Geoffrey Robinson | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Paymaster General | |
| In office 2 May 1997 – 23 December 1998 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Michael Bates |
| Succeeded by | Dawn Primarolo |
| Member of Parliament forCoventry North West | |
| In office 4 March 1976 – 6 November 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Maurice Edelman |
| Succeeded by | Taiwo Owatemi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1938-05-25)25 May 1938 (age 87) Sheffield,West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | Marie Elena Giorgio |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Clare College, Cambridge Yale University |
Geoffrey Robinson (born 25 May 1938) is a BritishLabour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) forCoventry North West for 43 years, from1976 to2019. He wasPaymaster General from May 1997 to December 1998, resigning after the bankruptcy of his company Trans Tec. It was revealed that he had lent his government colleaguePeter Mandelson £373,000 to buy a house. From 1996 to 2008 he was the owner of theNew Statesman, a centre-left weekly political magazine.
Robinson was born inSheffield, England, and educated atEmanuel School inBattersea, London,Clare College, Cambridge, andYale University. On completing his formal education he became a Labour Party researcher before joining thenewly created entity theIndustrial Reorganisation Corporation, at a time when the British government was promoting a merger between theLeyland Motor Corporation andBMC.[1] Themerger duly took place amid high hopes that a solution to the BMC problem was in sight.[1]
Achange of government led to a swift demise for the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation, and in 1970 Robinson joinedBritish Leyland, the company in the creation of which he had been instrumental.[1] His initial job title was "Staff executive, facilities planning", but after four months he was promoted to the position of Financial Controller.[1] It was an unusual appointment in a conservative industry, both on account of his relative youth and because he had noaccountancy qualification.[1] (His formal tertiary education had concentrated on Russian, German and, possibly of more direct relevance, Economics.[1])
Geoffrey Robinson was from 1972 Chairman ofInnocenti in Italy, appointed following acquisition of the business byBritish Leyland, Robinson having played a leading role in acquisition negotiations following the death of Ferdinando Innocenti.[2]
At around that time he accepted an invitation fromJack Butterworth, Baron Butterworth to join the board of Midland Community Radio, the consortium which successfully bid for the Independent Local Radio franchise for Coventry and Warwickshire. The radio station launched as Mercia Sound in 1980.
Late in 1973, he succeededLofty England as Chairman ofJaguar Cars, also at that time underBritish Leyland ownership. He resigned in 1975 because he could not agree with theRyder plan to integrate the many different makes under BLMC.
After theTriumph Motorcycles workers locked out their new owners,NVT, from theirMeriden plant in 1973, Robinson was instrumental in setting up the subsequentMeriden Triumph workers' co-operative with a substantialWilson Labour government loan from the minister for trade,Tony Benn. He served as an executive director in what was the last volume manufacturer of motorcycles in the United Kingdom. He occupied a similar non-executive role in the subsequent Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Ltd that the co-operative became when he helped negotiate away its debt with the newConservativeThatcher government in 1981, although he left before the firm eventually closed in 1983.
In 1986, he founded technology company TransTec, which became a £200 million international conglomerate focusing on aerospace customers.[3] In 1996, he acquired the centre-leftNew Statesman magazine for £375,000.[3] In April 2008 he sold 50% of the business to Mike Danson, and the remainder a year later.[4]
Robinson became the MP forCoventry North West, a safeLabour Party seat, in a by-election on 4 March 1976 caused by the death of MPMaurice Edelman. His Conservative opponent in the 1987 election was the novelistJim Powell. During the 1980s, with Labour in opposition, he held frontbench positions, speaking for the party on trade and industry and on science.[5] He wasPaymaster General inTony Blair's government from May 1997 to December 1998, resigning after it was revealed that in 1996 he had lent his government colleaguePeter Mandelson £373,000 to buy a house.[6][7]
Robinson's previous life as a businessman made him one of the wealthiest members of parliament, with a personal fortune of around £30 million. He is a lover of fine wine and dining. He owns holiday homes inTuscany (used once byTony Blair for his summer holiday) and theSouth of France, and owns a penthouse flat in London'sPark Lane. He bought the houseOrchards inGodalming,Surrey (designed and built byEdwin Lutyens between 1897 and 1899) which has been described as 'among the finest Surrey Houses'. He also bought and restored Lutyens'Marshcourt (Stockbridge,Hampshire, 1901–1904) but sold it again in 1999 after resigning as Paymaster General. In November 1997 it was revealed byChris Blackhurst in an article for theIndependent on Sunday that Robinson had been a discretionary beneficiary of a £12.75 million offshore trust for him and his family established byJoska Bourgeois, called Orion, based in thetax haven of Guernsey.[8][9] In 2000 the trust was reportedly worth £38 million.[10]
In 2000 Robinson published a memoir of his time in the Blair government,The Unconventional Minister: My Life Inside New Labour.[11] Robinson was the subject ofTom Bower's 2001 bookThe Paymaster.[12][13] As a result of the book's revelation that Robinson had failed to register the receipt of £200,000 fromRobert Maxwell, he was suspended for three weeks from the House of Commons in October 2001.[citation needed]
TheCoventry Telegraph’sSimon Gilbert claimed in 2015 that Robinson had told party activists he would step down to allowGreg Beales,Director of Strategy and Planning for the Labour Party and a former aide toEd Miliband, to contest his seat. An email appeared to show Beales and Robinson discussing introductions to prominent members of the local Labour party. The email, apparently sent before any announcement of Robinson's resignation, suggested selection of a new MP would take place within two weeks. A second email, addressed to senior members of the local party, stated categorically that Mr Robinson would stand down before the next election; it appears the local Labour party was concerned Labour HQ would deprive them of an opportunity to freely choose the next candidate by strongly referencing Beales. In the end he did not stand down; Robinson contested and won Coventry North West at the 2015 and 2017 elections.[14]
Robinson supported Remain in theEU referendum and subsequently voted against theEU Withdrawal Bill, in line with his party's whip.[15]
In May 2019 it was alleged that Robinson had been a spy for theCommunist Czechoslovakian government, shared 87 confidential pieces of defence-related information between 1966 and 1969. Robinson is alleged to have had 51 meetings with Czechoslovakian authorities and had also been in contact with RussianKGB agents. He denied the allegations, stating: "at no time did he ever pass confidential government documents or information to any foreign agent and he did not have access to such material."[16]
Robinson was among a number of Labour MPs who did not seek re-election at the 2019 general election.[17]
Robinson has had a long association withCoventry City F.C., being a member of the board of directors from 1996. In 1997, when Robinson was made Paymaster General, he was forced to stand down from the board because members of the government were not permitted to hold directorships. Brenda Price, a former colleague from hisTriumph Motorcycle board days atMeriden sat on the Coventry City board with him. In response to this the football club named him as honorary President but he eventually re-took his seat on the board of directors in 2002. On 21 September 2005, Robinson was named as acting Chairman of Coventry City after chairmanMike McGinnity was asked to step down by his doctor for an indefinite period due to ongoing health problems. Robinson was appointed chairman permanently on 3 November after McGinnity was forced to resign due to his health problems. On 10 October 2007 he announced that he would step down as chairman because "there are not enough hours in the day".[18] He remains a director of the club.
Robinson married Marie Elena Giorgio in 1967. They have a son and a daughter.[19]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCoventry North West 1976–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Paymaster General 1997–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Business positions | ||
| Preceded by | Coventry City F.C. chairman 2005–2007 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
