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David Ivor Young, Baron Young of Graffham, (27 February 1932 – 9 December 2022) was a British
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
politician, cabinet minister and businessman.


Early life

David Young was born into an orthodox Jewish family in London. His father was born in Yurevich, near Minsk, a village that is now in Belarus but was then largely populated by
Lithuanian Jews Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas ...
, including Young's own family. The family fled an antisemitic
pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...
to England when David's father was 5. In England, Young's father imported flour and later set up as a manufacturer of coats for children. Young went to Christ's College in
Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...
and then
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
, to take a law degree as an evening student during his time as an articled clerk to become a solicitor, being admitted to the roll of solicitors in 1955.


Business career

Having qualified as a solicitor, Young practised for only a year, after which he joined
Great Universal Stores GUS plc was an FTSE 100 retailing, manufacturing and financial conglomerate based in the United Kingdom. GUS was an abbreviation of Great Universal Stores, the company's name before 2001, while it was also known as the ''Glorious Gussies'' amon ...
as an executive, working for part of that time as an assistant to the chairman,
Sir Isaac Wolfson Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet FRS (; 17 September 1897 – 20 June 1991) was a Scottish businessman and philanthropist. He was managing director of Great Universal Stores (G.U.S. or Gussies) 1932–1947 and chairman 1947–1987. He establishe ...
. In 1961 he left GUS and set up his first business, Eldonwall Ltd. with funding from the Gestetner Family Settlements. During the sixties he built up a group of companies in industrial property, construction and plant hire, selling out in June 1970 to Town & City Properties PLC (T&CP), where he joined the board. After the property crash of 1973–1974, Young assisted Jeffrey Sterling to reverse his company into T&CP to form a group that later became P&O. In 1975, Young he left the board and entered into a joint venture with
Manufacturers Hanover Manufacturers Hanover Corporation was the bank holding company formed as parent of Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, a large New York bank formed by a merger in 1961. After 1969, Manufacturers Hanover Trust became a subsidiary of Manufa ...
, and became chairman of Manufacturers Hanover Property Services, lending on real estate in the United Kingdom and overseas. He also had a number of other commercial interests. He sold out all his commercial interests in 1980 upon entering the Department of Industry. His younger brother, Stuart, served as chairman of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.


Margaret Thatcher

Young became involved in voluntary organisations as Chairman of the vocational training charity British ORT; he was made a Director of the CPS in 1979 shortly after the
general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
that brought
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
to power. On the first day of the new government,
Keith Joseph Keith Sinjohn Joseph, Baron Joseph, (17 January 1918 – 10 December 1994), known as Sir Keith Joseph, 2nd Baronet, for most of his political life, was a British politician, intellectual and barrister. A member of the Conservative Party, he ...
, the Secretary of State for Industry, appointed him his advisor responsible for what later became known as
privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
. Because of his involvement with vocational training through ORT, he was picked by
Norman Tebbit Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit (born 29 March 1931) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment (1981–1983), Secretary of State for Trad ...
when he was Secretary of State for Employment to be the Chairman of the
Manpower Services Commission The Manpower Services Commission (MSC) was a non-departmental public body of the Department of Employment Group in the United Kingdom created by Edward Heath's Conservative Government in 1973. The MSC had a remit to co-ordinate employment and tr ...
in 1981, the Government Agency dealing with unemployment and training matters. As such he became involved in government decisions and the Cabinet ministers who dealt with him regarded him very positively; he made his position as a ' dry' on economic policy. He was created a
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 ...
taking the title Baron Young of Graffham, of
Graffham Graffham is a village and civil parish in West Sussex, England, situated on the northern escarpment of the South Downs. The civil parish is made up of the village of Graffham, part of the Hamlet (place), hamlet of Selham, and South Ambersham. It ...
in the County of West Sussex on 10 October 1984. One month later, on 11 September it was announced that Young was to enter the cabinet as
Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...
(the first for twenty years) to advise the government on unemployment issues. As Minister without Portfolio he was appointed to the
Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
. On 2 September 1985 he became
Secretary of State for Employment The Secretary of State for Employment was a position in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. In 1995 it was merged with Secretary of State for Education to make the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. In 2001 the employment functions w ...
.


