Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy (born 11 July 1944) is a British
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...
and former chartered accountant who was chairman and CEO of a large independent group of music companies. A long-standing friend of former prime minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
, Levy was the chief fundraiser for the
Labour Party under Blair and spent nine years as Blair's special envoy to the Middle East.
Levy now acts as a consultant for a number of companies and is also chairman of a finance company. He is also the president of Sense and Sense International, Jewish Care, Barnet and Southgate Colleges, Jewish Free School (JFS), Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade (JLGB), Etz Chaim Jewish Primary School, and Mathilda Marks-Kennedy Jewish Primary School (MMK). He was previously president of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and president of Volunteering Matters.
Early life
Born in
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is an area in the northwest part of the London Borough of Hackney, England. The area is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington (parish), Stoke Newington, the ancient parish. S ...
,
North London, to devout Jewish immigrant parents of modest means, Levy was educated at Grocers, later known as
Hackney Downs School.
Music industry career
Levy qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1966 (ACA then FCA) and set up a professional accountancy practice. The practice attracted a great number of clients in the music and entertainment industry, and Levy became a specialist in international copyright and licence. Amongst the clients were
the Foundations, Vanity Fair, Roger Greenaway, Barry Mason and many other successful producers and artists.
Levy founded
Magnet Records with
Peter Shelley in 1973.
[Adam Sweetin]
"Alvin Stardust obituary"
, ''The Guardian'', 23 October 2014 This became one of the most successful independent labels of its day and, at one stage, had 10% of the British singles market with four singles in the top ten of the
UK Singles Chart. The successful artists on the label included
Alvin Stardust,
Adrian Baker,
Chris Rea
Christopher Anton Rea ( ; born 4 March 1951) is a British Rock music, rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist from Middlesbrough. Known for his distinctive voice and his slide guitar playing, Rea has recorded twenty-five studio albums, ...
,
Bad Manners,
Darts
Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard.
Point ...
,
Susan Cadogan,
Silver Convention and
Guys 'n' Dolls. Levy sold Magnet Records to
Warner Brothers in 1988 for
£10
m.
Guitarist Chris Rea said of Levy, "He is extremely tough, one of the hardest bastards I have ever met, but I would leave my children with him rather than anyone else." The
music producer
A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...
Pete Waterman described him as "the greatest salesman I have ever met. He would be able to sell sand to the Arabs."
After Magnet was sold, Levy set up
M&G Records with backing from
Polygram.
M&G Records was so named as it was the initials of Michael and his wife Gilda, and featured acts such as
Zoe who had a top five hit with "
Sunshine on a Rainy Day" and
Pele who had success with "Fair Blows the Wind for France". Polygram were then bought out, and the company was eventually sold to Bertelsmann (BMG) in 1997.
Aptitude for fundraising
Levy was involved in fundraising from his early life and from the late 1960s for many causes, including Jewish and Israeli causes. For this he showed a special adeptness, raising, between 1988 and 1994,
£60
m for
Jewish Care, an amalgam of several Jewish charitable organisations, of which he is now President.
Simon Morris, Former Chief Executive of Jewish Care, said of Levy that, when it comes to fundraising, "there's no one better in the country." Levy has been described as the number one fundraiser in the country, and he has raised hundreds of millions of pounds for charitable causes over the years.
Political life
Levy first met Tony Blair at a dinner party in 1994, hosted by Israeli diplomat
Gideon Meir,
the two having a common friend in
Eldred Tabachnik, a senior barrister and former president of the
Board of Deputies of British Jews, at 11 King's Bench Walk Chambers, the chambers founded by
Derry Irvine where Blair had trained in the early 1980s.
They soon became close friends and tennis partners. Levy ran the
Labour Leader's Office Fund to finance Blair's campaign before the 1997 general election and received substantial contributions from such figures as
Alex Bernstein and
Robert Gavron, both of whom were ennobled by Blair after he came to power. Levy himself 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. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...
on 23 September 1997 as Baron Levy, of
Mill Hill
Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross, close to the Hertfordshire border. It was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it b ...
in the
London Borough of Barnet
The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in north London, England. Forming part of Outer London, the borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It is the ...
. Since making his
maiden speech on 3 December 1997, Levy has not spoken in a debate at the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
.
He has been described by ''
The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...
'' as "undoubtedly the notional leader of
British Jewry".
He was a founding member of the
Jewish Leadership Council, the leadership of the UK Jewish community. Levy has close ties with Israeli political leaders. His son,
Daniel Levy, was active in Israeli political life, and has served as an assistant to the former Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...
and to former
Knesset
The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel.
