Never knowingly underinvested

Sharon White was born in east London on April 21st 1967, and brought up in Leyton, where she attended Connaught School for Girls. Her parents came to the UK from Jamaica in the 1950s, when her father was aged 15 and her mother 11. White attended Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, from where she received a BA degree in economics. She later earned an MSc in economics from University College London.

She was the first black person to become a Permanent Secretary at the Treasury

Civil Servant

White joined the British civil service in 1989, and went on to have an astonishing career within several levels and departments. She worked fi rst at the Treasury and later for the British Embassy in Washington DC. She also worked at the 10 Downing Street policy unit during the Tony Blair premiership; at the World Bank, also in DC.

Additionally, she has worked in many government departments, including occupying the role of director general at the Department for International Development in 2003–09 (a department that no longer exists) and then at the Ministry of Justice in 2009–11, and also at the Department for Work and Pensions.