Anthony Stephen Grabiner, Baron Grabiner, KC (born 21 March 1945) is a British

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

academic administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the Faculty (academic staff), faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint ...

, and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

. He is head of chambers at

One Essex Court One Essex Court is a set of barristers' chambers in London, specialising in commercial litigation, which was founded in 1966. Currently comprising 131 full-time members, 52 of whom are ''silks'' or King's Counsel. One Essex Court's members inclu ...

, a leading set of

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

barristers in the Temple, and was the Treasurer of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

for 2013. From 2014 to 2021 he served as the

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

and, since 2015, he has served as the President of the

University of Law The University of Law (founded in 1962 as The College of Law of England and Wales) is a For-profit education, for-profit private university in the United Kingdom, providing law degrees, specialist legal training and Professional development, conti ...

. Grabiner was non-executive chairman of Taveta Investments Ltd, the holding company of

Sir Philip Green Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company the Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. As of Ma ...

behind

Arcadia Group Arcadia Group Ltd (formerly Arcadia Group plc and, until 1998, Burton Group plc) was a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It was best known for being the previous parent company of British Home Stores (BH ...

from 2002 to December 2015. In 1999, he was made a life peer as Baron Grabiner, and sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

on the Labour Party benches. In October 2015, he resigned the Labour

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

over the direction the party was taking under

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

. He sat in the Lords as a non-affiliated member and now crossbench peer, but remains a member of the Labour Party.

Early life

Grabiner was born on 21 March 1945 to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents, Ralph Grabiner and Freda Cohen. He was educated in the

Central Foundation Boys' School ''(By hope, by work, by faith)'' , established = 1865 , closed = , type = Voluntary aided school , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = , ...

. He studied at the

London School of Economics and Political Science , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, where he graduated with a

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

(LLB) in 1966, and with a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

(LLM) with distinction one year later. He was further educated in

, and was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1968.

Career

From 1976 to 1981, Grabiner was Standing Junior Counsel to the

Department of Trade Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

and the

Export Credits Guarantee Department , type = Department , logo = UK Export Finance logo.svg , logo_width = 150 , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Government Offices Great George Street. ...

and Junior Counsel to the Crown from 1978 to 1981. Made a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1981, he became a

Bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher can ...

in 1989, and a

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

of the

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

between 1990 and 1999. Grabiner has been a Deputy High Court Judge since 1994. Grabiner was non-executive chairman of

from October 2002 to December 2015, of which his first cousin, Ian Grabiner has been chief executive officer (CEO) since October 2009, and chief operating officer (COO) since 2002. He was a non-executive director of

Next plc Next plc (styled as NEXT) is a British multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of which circa 500 are in the United Kingdom, and circa 200 across Eu ...

in 2002, and a member of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

Financial Services Law Committee from 2002 to 2005. In the week ending 15 October 2010, Lord Grabiner represented

Liverpool Football Club Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has ...

in the London High Court and won two cases against the then current owners of Liverpool Football Club. Lord Grabiner's service to Liverpool Football Club has been noted by international news organisations. In July 2011, Grabiner was appointed by

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

as chairman of the management and standards committee established by the company in the wake of the

News International phone hacking scandal The News International phone hacking scandal was a controversy involving the now-defunct ''News of the World'' and other British newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police b ...

. It was subsequently reported in ''

The Lawyer ''The Lawyer'' is a legal business information product for law firm leaders, commercial lawyers, barristers and in-house counsel. It is based in London. History and profile ''The Lawyer'' was launched in 1987 by Centaur Media plc. It publ ...

'' magazine that Grabiner would be receiving a fee of £3,000 an hour for his advice to News Corporation.

Academic career

Grabiner was Chair of the Governors of the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

from 1998 until 2007. In December 2013, it was announced that he had been elected Master of Clare College, Cambridge University, to succeed Professor

Tony Badger Anthony John "Tony" Badger (born 6 March 1947) is a British academic and historian. Until 2014 he was Paul Mellon Professor of American History at the University of Cambridge and Master of Clare College, Cambridge. He is a specialist in post-Wor ...

in October 2014. On 1 August 2015, Grabiner was appointed as the President of the

Political career

On 26 July 1999, Grabiner was created a

with the title Baron Grabiner, of

Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the List of areas of London, area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts Points of the compass, east-northeast of Charing Cros ...

in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

. From 1999 to 2015, he sat in the

on the Labour Party benches. On 24 October 2015, he announced that he had resigned the Labour

but would remain a party member. He was the second Labour peer to resign the whip over the views of the new party leader,

. Grabiner explained his resignation to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'': "I have nothing in common whatever with Mr Corbyn — and I don't believe we are ever going to win an election." He has sat in the Lords as a cross-bench member since 2016.

Taveta Investments

Grabiner was non-executive chairman of Taveta Investments Ltd, the holding company of Sir Philip Green behind

from 2002 to December 2015. In July 2016, Grabiner was denounced in an official report by Members of Parliament in relationship to his chairmanship of Taveta, for having a "remarkably docile attitude" and representing the "apogee of weak corporate governance". Furthermore, MPs stated that "He was content to provide a veneer of establishment credibility to the group while happily disengaging from the key decisions he had a responsibility to scrutinise. For this deplorable performance he received a considerable salary".

Personal life

Since 1983, Lord Grabiner has been married to Jane Portnoy. They have three sons and one daughter.

Marylebone Cricket Club

Lord Grabiner is a member of the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

. He was a member of the club's Development Committee from which, along with

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

, he resigned over the club's failure to proceed with a development "Masterplan" in 2012.

Other sources

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grabiner, Anthony 1945 births Living people People educated at Central Foundation Boys' School Alumni of the London School of Economics English Jews Labour Party (UK) life peers Members of Lincoln's Inn Masters of Clare College, Cambridge Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics Crossbench life peers Jewish British politicians Life peers created by Elizabeth II