David John Sainsbury,Baron Sainsbury of Turville (born 24 October 1940) is a British politician,businessman and philanthropist. From 1992 to 1997,he served as chairman of Sainsbury's,the supermarket chain established by his great-grandfather John James Sainsbury in 1869.
Sainsbury joined the family firm,then known as J. Sainsbury Ltd.,in 1963,working in the personnel department. He became a director in 1966. He was Financial Controller from 1971 to 1973,just before the company's flotation.
When the company listed on the London Stock Exchange on 12 July 1973,at the time the largest flotation ever,his family retained control with an 85% stake. His father,Sir Robert Sainsbury,gave almost his entire stake in the company to David Sainsbury,his only son,whereas his uncle Alan Sainsbury split his stake in the business between his sons John Davan Sainsbury,Simon Sainsbury,and Tim Sainsbury. John Davan Sainsbury became chairman in 1969 on Sir Robert Sainsbury's retirement.
He was the group's Finance Director from 1973 to 1990,during which time the company grew rapidly. He was chairman of Savacentre from 1984 to 1993,during which time the hypermarkets business grew slowly. He was deputy chairman from 1988 to 1992. On JD Sainsbury's retirement as chairman and chief executive on 2 November 1992,David Sainsbury became chairman.
In 1996,Sainsbury's announced its first drop in profits in 22 years,and the first of three profits warnings during his chairmanship was issued. Although there were senior management changes,which included David relinquishing the chief executive's role to Dino Adriano and becoming non-executive chairman,there were no new directors or outsiders appointed to the senior management team. Profits fell the next year,but rose in 1998. At this point,David Sainsbury,who had wanted to step down at the end of 1997,made a surprise announcement of his retirement as chairman to pursue his long-held ambition to have a career in politics,after "32 enjoyable and fulfilling years" working for Sainsbury's. Sainsbury's share price increased on the day of this announcement.
On his retirement as chairman,to avoid any conflict of interest,David Sainsbury placed his then 23% stake in Sainsbury's into a "blind" trust,to be administered by lawyer Judith Portrait. When David Sainsbury announced his intention to give away £1 billion to charity in 2005,his 23% stake was sold down,eventually to 12.9% by early 2007. His beneficial holding became just 7.75% when he regained control of his shares in February 2007 following his decision to step down as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science and Innovation in November 2006. During the private equity takeover bid in the first half of 2007,David indicated he was willing to let the Sainsbury's board open its books for due diligence if someone offered him a price of 600 pence per share or more.
David Sainsbury retains a sizeable shareholding in his family's supermarket chain (around 5.85%).[5] To further his philanthropy interests,he placed 92million of his shares (representing 5.28% of the company's share capital),into his investment vehicle,Innotech Advisers Ltd (which donates all its dividends to charity),meaning his beneficial stake is just 0.57% (lower than JD's 1.6% beneficial interest). The Sainsbury family as a whole control approximately 15% of Sainsbury's. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2008 his family fortune was estimated at £1.3 billion.
Political career
Sainsbury joined the Labour Party in the 1960s,but was one of the 100 signatories of the 'Limehouse Declaration' in an advertisement in The Guardian on 5 February 1981;[6] he went on to be a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) formed by the authors of the Declaration. After the 1983 election,he prompted the party to give more priority to recruiting members and finding a firm financial base;he was by far the biggest donor to the party,and a trustee,[7] giving about £750,000 between 1981 and 1987. His donations were typically earmarked to specific projects rather than general day-to-day operations.[8]
Along with David Owen,Sainsbury opposed merging the SDP with the Liberal Party after the 1987 election,and provided office space for Owen to help him re-establish a separate political party,which was created in 1988.[9] The 'continuing' SDP was wound up in 1990,and Sainsbury changed allegiance back to the Labour Party,rejoining them in 1996. A year later,following the Labour Party's election victory,he entered the House of Lords as a Labour peer,being created Baron Sainsbury of Turville,of Turville in the County of Buckinghamshire,on 3 October 1997.[10]
Between 1996,the year he rejoined Labour,and 2006,when he stood down as a government minister,Sainsbury donated £16 million to the Labour Party,usually in batches of £1 million or £2 million each year.[11] He donated a further £2 million on 7 September 2007,stating that he was impressed by Gordon Brown's leadership and believed "that Labour is the only party which is committed to delivering both social justice and economic prosperity".[12] He gave another £500,000 on 15 December 2008,making a total of £18.5 million.[citation needed] He is associated with[vague] the Labour Friends of Israel.[13][verification needed]
In April 2006,it was reported Sainsbury "faced a possible probe into an alleged breach of the ministerial code after admitting he had failed to disclose a £2 million loan he had made to the Labour Party –despite publicly stating that he had." He subsequently apologised for "unintentionally" misleading the public,blaming a mix-up between the £2 million loan and a £2 million donation he had made earlier.[14][15]
