Sir Nicholas Macpherson, the Treasury’s most senior civil servant, will step down in April after 10 years advising successive chancellors of the exchequer.
The surprise announcement will trigger a search for a new permanent secretary, most likely from the ranks of the Treasury’s senior staff, although the No 10 adviser Tom Scholar was cited by some insiders as a possible successor.
Macpherson, 56, who joined the Treasury in 1985, has held various roles in the Treasury, including principal private secretary to Kenneth Clarke, the former Tory chancellor, and then to Labour’s long-running chancellor, Gordon Brown.
Macpherson came to prominence last year during the Scottish independence referendum when he advised the chancellor, George Osborne, against entering into a currency union with Edinburgh. His intervention was widely seen as crucial in scuppering the hopes of Scottish Nationalists that an independent Scotland could maintain sterling as its currency.
Osborne said: “Nick’s intelligence, candour and discretion as permanent secretary have been invaluable to me and all who have worked with him.”
Macpherson was appointed permanent secretary in August 2005, following the departure of Sir Gus O’Donnell, who sits in the Lords as a cross-bench peer.
He is a visiting professor at King’s College London, and chairs the policy committee of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. It is not known whether he plans to move into academia full-time.
Macpherson said: “It has been a privilege to lead the Treasury through an extraordinary period. But after 31 years in the department, and having worked on 33 budgets and 20 spending reviews, it is time to do something else while I still can.
“With the fiscal strategy for this parliament set and the economic recovery well-established, now is the right time to stand aside and for someone else to guide the Treasury through the challenges ahead.”
The cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, who is the UK’s most senior civil servant, said: “As permanent secretary for the last 10 years Nick has provided tremendous leadership to the Treasury, with his consistency, strength and insight helping to guide the institution through some of the most significant challenges in its history.
Osborne added: “Nick has been at the helm of the Treasury during the most difficult decade of modern economic policymaking. He will be sorely missed by the official team he has built up at the Treasury and ministers, like me, lucky enough to have worked with him.”
Macpherson’s previous Treasury posts included director of welfare reform between 1998 and 2001, where he managed changes to the tax and benefits system.
Prior to that he worked in a variety of posts, including negotiating the UK’s opt-out from the European monetary union as part of the Maastricht Treaty talks.
Nick joined the civil service in 1985 after spells working at the CBI and Peat Marwick Consulting.
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