Fearless Arabist played key role for Britain

Diminutive and slight but fearless, Sir Donald Maitland was one of the British Foreign Office's leading Arabists and went on to play key roles in Europe, No. 10 Downing Street, and the United Nations. He was expected to become permanent secretary of the Foreign Office, but instead ended his career as permanent under-secretary of the Department of Energy. Donald James Dundas Maitland was born in Edinburgh, the son of a member of the colonial service. After George Watson's College he studied modern languages at Edinburgh University and in 1941 enlisted in the Royal Scots and, with them, joined the Rajputana Rifles, serving in the Middle East, India and Burma.

After the war, he stayed on to learn Arabic, and in 1947 joined the Foreign Service. His first posting was as consul to Amara, and he then spent three years in Baghdad before returning to Whitehall, learning its processes and culture as private secretary to the minister of state Lord Reading. One of his early jobs had been to assist in the negotiation of the Nile water agreement. In 1956 he was appointed director of the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies in Beirut. Post Suez, Britain's standing was at a low ebb, but Maitland's intellect, energy and leadership did much to restore the centre's reputation.

In 1960, he was appointed the Foreign Office spokesman for Edward Heath, who was leading Britain's first, unsuccessful bid to join the European Economic Community (EEC). In 1963 he was appointed counsellor in Cairo, but in 1965 he was recalled to Whitehall, where, after two years as head of the news department, he would spend three years as principal private secretary to two consecutive foreign secretaries, the bibulous, mercurial George Brown and the equable Michael Stewart.

In 1969 he was rewarded with the ambassadorship to Libya, but instead of presenting his credentials to King Idris, he found Colonel Qadafi and his young revolutionaries in power. Not long after arriving in Libya, a man pushed a revolver into his stomach as he was interviewing. Maitland gently pushed it aside and carried on. His linguistic skills and informality built a relationship with Muammer Qadafi. But for his recall, in 1970, to London as chief press secretary to Edward Heath, by then prime minister, he may have secured a détente.

Maitland understood and admired the prickly, distant Heath, and Heath in turn relied on Maitland's counsel in Northern Ireland and Britain's second, successful bid to enter Europe. In 1973, the same year he was knighted, Maitland was appointed the UK's permanent representative to the UN, a position for which he was eminently qualified. But that posting was to be anything but permanent, and when the Labour Party was returned to government in 1974 it made a political appointment at ministerial level.

Maitland then spent two years as deputy under-secretary at the Foreign Office before enjoying four years as the UK's permanent secretary to the EEC. He returned to London in 1979 as deputy to the permanent under-secretary, Sir Michael Palliser, and the following year was surprised to be appointed permanent under-secretary at the Department of Energy. With characteristic energy and nous, he prepared privatisation of the industry, impressing his secretary of state, Nigel Lawson, sufficiently to extend his tenure beyond retirement age.

Active in retirement, Sir Donald devoted his time in fields as diverse as energy, IT, broadcasting and public health. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Jean, and their son and daughter. Sir Donald Maitland, GCMG, OBE, diplomat, was born on 16 August 16, 1922, and died on August 22, 2010, aged 88. * The National