James "Jamie" Rudolph Palumbo, Baron Palumbo of Southwark (born 6 June 1963) is a British entrepreneur and member of 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 ...

Biography

The eldest son of property developer

Peter Palumbo, Baron Palumbo Peter Garth Palumbo, Baron Palumbo (born 20 July 1935) is a property developer and art collector. Palumbo was the last chairperson of the Arts Council of Great Britain and a life peer. He sat as a Conservative in the House of Lords from 1991 ...

, Jamie was born in London and educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and

Worcester College Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

, Oxford. From 1984 to 1992, Palumbo worked in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

for

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

and

Morgan Grenfell Morgan, Grenfell & Co. was a leading London-based investment bank regarded as one of the oldest and once most influential British merchant banks. It had its origins in a merchant banking business commenced by George Peabody. Junius Spencer Morgan ...

in equity capital markets and property finance. In September 1991 Palumbo, together with his school friend Humphrey Waterhouse and DJ

Justin Berkmann Justin Berkmann (born December 1963), is a DJ and nightclub owner. He is the second son of Joseph Berkmann and his second wife, Jean Berkmann (née Barwis) and younger brother of Marcus Berkmann, an author. They were both educated at Highgate S ...

, founded the Ministry of Sound nightclub in South London. Ministry of Sound expanded into recorded music and by 2014 had become the largest independent music company in the world. In 2016 he sold Ministry of Sound Recordings to the

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

Group for $104 million. In 1994 he launched legal proceedings against his father with his sister, Annabella Adams, claiming his father had mismanaged the family trust; subsequently his father resigned as a trustee. His debut novel about corruption in the modern world, ''Tomas'', was published in 2009.

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

called the novel "remarkable... It's as if Thomas Pynchon and Burroughs and Vonnegut got together and had a bastard love child." His second novel, ''Tancredi'', about

short-termism Short-termism is giving priority to immediate profit, quickly executed projects and short-term results, over long term results and far-seeing action. Short-termism is attributed to certain cognitive biases. See also * Hyperbolic discounting Ref ...

in politics, was published in 2011. Following the 2010 election Palumbo helped reorganise Lib Dem headquarters to make the party more efficient in Government. In October 2013, Palumbo 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 Palumbo of Southwark, of

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, in the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...

. In 2017 he opened an animal sanctuary in Thailand with Rawipim Paijit, focused on spay and neuter, rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming of street dogs.

Personal life

He lives in London with his Thai friend, Rawipim Paijit. He has a child, born in 1991 to Atoosa Hariri.

References

External links

Voting record at the Public Whip

Street Dog SOS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palumbo, James 1963 births Living people 21st-century British novelists Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford English businesspeople English people of Italian descent Liberal Democrats (UK) donors Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers Ministry of Sound People educated at Eton College Writers from London

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

Life peers created by Elizabeth II Sons of life peers Palumbo