Sir Richard Peter Lambert (born 23 September 1944) is a British journalist and business executive. He served as director-general of the CBI,

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the University of Warwick, editor of the '' Financial Times'' newspaper and chairman of the board of the British Museum.

Early life and education

Lambert was born in north

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

and grew up in Manchester, first attending a local grammar school, before, at the age of 13, going to Fettes College, an

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

for boys in Edinburgh, followed by Balliol College at the University of Oxford,Profile: Richard Lambert
/ref> where he studied History.

Business career

He joined the ''Financial Times'' in 1966, editing the '' Lex Column'' in the paper in the 1970s. He became financial editor in 1979. From 1982 to 1983, he was the paper's New York correspondent. He was editor of the ''FT'' from 1991 to 2001. From 1997 to 1998, he returned in New York and remained editor, where he set up a US version of the paper to challenge the '' Wall Street Journal''. From June 2003 to March 2006, he was one of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee of 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 ...

, which sets the interest rate for the

British pound Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...

CBI

He became director-general of the Confederation of British Industry on 1 July 2006. He wrote Government reports on BBC News 24 and chaired the

Lambert Review The Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration was a report by Richard Lambert published by Her Majesty's Treasury in the United Kingdom in 2003, which made "a series of recommendations aimed at smoothing out the path between Britain’ ...

on the relationship between higher education and business. He was replaced by John Cridland as head of the CBI on 1 February 2011.

Honours

He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

in 2007. He has other honorary degrees from City University, the University of Warwick, Brighton University and the University of Exeter. He was appointed chancellor of the University of Warwick on 19 March 2008. He formally took up the position on 1 August 2008, and was officially installed on 10 December of the same year. After eight years as chancellor, Lambert concluded his term at the end of the 2015-16 academic year and was succeeded by

Catherine Ashton Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, (born 20 March 1956), is a British Labour politician who served as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and First Vice President of the Europea ...

. He was

knighted 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 Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the

2011 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2011 were announced on 31 December 2010 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,New Zealand"New Year Honours 2011"(14 January 2011) 2 ''New Zealand Gazette'' 55. The Cook IslandsThe Cook Islands: Grenada,Grenada: ...

for service to business.

Ownership claims over the Parthenon Marbles

Lambert took up the controversial role of chair of the board of the British Museum in 2014, a role described in an article published in his former newspaper the ''Financial Times'' as "a ceremonial role that mostly involves raising money and refusing to give the Greeks back the Elgin Marbles". The position of the British Museum is that the Elgin Marbles are owned by the Museum trustees. This position is disputed both by the Greek government and within Britain, where polls indicate that a majority of the British public support the repatriation of the Marbles to Athens. Lambert complained of not having received sufficient advanced notice from Egyptian novelist

Ahdaf Soueif Ahdaf Soueif ( ar, أهداف سويف; born 23 March 1950) is an Egyptian novelist and political and cultural commentator. Early life Soueif was born in Cairo, where she lives, and was educated in Egypt and England. She studied for a PhD in lin ...

, who resigned from the board of trustees, citing its connection with " corporate sponsorship" and its failure to repatriate artifacts such as the Elgin Marbles. In response to the controversy surrounding the ownership of the Elgin Marbles, including instances of the marbles being accidentally damaged by schoolboys and by unsuccessful whitening attempts, Lambert wrote an article in ''The Guardian'' claiming that the marbles should remain in the Museum.Hastings, Chris
Revealed: how rowdy schoolboys knocked a leg off one of the Elgin Marbles
, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 15 May 2005. Retrieved 6 March 2010. This came about after the controversy intensified in Britain, in part thanks to British Labour Party politician Jeremy Corbyn, who suggested that he would approve of repatriating the Marbles to Greece. Polls conducted by the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

indicate the majority of the British public support the repatriation of the Marbles to Greece. Lambert stood down from his role at the British Museum in October 2021 and was replaced by George Osborne.

Personal life

He married Harriet Murray-Browne in 1973 and has two children.

References

External links

CBI biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Richard 1944 births Living people Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford British newspaper editors People from Buckinghamshire (before 1965) People educated at Fettes College Chancellors of the University of Warwick Knights Bachelor Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Trustees of the British Museum Financial Times editors