to Margaret Thatcher, despite that fact that:

"The arrival of Margaret Thatcher’s government in the corridors of Whitehall in May 1979 was the biggest jolt that the Civil Service had experienced in living memory. For a while the whole Whitehall system almost visibly juddered...It was a culture shock. The elite administrative grade of the Civil Service in Whitehall has come to think of itself as the guardian and trustee of national continuity...The Prime Minister and a small group of sympathetic ministers...were arguing that its ideas and advice had proved bankrupt, that now was the time for an entirely new approach."<ref>Cabinet Office (2007) The evolution of the United Kingdom Civil Service 1848-1997, 5. first steps

Armstrong retired as head of the Civil Service late 1987,