In July 2006,he became the first government minister to be questioned by police in the "Cash for Peerages" inquiry.[16] On 10 November 2006,he resigned as Science Minister,stating that he wanted to focus on business and charity work.[17] He categorically denied that his resignation had anything to do with the "Cash for Peerages" affair,although this was contradicted by subsequent press reports attributed to "Labour insiders" which suggested that his resignation was indeed a direct consequence of the affair.[18]
Because of his importance to the Labour Party as a donor,contemporary press reports described him as "unsackable".[citation needed] He has argued that there are "far too many reshuffles",and that there were considerable benefits to his remaining in post for so long.[19]
Sainsbury has also been associated with the Institute for Public Policy Research and Progress. Between 2001 and 2011 he provided £2 million of funding for Progress.[20] In 2009,he created the Institute for Government with £15 million of funding through the Gatsby Charitable Foundation to help government and opposition politicians to prepare for political transitions and government.[21] He donated £390,000 to Progress and the Movement for Change between December 2011 and April 2013,while he was not on a UK electoral register,which is contrary to electoral law,leading to Progress and the Movement for Change being fined by the Electoral Commission.[22][23]
After the 2017 general election,Sainsbury announced he would no longer provide financial backing to party political causes,but will donate to charitable causes. During 2016 he had donated £260,000 to Progress in addition to backing "Remain" organisations.[26] However,in late 2018 he donated £25,000 to Scottish Conservatives MP Luke Graham.[27]
He ranked 14 out of 50 on the Top 50 Influential Lib Dems of 2020 list –the only non-Lib Dem member to feature.[29]
Charitable works
Sainsbury founded the Gatsby Charitable Foundation in 1967.[30][31] In 1993,he donated £200 million of Sainsbury's shares to the Foundation's assets.[32] By 2009 the foundation had given £660 million to a range of charitable causes.[33] In 2009,he allocated a further £465 million to the foundation,making him the first Briton to donate more than £1 billion to charity.[33] He set up the Sainsbury Management Fellowship scheme in 1987 to develop UK engineers into leaders in industry.
In 2011,Sainsbury was formally proposed by the Nominations Board of Cambridge University to succeed the Duke of Edinburgh as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.[38] If his election had not been contested by 17 June,he would have assumed office on 1 July.[38] However,his nomination became the first in 163 years to be contested by another candidate when,on 29 May,local shopkeeper Abdul Arain stood in protest at a planning application for a Sainsbury's Local branch in Cambridge's Mill Road district,triggering a contest that would have to wait until an October ballot.[39] Four days later,a group of Cambridge University alumni successfully drafted actor Brian Blessed as an alternative candidate.[40][41] On 20 June,socialist barristerMichael Mansfield became the third candidate to oppose Sainsbury. An election took place on 14 and 15 October 2011[42] in which Sainsbury won with 52% of the votes (2893 votes out of 5558) on a 2.5% turnout and he was confirmed to the position on 16 October 2011.[2]
On 2 February 2024,the university announced that Sainsbury had advised of his intention to step down later in the year from his role as Chancellor.[43]
Personal life
Sainsbury and his wife,Susan Carroll (née Reid),a former teacher,have three daughters. Lady Sainsbury is a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Music.[44] She was appointed DBE in the 2022 Birthday Honours,for "services to the Arts,particularly during Covid-19",described in the list as "Philanthropist".[45] The family live in the Manor of Turville in Turville,Buckinghamshire. The Manor once belonged to the abbey at St Albans,but was seized by the Crown in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1547. The manor house has since been rebuilt as Turville Park,a fine stately home in the village.[citation needed]
David Anthony Llewellyn Owen,Baron Owen,is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 to 1979,and later led the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He was a Member of Parliament for 26 years,from 1966 to 1992.
William Thomas Rodgers,Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank,is a British politician and life peer. As a Labour Party member of Parliament,he served as Secretary of State for Transport from 1976 to 1979,and was one of the "Gang of Four" of senior Labour politicians who defected to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He subsequently helped to lead the SDP into the merger that formed the Liberal Democrats in 1988,and later served as the party's leader in the House of Lords between 1997 and 2001.
Christopher Robert Smith,Baron Smith of Finsbury,is a British politician and a peer;a former Member of Parliament (MP) and Cabinet Minister;and former chairman of the Environment Agency. For the majority of his career he was a Labour Party member. He was the first openly gay male British MP,coming out in 1984,and in 2005,the first MP to acknowledge that he is HIV positive. Since 2015 he has been Master of Pembroke College,Cambridge.