1987 election

Thatcher regarded Young as personally loyal to her and decided in March 1987 to put him into a central role in planning the 1987 election campaign, in effect to keep an eye on
Norman Tebbit Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit (born 29 March 1931) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment (1981–1983), Secretary of State for Trad ...
whom she suspected to be more interested in advancing his claims on the leadership. Young was in charge of organising Thatcher's tours and appearances on television. One week before polling day on 4 June 1987, Young and Tebbit had a major disagreement about the campaign strategy, a day nicknamed 'Wobbly Thursday'. According to ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', Young grabbed Tebbit by the lapels and said "Norman, listen to me, we are about to lose this fucking election".


Trade and Industry

Following the election Tebbit announced his retirement from the government, and Young was promoted to
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry The secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The incumbent is a memb ...
. He served two years in the role and privatised the last of the state industries in the department. In May 1989 he told the Prime Minister he would like to return to private life. He resigned from the Cabinet in 1989 but received an appointment as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party to help Kenneth Baker reorganise Central Office. Young stood down from his ministerial post on the resignation of Thatcher.


Later business career

Young then went back to business as a director of Salomon Inc. and executive chairman of Cable & Wireless. From 1993 he was president of the
Institute of Directors The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and incor ...
, and from 1995 was chairman of Council of University College, London. He was the first president of
Jewish Care Jewish Care is a British charity, working mainly in London and South East England, providing health and social care support services for the Jewish community. The charity runs over 70 centres and services which include care homes, community centr ...
(1990–1997). Young retired from Cable & Wireless in 1995 and in 1996 set up his own company, Young Associates Ltd, with partners Simon Alberga and Yoav Kurtzbard, which actively invests in technology companies. Outside Young Associates he had a number of business interests. He was chairman and controlling shareholder of the Camcon Federation of companies, a Cambridge-based federation of companies with innovative technology in the oil and gas, auto and medical fields. He was controlling shareholder and on the board of TSSI Systems Ltd, a long-established company in security technology, and in both these companies he worked with Danny Chapchal. He was a substantial shareholder and chairman of Deep Tek Ltd, a company with developed technology to enable operations in deep and ultra-deep waters in the oil and gas sectors and in scientific exploration. He was a substantial shareholder and chairman of KashFlow Software Ltd, a leading provider of online accounting for
SME SME may refer to: Economics * Small and medium-sized enterprises * Socialist market economy, an economic system of China Organizations Music * SME Limited, UK audio turntable manufacturer * Sony Music Entertainment, US * Spontaneous Music Ensembl ...
s. In 1996, Young was involved in the privatisation of the Rostock Port, in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Following several years of decline in port traffic, the Rostock city council agreed to sell the port to Kent Investments Ltd., a company controlled by Young, in partnership with two Israeli businessmen, Menachem Atzmon and Ezra Harel. It was later discovered that Young was only a frontman for the Israeli investors. The two were later under investigation by
Israel Securities Authority The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) is the national securities regulator of Israel. Established by law in 1968, the Israel Securities Authority sees its mandate as a way to ensure an efficient capital market based on transparency and fairness. ...
, suspected of fraud and breach of trust. They acquired the port by obtaining a loan from Rogosin Industries, a public company they controlled, which raised the money by issuing bonds. Rogosin Industries then received an option to buy 25 percent of the port in exchange for forgiving the loan. Rogosin Industries eventually exercised this option, which left Harel and Atzmon owning 75 percent of Rostock Port using Rogosin's funds. The case was investigated after Rogosin Industries defaulted on its bonds, as it run out of cash to pay its bondholders. The company later went into liquidation.


