James Meyer Sassoon, Baron Sassoon, (born 11 September 1955) is a British businessman and politician. After a career in the financial sector he served in various roles in

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...

, the UK's finance ministry, from 2002 to 2008, at which point he began advising

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 ...

on financial issues. From May 2010 to January 2013, Sassoon was the first

Commercial Secretary to the Treasury The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury is a United Kingdom Government ministerial post in HM Treasury which usually ranks at Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State level - though during Baroness Neville-Rolfe’s tenure, it was of Minister of ...

and was appointed to 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 ...

as a

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 ...

. In January 2013, he became an executive director of Jardine Matheson Holdings and of Matheson & Co. He is also a director of

Hongkong Land Hongkong Land (HKL) is a property investment, management and development group with commercial and residential property interests across Asia. It owns and manages some 850,000 sq. m. of office and retail property in Asia, principally in Hong K ...

Dairy Farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history that ...

and Mandarin Oriental and chairman of the China-Britain Business Council. In November 2017 he was mentioned in the

Paradise Papers The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsch ...

as one of the beneficiaries of a tax exempt Cayman Island trust fund worth $236 million in 2007 and defended it as being of non UK origin. Sassoon was president of the international

Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF), also known by its French name, ''Groupe d'action financière'' (GAFI), is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat m ...

2007–2008.

Early life and education

Sassoon is a member of the

Sassoon family The Sassoon family, known as "Rothschilds of the East" due to the immense wealth they accumulated in finance and trade, are a family of Baghdadi Jewish descent. Originally based in Baghdad, Iraq, they later moved to Bombay, India, and then emig ...

, and was born in London, the son of Hugh Meyer Sassoon (first cousin of

Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...

) and Marion (née Schiff); he is the great-great grandson of

Sassoon David Sassoon Sassoon David Sassoon (August 1832 – 24 June 1867) was a British Indian businessman, banker, and philanthropist. Biography Early life Sassoon was born in August 1832 in Bombay, India.William D. Rubinstein, ''The Palgrave Dictionary of Ang ...

. He was educated at

Sunningdale School Sunningdale School is a family-run boys' preparatory independent boarding school of around 100 pupils, situated in Sunningdale in Berkshire, close to London, England. Introduction Sunningdale School is a small school that seeks to educate its ...

, a junior boarding independent school in the village of

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a large village with a retail area and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England. It has a railway station on the (London) Waterloo to Reading ...

in Berkshire, where he was a friend of

David Profumo David John Profumo, FRSL (born 20 October 1955), is an English novelist. Profumo was born in London, the son of former British government minister John Profumo, and his wife, actress Valerie Hobson. The Profumo family is of Italian origin. Bio ...

, the son of

John Profumo John Dennis Profumo, CBE,( ; 30 January 1915 – 9 March 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo a ...

. Thereafter he attended

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 ...

, a senior boarding school, also in Berkshire, followed by Christ Church at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Career

Finance

In 1977 Sassoon began his career in finance at

Thomson McLintock & Company KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a netw ...

. In 1985, he joined S.G. Warburg & Co. (later

UBS Warburg UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...

). He became a director in 1995, leading the firm's privatisation business, and from 2000 to 2002 he served as vice-chairman of investment banking. Sassoon served as a director of the following organisations:

Partnerships UK Partnerships UK plc (PUK) was an centralized unit responsible for furthering public-private partnerships in the United Kingdom. It was a public limited company formed in 2000, owned jointly by HM Treasury and the private sector. It ceased activity ...

, 2002–06; Merchants Trust, 2006–10 (chairman 2010); the

ifs School of Finance The London Institute of Banking & Finance is the oldest training and professional body for banking and financial services in England and Wales, and works internationally with partners to establish ethical and professional standards across the ...

, 2009–10 (chairman) and the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, 2008–2010. He was a trustee of the National Gallery Trust, 2002–09 and of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, 2009–10 and 2013–present. Since 2013 he has been a member of the global advisory board of

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG holds assets of around US$3.1 trillion as of 2016 and is one of the "Three Great Houses" of the Mitsubishi Group alongside Mitsubishi Corpor ...

. In January 2013, he became an executive director of

Jardine Matheson Holdings Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited (also known as Jardines) is a Hong Kong-based Bermuda-domiciled British multinational conglomerate. It has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listings on the Singapore Exchange and ...

and of Matheson & Co. He is also a director of

Dairy Farm International Holdings DFI Retail Group Holdings Limited (formerly known as Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited) is a Hong Kong retail company with its legal base in Bermuda. A member of the Jardine Matheson Group, it is a major East Asian-Southeast Asian reta ...

and

Mandarin Oriental Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group International Limited (MOHG) is a Hong Kong hotel investment and management group focusing on luxury hotels, resorts, and residences, with a total of 33 properties worldwide, 20 of which are fully or partially ow ...

and chairman of the China-Britain Business Council.

Government and politics

In 2002, he joined HM Treasury, becoming managing director of finance, regulation and industry, and served until 2006. Sassoon then became the chancellor's representative for promotion of the city. In 2007, he was named president of the

, also responsible for combating terrorism financing. He continued in both roles until 2008. Sassoon received a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

in the

2008 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and a ...

. At that time, he began advising

, then the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

, and

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the ...

, then the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, and became a member of the Shadow Cabinet's Economic Recovery Committee. In 2009, he wrote ''The Tripartite Review'', a review of the adequacy of the UK's three financial regulators (the

Financial Services Authority The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body accountable for the financial regulation, regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investmen ...

, HM Treasury and 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 ...

), especially as regards financial stability. In May 2010, he was named

, a minister whose portfolio includes financial services and business. In consequence, it was announced he would be made 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 ...

, and on 3 June 2010 he was introduced in the House of Lords as Baron Sassoon, of

Ashley Park Ashley Park is a private residential neighbourhood at Walton-on-Thames in Surrey. Its central feature was a grandiose English country house, at times enjoying associated medieval manorial rights, which stood on the site, with alterations, betw ...

in the

County of Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

. In the 2012

Cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parlia ...

it was announced he would be replaced by

Lord Deighton Paul Clive Deighton, Baron Deighton, KBE (born 18 January 1956) is a British Conservative politician who served as Commercial Secretary to HM Treasury from January 2013 to May 2015. Deighton is a former investment banker who previously served a ...

in January 2013 as Commercial Secretary to the Treasury and in line with Sassoon's desire to return to the private sector. In November 2017, he was mentioned in the

as one of the beneficiaries of a tax exempt Cayman Island trust fund worth $236 million in 2007, and defended its assets as being of non-UK origin contributed only by his grandmother, who had died more than 40 years prior.

Personal life

In 1981, Sassoon married Sarah Barnes, daughter of the former ambassador to Israel and the Netherlands, Sir Ernest John Ward Barnes and Lady Cynthia Barnes of

Hurstpierpoint Hurstpierpoint is a village in West Sussex, England, southwest of Burgess Hill, and west of Hassocks railway station. It sits in the civil parish of Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common which has an area of 2029.88 ha and a population of ...

. They have a son and two daughters.

Arms

References

*''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'' 2011

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sassoon, James 1955 births Living people Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford British businesspeople British Jews Conservative Party (UK) life peers Knights Bachelor People educated at Eton College People educated at Sunningdale School

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 (disambiguat ...

Jewish British politicians People named in the Paradise Papers British people of Indian-Jewish descent Baghdadi Jews British politicians of Indian descent British businesspeople of Indian descent Life peers created by Elizabeth II