Christopher Robin Haskins, Baron Haskins (born 30 May 1937,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

) is an Irish businessman,

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 former member of the

British Labour Party The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...

Early life

The son of a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

farmer, he attended St Columba's College, Dublin, and

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where was known as a student radical and member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Graduating with an honours degree in modern history, he contemplated becoming a journalist but later joined

De La Rue De La Rue plc (, ) is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that designs and produces banknotes, secure polymer substrate and banknote security features (including security holograms, security threads and security printe ...

Career

Haskins proposed to marry Gilda Horsley, whose father consented upon condition that Haskins joined the family business,

Northern Dairies Northern Foods is a British food manufacturer headquartered in Wakefield, England. It was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the original FTSE 100 Index. The company is credited, together with Marks & Spencer, ...

, based in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, England. Haskins agreed and joined the company in 1962. Haskins foresaw the huge demand for good quality prepared meals, and turned the company into

Northern Foods Northern Foods is a British food manufacturer headquartered in Wakefield, England. It was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the original FTSE 100 Index. The company is credited, together with Marks & Spencer, ...

, whose brands include Ski yoghurt and Bowyers sausages, while

Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

are the company's largest customer for ready meals. Haskins became a director in 1967, deputy chairman in 1974, and was chairman from 1980 to 2002.

House of Lords

Haskins was

ennobled Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

as a

with the title Baron Haskins, of Skidby, in the County of the East Riding of Yorkshire, on 25 July 1998. During 2001, at the height of the foot and mouth disease epidemic, he became Prime Minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

's 'rural tsar'. Lord Haskins retired from the Lords on 1 December 2020. In August 2005, it was revealed that Haskins had donated £2,000 to the campaign of Scottish Liberal Democrat

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Danny Alexander. Following an investigation, Haskins was expelled from the Labour party for this action. He subsequently sat as a

crossbencher A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

. He has been Chairman of the Better Regulation Task Force and a member of the New Deal Task Force. A pro-European, he was a leading member of the

Britain in Europe Until August 2005, Britain in Europe was the main British pro-European pressure group. Despite connections to Labour and the Liberal Democrats, it was a cross-party organisation with supporters from many different political backgrounds. Initia ...

campaign, the House of Lords European Sub-Committee, and is a former Chairman of the European Movement. He was a fellow board member of Yorkshire Forward and also Chairman of the Council of 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- ...

. In 2016, he was chair of the Humber local enterprise partnership.

References

External links

Lord Haskins
at TheyWorkForYou
Lord Haskins at The Public Whip
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haskins, Christopher 1937 births Living people Businesspeople from Dublin (city) Irish expatriates in England Businesspeople from Yorkshire Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Labour Party (UK) life peers Crossbench life peers People educated at St Columba's College, Dublin Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom Life peers created by Elizabeth II