2010 Cameron–Clegg government

In June 2010, Young was chosen by PM
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
to advise on health and safety laws:
To investigate and report back to the Prime Minister on the rise of the compensation culture over the last decade coupled with the current low standing that health and safety legislation now enjoys and to suggest solutions. Following the agreement of the report, to work with appropriate departments across government to bring the proposals into effect. (See report 'Common Sense Common Safety' below.)
In July, he moved from the Cabinet Office to Number 10. In November 2010, Young was obliged to apologise for having told ''The Daily Telegraph'' that, "For the vast majority of people in the country today, they have never had it so good ever since this recession – this so-called recession – started ..." He resigned, but was subsequently reappointed. In October 2010, he released a review of workplace health and safety in the UK entitled 'Common Sense Common Safety', which faced many of the issues and saying that businesses now operate their health and safety policies in a climate of fear because sensible health and safety rules that apply to hazardous occupations have been applied across all occupations, and the excessive "enthusiasm with which often unqualified health and safety consultants have tried to eliminate all risk rather than apply the test in the Act of a 'reasonably practicable' approach." Young said that part of the responsibility lay with the EU's 1989 Framework Directive, which made risk assessments compulsory across all occupations, whether hazardous or not. Within days of the release of the review, the flood of health and safety stories in the press abated.


Enterprise Advisor

In October 2010, he was appointed Enterprise Adviser to Cameron, and was asked to conduct a "brutal" review of the relationship of government to small firms. This resulted in a three-part review to the Prime Minister on enterprise and small business. In May 2012 he published his report 'Make Business Your Business' the first comprehensive report on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) since the Bolton Report of 1971; this was followed in May 2013 by 'Growing Your Business' which dealt in the main with micro-businesses and small firms employing fewer than 25 people. In May 2012, Young delivered the first part of this review. Entitled "Make Business Your Business", it was the first of its kind since the Bolton Report of 1971. His report highlighted the number of start-up businesses to indicate a growing culture of enterprise and entrepreneurship in the UK. The report introduced a new Government programme, Start Up Loans, providing loans and mentoring to get a business venture started. Start Up Loans had as of June 2016 provided over £129 million of loans to 25,000 people. In June 2013, Young delivered a report entitled "Growing Your Business", which looked at how new and developing small firms could grow and expand into new markets. Following this, the Government introduced reforms of public procurement with the aim of making it easier for small suppliers to win public sector contracts; a new
Small Business Charter
, which aimed to extend the reach of university business schools into their local small business communities, and which he remained Patron of; and a "Growth Voucher programme" to assist companies "find and pay for professional strategic advice". In June 2014, Young reviewed the relevance of enterprise in education in his report "Enterprise for All". In December 2014 the Government accepted Young's recommendations in this report. These included the introduction of Enterprise Advisers, intended as a dedicated resource available to Head Teachers to support them in developing an appropriate careers and enterprise offer for their students, and an 'Enterprise Passport' through which young people would record their enterprise and extracurricular activities alongside their academic qualifications to future employers. Young was appointed
Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...
(CH) in the 2015
New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...
.


Charity interests

Young had a number of ''
pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...
'' or charitable interests including the presidency of Chai Cancer Care and the Coram Trust, chairman of the
Chichester Festival Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya John Hidalgo Moya (5 May 1920 – 3 August 1994), ...
and of the
Jewish Museum London The Jewish Museum London is a museum of British Jewish life, history and identity. The museum is situated in Camden Town in the London Borough of Camden, North London. It is a place for people of all faiths to explore Jewish history, culture, a ...
, and trustee of the Co-Existence Trust and the MBI Al Jaber Foundation. In December 2010, he became a patron of Lifelites, a charity providing technology for children in hospices.


Publications

Young's political autobiography, ''The Enterprise Years'', was published in 1990. He wrote occasional opinion pieces. In one, he likened
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
to
Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...
, all the while touting Enterprise Zones and suggesting the reintroduction of Thatcher's "more successful programmes like the
Enterprise Allowance Scheme The Enterprise Allowance Scheme was an initiative set up by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative UK government which gave a guaranteed income of £40 per week to unemployed people who set up their own business. It was first announced on 13 November ...
of old that created so many new businesses at the time."


Personal life

Young was married to Lita (née Shaw), and they had two daughters, Karen and Judith. He died on 9 December 2022, at the age of 90.


Coat of arms


References


External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, David 1932 births 2022 deaths 20th-century British politicians Alumni of University College London English Jews British Secretaries of State for Employment Conservative Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II Deputy Lieutenants of West Sussex Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Fellows of the British Academy Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Jewish British politicians People from Finchley English solicitors People educated at Christ's College, Finchley Presidents of the Board of Trade Place of death missing