Sir Clive Anthony Whitmore GCB CVO (born 18 January 1935) is a former British senior civil servant. Whitmore was educated at Sutton Grammar School in Surrey and Christ's College, Cambridge. Whitmore served as Principal Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1982. After that, he was appointed as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence and served until 1988. From 1988 to 1994, he was Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office.