Christopher Haskins
The Lord Haskins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Life peerage 25 July 1998 – 1 December 2020 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Christopher Robin Haskins 30 May 1937 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 26 March 2026 (aged 88) |
| Party |
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Christopher Robin Haskins, Baron Haskins (30 May 1937 – 26 March 2026) was an Irish-born businessman and life peer, who was a member of the British House of Lords from 1998 to 2020.
Early life
[edit]Christopher Robin Haskins was born in Dublin, Ireland on 30 May 1937.[1] The son of a Protestant farmer, he attended St Columba's College, Dublin, and Trinity College, Dublin, 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.
Career
[edit]Haskins proposed to marry Gilda Horsley, whose father consented upon condition that Haskins joined the family business, Northern Dairies, based in Yorkshire, England. Haskins agreed and joined the company in 1962.[2] Haskins foresaw the huge demand for good-quality prepared meals, and turned the company into Northern Foods, whose brands include Ski yoghurt and Bowyers sausages, while Marks & Spencer are the company's largest customer for ready meals.[3] Haskins became a director in 1967, deputy chairman in 1974, and was chairman from 1980 to 2002.[4]
House of Lords
[edit]Haskins was ennobled as a life peer with the title Baron Haskins, of Skidby, in the County of the East Riding of Yorkshire, on 25 July 1998.[5] During 2001, at the height of the foot and mouth disease epidemic, he became Prime Minister Tony Blair's 'rural tsar'.[4] Lord Haskins retired from the Lords on 1 December 2020.[6]
In August 2005, it was revealed that Haskins had donated £2,000 to the campaign of Scottish Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Danny Alexander. Following an investigation, Haskins was expelled from the Labour party for this action.[7] He subsequently sat as a crossbencher.
He was Chairman of the Better Regulation Task Force and a member of the New Deal Task Force.[4] A pro-European, he was a leading member of the Britain in Europe campaign,[8] the House of Lords European Sub-Committee, and was 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. In 2016, he was chair of the Humber local enterprise partnership.[9]
Death
[edit]Haskins died on 26 March 2026, at the age of 88.[10][11][12]
References
[edit]- ^ Profile Archived 25 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine, fedtrust.co.uk; accessed 8 May 2015.
- ^ "Northern Foods". Corporate Watch. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ "Pastures new for milk man turned rural tsar". The Guardian. 18 November 2001. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ a b c Stevenson, Alexander (2013). The Public Sector:Managing the Unmanageable. Kogan Page. ISBN 978-0-7494-6777-7.
- ^ "No. 55210". The London Gazette. 30 July 1998. p. 8287.
- ^ "Lord Haskins". UK Parliament. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
- ^ "Labour peer expelled for donation". BBC News. 23 September 2005. Retrieved 2 November 2006.
- ^ "Lord Haskins on the EU constitution". BBC News. 28 October 2004. Retrieved 28 April 2008.
- ^ "Lord Haskins of Skidby » Humber LEP". Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ The obituary notice of Christopher HASKINS
- ^ Rahman, Miran (30 March 2026). "Tributes paid to 'inspirational' businessman and regional ambassador Lord Haskins". The Business Desk. Retrieved 30 March 2026.
- ^ "Lord Haskins, Northern Foods chief, tub-thumping Europhile, farmer and New Labour 'rural tsar'". The Telegraph. 2 April 2026. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
External links
[edit]
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
- 1937 births
- 2026 deaths
- 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
- Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014