Nicholas Macpherson

Sir Nicholas Macpherson, KCB (born 1959) is a senior British civil servant, serving as the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury since 2 August 2005.

Macpherson has been Permanent Secretary to three Chancellors, and is currently the longest serving Permanent Secretary in Whitehall. He has managed the department through the financial and wider economic crisis which began in 2007.

From 2004 to 2005 Macpherson managed the Budget and Public Finance Directorate, where he was responsible for tax policy and the budget process. Prior to that, he was head of the Public Services Directorate (2001 to 2004), where he managed the 2000 and 2002 spending reviews. Previous Treasury posts included Director of Welfare Reform (1998 to 2001) and Principal Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1993 to 1997), where he oversaw the transition from Kenneth Clarke to Gordon Brown as Chancellor.

Macpherson entered H M Treasury in 1985 after working as an economist at the CBI and Peat Marwick Consulting. He was educated at Eton College, Balliol College, Oxford and University College London.

Macpherson is a Visiting Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, and a Visiting Professor at Queen Mary, University of London. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2009 New Year Honours.

Macpherson's son, Fred, is lead singer of the indie rock band Spector.