Misplaced Pages

Tony Christopher, Baron Christopher

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Baron Christopher) British businessman, trade unionist, tax official and life peer "Tony Christopher" redirects here. For the American entertainer and businessman, see Tony Christopher (American businessman).

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous.
Find sources: "Tony Christopher, Baron Christopher" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
The Right HonourableThe Lord ChristopherCBE FRSA
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office
30 July 1998
Life peerage
Personal details
BornAnthony Martin Grosvenor Christopher
(1925-04-25) 25 April 1925 (age 99)
NationalityBritish
Political partyLabour
SpouseAdela Joy Thompson
Alma mater

Anthony Martin Grosvenor Christopher, Baron Christopher, CBE, FRSA (born 25 April 1925) is a British businessman, trade unionist, tax official, and life peer. He is the last living British parliamentarian to have served in the Second World War.

Early life

The son of George and Helen Christopher, he was educated at Cheltenham Grammar School and at the Westminster College of Commerce. Between 1941 and 1944, Christopher worked first as articled pupil then as an agricultural valuer in Gloucester. From 1944 to 1948, he served in the Royal Air Force and from 1948 to 1957, he worked for the Inland Revenue, leaving to work full-time for the Inland Revenue Staff Federation.

Trade union career

Between 1976 and 1988, Christopher was general secretary of the Inland Revenue Staff Federation. Since 1981, he is director of the TU Fund Managers Ltd and since 1983 its chairman. Also since 1983, he is elected auditor of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and since 1988, he worked as Industrial and Public Affairs Consultant.

Christopher worked for NACRO from 1956 to 1998, from 1956 as member of council and from 1973 as chairman. He was member of the TUC General Council from 1976 to 1989 and its chairman in 1988 and 1989. For the Civil Service Building Society, he was director between 1958 and 1987, as well as chairman between 1978 and 1987. He was member of the Inner London Probation and After-care Committee from 1966 to 1979, of the Tax Reform Committee from 1974 to 1980 and of the Royal Commission on Distribution of Income and Wealth in 1978 and 1979. Christopher was also member of the Independent Broadcasting Authority from 1978 to 1983, of the council of the Institute of Manpower Studies from 1984 to 1989 and of the Economic and Social Research Council from 1985 to 1988. Between 1983 and 1986, he was chairman of the Tyre Industry Economic Development Council and between 1985 and 1990 vice-president of the Building Societies Association. In 1987 and 1988, he was director of the Birmingham Midshires Building Society. Christopher was further member of the General Medical Council (GMC) from 1989 to 1994, of the Audit Commission from 1989 to 1995 and of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission from 1989 to 1997.

Christopher was trustee of the Commonwealth Trades Union Council Charitable Trust from 1985 to 1989 and of the Save The Children Fund from 1985 to 1990. For the Institute for Public Policy Research, he was trustee from 1989 to 1994 and treasurer from 1990 to 1994. Since 1981, Christopher is also trustee of the Trades Union Unit Trust Charitable Trust and since 1998 of the Douglas Houghton Memorial Fund.

Honours

In the 1984 New Year Honours, Christopher was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and in 1989 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). On 30 July 1998, he was created a life peer as Baron Christopher, of Leckhampton in the County of Gloucestershire, taking the Labour whip. Following the death of Lord Carrington in July 2018, Christopher became the oldest sitting member of the House of Lords. In March 2021, he took a leave of absence from the House of Lords.

From 1953 until her death, Christopher was married to Adela Joy Thompson. Lady Christopher died on 11 October 2024, at the age of 105.

Works

  • Policy for Poverty (1970)
  • The Wealth Report (1979)
  • The Wealth Report 2 (1982)

References

  1. Bernstein, Basil; Brannen, Julia (2 December 2013). Children, Research And Policy. Taylor & Francis. pp. 209–. ISBN 9781135347697. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  2. "No. 49583". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1983. p. 8.
  3. "No. 55215". The London Gazette. 4 August 1998. p. 8475.
  4. "House of Lords, Official Website - Who is the oldest sitting Member of the House of Lords?". Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  5. "Lady Adela Joy Christopher". The Times. 12 November 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
Trade union offices
Preceded byCyril Plant General Secretary of the Inland Revenue Staff Federation
1976–1988 		Succeeded byClive Brooke
Preceded byClive Jenkins President of the Trades Union Congress
1989 		Succeeded byAda Maddocks
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded byThe Lord Clarke of Hampstead Gentlemen
Baron Christopher 		Followed byThe Lord Brookman
Categories: