Paul Newton was born in 1956, joining the Army aged 18. He was educated at Sandhurst and later at Cambridge University where he read International Relations: his MPhil thesis examined UN peace enforcement operations.
An infantryman, he has completed eight operational tours in Northern Ireland, most recently as Commander 8th Infantry Brigade, and one in Iraq. A graduate of the Army Staff College, his first staff tour was as Military Assistant to the Chief of Staff, HQ British Army of the Rhine.

Upon promotion to Lieutenant Colonel he returned to Camberley on the Directing Staff where, in addition to teaching, he revised the UK's doctrine of counter-insurgency operations. He then commanded 2 PWRR in Northern Ireland. As a Colonel, he headed the HQ Land Command Operations/Plans branch, representing the CinC in the Defence Crisis Management Organisation (DCMO). During this period he graduated from the Joint Higher Command and Staff Course and was immediately seconded to the Permanent Joint Headquarters to help write the estimate and campaign plans for the Kosovo operations. He also exercised command authority on behalf of the CinC over the UK's Brunei Garrison, helping to plan and conduct the deployment of that force to East Timor. Major General Newton was sent to Sierra Leone to complete the DCMO strategic estimate, and later in 2000 worked on the British joint contribution to the contingency plan for the defence of Kuwait.

Following command of 8th Infantry Brigade, Major General Newton attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in 2003 where he completed PhD research training with KCL looking at strategic decision-making. In November 2003 he became CDS' LO in Washington, deploying from there to Baghdad in September 2004 as the Deputy, Strategic Planning (C5) in HQ MNF-I. In 2005 he was appointed Assistant Chief of Staff J2 (Intelligence) at the UK's Permanent Joint Headquarters; a year dominated by Iraq and Afghanistan. Promoted to Major General in 2006, He was appointed to the Senior Directing Staff at the RCDS. In 2008 he was appointed Director of the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC), a think-tank that informs decisions in Defence policy, capability development and operations, both now and into the future.

This year, he has been promoted to Lieutenant General and is appointed Commander Force Development and Training, the new organisation for the development of the Army's own doctrine and its implementation in training.
His interests include sailing, military history and skiing.