The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...
member
Yossi Beilin. His son Daniel is now based in the UK and is now President of the US Middle East Project and before that was Head of the Middle East Department of the European Council of Foreign Relations. Levy has praised Blair for his "solid and committed support of the State of Israel" and "his commitment to the peace process". Levy was associated with the
Labour Friends of Israel.
Known as "Lord Cashpoint" to some in the media and politics,
he was the leading fundraiser for the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007 (having raised over £100m for the Labour Party). In 2007, he voluntarily decided to step down at the same time as former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In 2000, Levy was criticised when it was revealed that he had paid only £5,000 tax during the financial year 1998–1999 – however it was subsequently shown even in that year the tax paid was £30,000. In an interview at the time, repeated on BBC2's Newsnight on 16 March 2006, Levy stated that "Over the years I have paid many millions of tax and, if you average it, each year it comes to many hundreds of thousands of pounds. In that particular year, I was giving my time to the Labour Party and the voluntary sector, and I just lived off capital."
From 1998 until 2007, he acted as Prime Minister Blair's personal envoy to the Middle East, being replaced by
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...
's appointee,
Lord Williams of Baglan, in September 2007. Blair said Levy carried out "a perfectly excellent job as my envoy under very difficult circumstances".
Many leaders in the region, including Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas (; born 15 November 1935), also known by the Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Mazen (, ), is a Palestinian politician who has been serving as the second president of Palestine and the President of the Palestinian National Authority, P ...
have praised Levy for always offering constructive suggestions.
In September 2005, Levy was appointed President of the Council of the
Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, the body overseeing the government's
Specialist school
Specialist schools, also known as specialised schools or specialized schools, are schools which specialise in a certain area or field of curriculum. In some countries, for example New Zealand, the term is used exclusively for schools specialis ...
s and
Academy
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
programmes.
Levy advised
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
's team on tackling antisemitism during
Corbyn's leadership of the party.
Cash for honours
Levy was arrested and questioned in connection with the "
Cash for Honours" inquiry by the
Metropolitan Police on 12 July 2006 (whereby it was suggested that money was paid to political parties for Honours in particular peerages).
No charges were made against Levy, and the police removed all details from their files.
Other positions
Levy is Life President of
Jewish Care, and the President of
Jewish Free School (JFS),
Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade (JLGB), Etz Chaim Jewish Primary School, Mathilda Marks-Kennedy Jewish Primary School (MMK), Barnet & Southgate Colleges and Sense & Sense International
and the Honorary President of UJIA and the former President of Volunteering Matters and the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.
He was a Member of the Advisory Council of Step Up to Serve Campaign (2013-2020). He was the Chair of the Policy Network Foundation, a policy think tank. He also holds and has held a number of other positions in the voluntary sector, and he was a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Peace Institute, IPI (2014-2019).
In 2008 Levy became Chairman of International Standard Asset Management until 2011. Now Principal of Global Consultancy Services acting as a Consultant to a number of companies, and he is also Chairman of Chase Mill Hill Ltd.
Personal life
He and his wife Gilda have a son,
Daniel, and a daughter, Juliet.
Levy's home in
Totteridge
Totteridge is a residential area and former village in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land (including some farmland) situated 8 miles (13 km) north north-west of Charing Cross. It ...
, North London, was
burgled in 2003. He and his wife Gilda were restrained with handcuffs and had bleach poured over them. Levy was hit on the head with a shovel and had his wrist broken; the attackers fled with £80,000 of cash and jewellery.
Lord Levy received an Honorary Doctorate from
Middlesex University
Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated to MDX) is a public research university based in Hendon, northwest London, England. The university also has campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The name of the university is ...
in 1999, and the Israel Policy Forum (USA) Special Recognition Award in 2003. In 1994, he was a Recipient of the B'nai B'rith First Lodge Award and in 1998 a Recipient of the Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Scopus Award. He has received the Jewish Chronicle 175th Anniversary Award for outstanding, unique and long term contributions to British Community life.
Lord Levy's autobiography, ''A Question of Honour'', was published in 2008.
Arms
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Michael
1944 births
Living people
English music managers
British impresarios
Levites
English Jews
English philanthropists
Labour Party (UK) life peers
Life peers created by Elizabeth II
Labour Friends of Israel
People from Stoke Newington
People educated at Hackney Downs School
British Zionists
Jewish British politicians
Jewish British philanthropists