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British sherpa who conquered Summit
Joe Murphy, Political Editor2 Apr 2009
WHEN world leaders meet to thrash out seemingly impossible divisions, they are "getting it Cunliffed".
The verb sprang into use in honour of the unsung hero of today's summit, career civil servant Jon Cunliffe. As the British "sherpa", or lead negotiator, he was responsible for getting the talks together - a task that required three months of simultaneous negotiations with 30 countries and other delegations.
Last night Mr Cunliffe was in talks with the French and others until 4am. He went to a hotel to freshen up but when Gordon Brown clocked on at 5.45am, he was back at his desk at No 10 with a new draft agenda. "He gets things sorted without any drama or temper," said an admiring official.
"He's got such a big reputation that we have heard leaders say 'I'll get my Cunliffe to talk to your Cunliffe' or 'let's get that Cunliffed'."
Mr Cunliffe's is one of the inner circle of officials who won the Prime Minister's trust at the Treasury. He fits the Brownite bill perfectly - a soccer fan (with an Arsenal season ticket) and a formidable intellectual.
His dogged rise to the top is unusual. Born in 1953, he was educated at St Marylebone Grammar School in London before Manchester University where he finished with a Master's dissertation on Oscar Wilde. He is known to trip out Shakespeare quotations in meetings. He joined the civil service in 1980 working in Environment and Transport before jumping to the Treasury.
There he took an economics degree at night school and went on to manage the Government's debt and reserves, handle the Maastricht Treaty and deal with monetary union issues.
This brought him into contact with Gordon Brown, in particular when he worked on operational independence of the Bank of England. When Mr Brown, then Chancellor, was assembling a team to move into 10 Downing Street in place of the Blairites, Mr Cunliffe was a key name.
