Dr Richard Clarke CB
Biography
Richard Clarke served as the Director General, Public Safety Group, at the Home Office, from December 2024 until the end of May 2026. He also served as the SRO for the Safer Streets Mission from 2024 until 2026.
Richard returned to the Home Office in 2024, having spent six years away from the Department - initially as the Director General for Policy, Research and Humanitarian at the Department for International Development (DfID), and then on secondment to the national security community, where he focused on organisational delivery.
Before that, Richard was the Home Office International Director, with responsibility for the department’s international engagement, mutual legal assistance and extradition.
He was Programme Director for the Digital Services at the Border Programme, introducing new, digital solutions to challenges facing agencies operating at the UK border.
He was also the director responsible for the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy and for operational support to the Home Secretary.
Richard has also worked as Head of the Home Office Police Reform Unit; spent two years on secondment to the Metropolitan Police Service as its Director of Strategy and Improvement; and was part of the team that established the Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office.
He began his career at HM Treasury, where he covered financial crime policy, counter-terrorism, public-private partnerships and corporate finance.
Before joining the civil service, he was an academic anthropologist.
Previous roles in government
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Director General, Public Safety Group
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SRO, Safer Streets Mission
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Director General, Policy, Research and Humanitarian