Baron Sainsbury was created in 1962 for Alan Sainsbury in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
John Davan Sainsbury,Baron Sainsbury of Preston Candover,was a British businessman and politician. He served as the President of Sainsbury's,and sat in the House of Lords as a life peer and member of the Conservative Party.
Sir Timothy Alan Davan Sainsbury is a Conservative politician and businessman in the United Kingdom.
The Limehouse Declaration was a statement issued on 25 January 1981 by four senior British Labour politicians,all MPs or former MPs and Cabinet Ministers:Roy Jenkins,David Owen,Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams. It became known as the Limehouse Declaration as it was made near David Owen's London home in Limehouse. The four were known as the Gang of Four.
Michael Anthony Ashcroft,Baron Ashcroft,is a British-Belizean businessman,pollster and politician. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Ashcroft founded Michael A. Ashcroft Associates in 1972 and was the 132nd richest person in the UK,as ranked by the Sunday Times Rich List 2021,with an estimated fortune of £1.257 billion.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) formed in 1988 was a political party in the United Kingdom led by David Owen,which lasted for only two years. A successor party to the original Social Democratic Party (SDP),it was known informally as the 'continuing' SDP.
Alan John Sainsbury,Baron Sainsbury,was a British business executive and a leading member of the supermarket Sainsbury family.
The Cash-for-Honours scandal was a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations and the award of life peerages. A loophole in electoral law in the United Kingdom means that although anyone donating even small sums of money to a political party has to declare this as a matter of public record,those loaning money at commercial rates of interest did not have to make a public declaration.
The 'Gatsby Charitable Foundation is an endowed grant-making trust,based in London,founded by David Sainsbury in 1967. The organization is one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts,set up to provide funding for charitable causes. Although the organization is permitted in its Trust Deed to make general grants within this broad area,its activities have been restricted to a limited number of fields. According to the OECD,the Gatsby Charitable Foundation's financing for 2019 development increased by 40% to US$18.9 million.
Matthew Alan Oakeshott,Baron Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay,is a British investment manager and member of the House of Lords,formerly sitting in Parliament as a Liberal Democrat.
Progressive Britain,formerly known as Progress,is a political organisation associated with the British Labour Party,founded in 1996 to support the New Labour leadership of Tony Blair. It is seen as being on the right of the party.
Michael Hintze,Baron Hintze,is an Australian-British businessman and philanthropist,based in the United Kingdom.
Simon David Davan Sainsbury was a British businessman,philanthropist and art collector.
The Labour party proxy and undeclared donations was a political scandal involving the British Labour Party in November and December 2007,when it was discovered that,contrary to legislation passed during the Blair Government,the Party had been receiving significant financial donations made anonymously via third parties. The careers of Labour Party treasurer Peter Watt and the leader of the Scottish Labour Party,Wendy Alexander,were curtailed as a consequence. In May 2009 the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence for any prosecution relating to these events.
The Sainsbury family founded Sainsbury's,the UK's second-largest supermarket chain. Today,the family has many interests,including business,politics,philanthropy,arts,and sciences.
Sir David Winton Harding is a British billionaire businessman,and the founder and CEO of Winton Group. He had previously co-founded Man AHL. His approach favours quantitative investment strategies,using scientific research as the basis of trading decisions.
The University of Cambridge Chancellor election,2011 refers to a rare instance of a contested election for this position of Chancellor that occurred in October 2011,resulting in the choice of Lord Sainsbury of Turville to succeed the retiring incumbent Prince Philip,Duke of Edinburgh. The Duke had retired on 30 June 2011,shortly after his 90th birthday,having been Chancellor since December 1976. Three other candidates were nominated to oppose the candidate proposed by the university's Nomination Board;the post was won by Lord Sainsbury with 52% of the vote,with a simple majority required to avoid a runoff. Contesting the post were actor Brian Blessed,who finished second with 25% of the votes cast,barrister Michael Mansfield,QC with 17%,and local grocery-owner Abdul Arain with 6%. The election was the first time the Chancellorship had been contested since 1950,and the first actively fought contest since 1847. Although the election was conducted by the single transferable vote system,no transfers of votes were needed as Sainsbury secured a majority of first preference votes.
↑ Ivor Crewe, Anthony King, "SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party", Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 94.
↑ Jenkins, Roy (2006). A Life at the Centre. Politico's. p.599. ISBN978-1-84275-177-0. David Sainsbury, a trustee and major benefactor of the SDP, as well as a dedictated Owenite
↑ Ivor Crewe, Anthony King, "SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party", Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 249, 251.
↑ Ivor Crewe, Anthony King, "SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party", Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 422.
↑ Gordon, Sarah (23 February 2016). "The public wants to know where companies stand on Brexit". Financial Times. London. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2016. Sainsbury is unusually sensitive on the issue because of the close involvement of one of its shareholders, David Sainsbury, in funding the Remain campaign.
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