John Dudley Fishburn (born 8 June 1946) is a British businessman, journalist, and politician. He was Executive Editor of ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'' and Member of

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

(MP) for Kensington.

Early life and family

Educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

, from which he graduated in American history and literature and was a member of the

Harvard Lampoon ''The Harvard Lampoon'' is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Overview The ''Harvard Lampoon'' publication was founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates ...

, he has an honorary Doctorate from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

and the University of Reading. He was married to Victoria Boles, who served as

High Sheriff of Berkshire The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. The title of High Sheriff is therefore much older ...

in 2016, a daughter of Sir Jack Boles and sister of one-time Conservative MP

Nick Boles Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (born 2 November 1965) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Grantham and Stamford from 2010 to 2019. He was a member of the Conservative Party until 2019. Before entering Parliament ...

, by whom he has four children. Alice, the eldest, works as a journalist on the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

''; Honor was an assistant at

Downing Street Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk f ...

, having been David Cameron's diary secretary.

Business career

Fishburn is the chairman of Bluecube Technology Solutions Ltd, and Mulvaney Capital Management Ltd. He is on the board of GFI Group, the European subsidiary of a Wall Street broker, BGC. He once was a Director of Altria Inc, then one of America's ten biggest companies. He was also on the board of Philip Morris International Inc, and of

HSBC Bank plc HSBC UK Bank plc is a British multinational banking and financial services organisation based in Birmingham, England. It is part of HSBC Holdings. HSBC UK Bank plc is one of the four major clearing banks in the United Kingdom and is a wholly ...

, Beazley Group plc, and Saatchi and Saatchi plc.

Not-for-profit organisations

Fishburn has a long connection with universities on both sides of the Atlantic. He was chairman of the Trustees of the Open University Foundation. He was the first Englishman to be elected to Harvard University's governing board
the Board of Overseers
and served on the Council of

Reading University The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

and as a Trustee of the Foundation for Liver Research, which is affiliated to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He chaired the Visiting Committee of the

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...

. For 10 years he chaired the committee for the foremost private library and research system, that of Harvard University's schools and faculties. He won the Harvard Alumni award for this work. Fishburn served of the advisory board of the Centre for the Advanced Study of India at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. Fishburn is currently Chairman of the Governors of Theale Green Academy, a school for 1,100 students in

Theale Theale () is a large village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England, southwest of Reading and 10 miles (16 km) east of Thatcham. The compact parish is bounded to the south and south-east by the Kennet & Avon Canal (which here incorp ...

, Berkshire, sponsored by

Bradfield College Bradfield College, formally St Andrew's College, Bradfield, is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils aged 11–18, located in the small village of Bradfield in the English county of Berkshire. It is note ...

. Dudley Fishburn has worked for heritage organisations. He is currently chairman of the Heritage of London Trust and chairs the Friends of the Silchester Archaeological Dig. For 10 years he was on the Executive Committee of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

and was the National Trust's Treasurer. Fishburn recently retired as Deputy Chairman of the

Peabody Housing Trust The Peabody Trust was founded in 1862 as the Peabody Donation Fund and now brands itself simply as Peabody.

. He is an advisor to the Parasol Charitable Trust.Parasol Charitable Trust infosite
bonitatrust.org; accessed 12 May 2015.

Politics and journalism

In the 1970s, Fishburn twice stood unsuccessfully for Parliament for the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

. He was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, as the MP for Kensington, in a by-election in 1988 and re-elected in 1992. In 1997, he stepped down claiming "there were too many MPs" and has since campaigned for a reduction in the size of the House of Commons. In Parliament, he made his name campaigning for

leasehold A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a l ...

reform which led, after much resistance, to the Leasehold Reform Act. He was made "Radical of the Year" in 1990. Fishburn also brought to the Statute Book a private bill that permitted qualified nurses to write prescriptions, thus breaking the doctors’ monopoly. Fishburn served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Sir Timothy Sainsbury in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Trade. During his terms in Parliament, he continued as Associate Editor of ''The Economist'' producing 13 annual editions of its publication ''The World in...'', which is published in 15 languages. He has been published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' and ''

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'' (f ...

''. He is now President of the Newbury Conservative Association; the Member of Parliament for Newbury is

Laura Farris Laura Rose Farris (née McNair-Wilson; born 13 June 1978) is a British Conservative politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newbury since the 2019 general election. Prior to her parliamentary career, she worked as a journalis ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fishburn, Dudley 1946 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 People educated at Eton College Harvard College alumni