Charles Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank

The Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank
Born	17 November 1938 (1938-11-17) (age 73)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1959 - 2001
Rank	General
Service number	461440
Commands held	1 Bn Welsh Guards 4th Armoured Brigade 2nd Infantry Division 1st British Corps British Army of the Rhine Chief of the General Staff Chief of the Defence Staff
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order Officer of the Order of the British Empire

General Charles Ronald Llewelyn Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank, GCB, LVO, OBE, DL, KCSG, KM, KCJCO (born 17 November 1938) was Chief of the Defence Staff between 1997 and 2001 and Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army, between 1994 and 1997.

Army career

Educated at Harrow School and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst he was commissioned into the Welsh Guards in 1959.^[1]

In 1966 he became a troop commander and then in 1968 a squadron commander with 22 Special Air Service Regiment.^[1] In 1977 he was appointed Commanding Officer of 1 Battalion Welsh Guards. In 1981 he became Brigade Commander of 4th Armoured Brigade and in 1985 General Officer Commanding North East District and Commander 2nd Infantry Division based in York.^[1]

In 1987 he became Assistant Chief of the General Staff.^[1] On 3 October 1989 he was appointed General Officer Commanding 1st British Corps^[1][2] and relinquished the command on 2 December 1991.^[3] In 1992 he became Commander of Northern Army Group and British Army of the Rhine^[1] and in 1994 became Chief of the General Staff. Following his tenure as Chief of the Defence Staff, a post he took up in 1997, he clashed with Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in 2008 over military funding.^[4]

Later career

Guthrie became a cross bench member of the House of Lords as a Life Peer,^[5] being created Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank, of Craigiebank in the City of Dundee, after retiring as Chief of the Defence Staff. He was one of the several retired Chiefs of Defence Staff who spoke out in the House of Lords about the risk to servicemen facing liability for their actions before the International Criminal Court, particularly in respect to the invasion of Iraq.^[6] He has been appointed Colonel of the Life Guards and Gold Stick-in-Waiting to Her Majesty the Queen.

He is a non-executive director of N M Rothschild & Sons, Ashley Gardens Block 2 Ltd and Colt Defense LLC, and Chairman (non-executive) of Siboney Ltd.^[7]

Guthrie is the president of several charities, including Action Medical Research, Army Benevolent Fund, Federation of London Youth Clubs, "Soldier On!" and the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Association.^[7] A Roman Catholic convert, he is a Knight of Malta and Patron of the Cardinal Hume Centre.

Guthrie was criticised in 2008 by George Monbiot for an alleged lack of understanding of international law.^[8] Monbiot based his argument on Guthrie's September 2002 advocacy of an invasion of Iraq and subsequent comments, in which he appeared to support launching "surprise wars", something forbidden by the United Nations charter.

Guthrie is currently a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009.^[9]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Nato biography
2. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 51890. p. 11310. 2 October 1989. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
3. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 52732. p. 18536. 2 December 1991. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
4. ^ Guthrie attacks Gordon Brown over helicopters for Afghanistan troops Alice Thomson and Rachel Sylvester, The Times, 25 July 2009
5. ^ Burkes Peerage
6. ^ Extract from Hansard: 14 July 2005
7. ^ ^{a b} House of Lords:Register of Interests
8. ^ How Britain became party to a crime that may have killed a million people George Monbiot, The Guardian, 1 January 2008
9. ^ Nuclear-free world ultimate aim of new cross-party pressure group

Military offices
Preceded by Peter Inge	General Officer Commanding the 2nd Infantry Division 1985–1987	Succeeded by Murray Naylor
Preceded by John MacMillan	Assistant Chief of the General Staff 1987–1989	Succeeded by Richard Swinburn
Preceded by Sir Peter Inge	GOC 1st (British) Corps 1989 – 1991	Succeeded by Sir Jeremy Mackenzie
Preceded by Sir Peter Inge	Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine 1992–1994	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Sir Peter Inge	Chief of the General Staff 1994–1997	Succeeded by Sir Roger Wheeler
Preceded by Sir Peter Inge	Chief of the Defence Staff 1997–2001	Succeeded by Sir Michael Boyce

Persondata
Name	Guthrie, Charles Ronald Llewelyn
Alternative names
Short description	Army officer
Date of birth	1938-11-17
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death