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Nigel Vinson, Baron Vinson
British entrepreneur, inventor, philanthropist, and politician (born 1931) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Nigel Vinson, Baron Vinson, LVO (born 27 January 1931), is a British entrepreneur, inventor, philanthropist, and former Conservative member of the House of Lords. [1]
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Early life and education
Nigel Vinson was born on 27 January 1931, the second son of Ronald Vinson (d. 1976), a gentleman farmer of Huguenot descent,[2] and his second wife, Bettina Myra Olivia (d. 1966), the daughter of a general practitioner, Gerald Southwell-Sander.[3] She studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh but left her studies to marry.[2] She was a "voracious reader" who supplemented her sons' education by reading them classics.[citation needed]
Vinson grew up in a wealthy family, with access to education and leisure activities such as fishing, riding, and shooting on his father's property. Before the Second World War, the family employed five servants: a butler, a housekeeper, two maids, and a nanny.[2][4][5]
He was educated at Brambletye School and later at Pangbourne College. Although he qualified for a place at the University of London, his lack of a classics qualification prevented entry to Oxford or Cambridge. He chose to pursue practical business experience instead of a university degree.[6]
After finishing school, he served in the Queen's Royal Regiment from 1948 to 1950, reaching the rank of lieutenant.[7][8]
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Early career
In 1952, Vinson founded a small plastics company with two employees, later named Plastic Coatings. Operating from a Nissen hut in Guildford, the company was among the first in the UK to apply plastic coatings to metal for industrial use.[citation needed] By 1969, when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange, the company employed over 1,000 workers across five locations and received the Queen's Award for Industry in 1971.[citation needed] At the time of the flotation, Vinson allocated 10% of the company's shares to its employees before selling his stake to Imperial Tobacco and stepping down as executive chairman a year later.[9]
He later served as Deputy Chairman of Electra Investment Trust from 1990 to 1998.[citation needed]
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Political career
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Vinson left his full-time business career to reverse what he viewed as economic and political trends that would harm Britain's prosperity and freedoms. He also aimed to promote the concept of a social market economy.[9] In 1974, he sought to be selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Aldershot, though the attempt was unsuccessful. The same year, he was introduced to Antony Fisher, founder of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), and financially supported the IEA during a period of financial difficulty.[citation needed] Vinson later became an IEA trustee, chaired on its board from 1989 to 1995, and was named life IEA vice-president. He also became a close associate of Ralph Harris (later Lord Harris of High Cross), the Institute's General Director. Harris introduced Vinson to Sir Keith Joseph, who had shifted from his party's commitment to the neo-Keynesian middle way in favour of market-based policies.[citation needed]
In 1974, Vinson joined Joseph and Margaret Thatcher as a co-founder of the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS). He secured and underwrote the lease for its first premises, employed its staff, served as honorary treasurer, and co-authored its first publication, Why Britain Needs a Social Market Economy (1974).[citation needed] According to his biographer, he was involved in discussions that influenced Joseph’s decision not to run for Conservative Party leadership in 1975, a move that preceded Margaret Thatcher’s candidacy.[9]
According to a study on conservative and neoliberal think tanks, the CPS's Personal Capital Foundation Group—chaired by Vinson—was among the most influential.[citation needed] It proposed three policies later adopted by the government: personal pensions, personal equity plans (now ISAs), and the Enterprise Allowance Scheme.[10] Though he supported the IEA and CPS's pro-market stance, Vinson argued that the high interest rates imposed by Thatcher's counter-inflation policy were harsh and unnecessary and caused severe hardship. [citation needed] When an independent review of UK monetary policy confirmed this, monetary policy was gradually relaxed.[11]
On 7 February 1985, he was created a life peer as Baron Vinson, of Roddam Dene in the County of Northumberland.[12]
Vinson regularly spoke in House of Lords debates. During the 2007 and 2014 sessions, he expressed support for nuclear power,[13][14] and against policies based on British renewable generation solutions, which he claimed increased fuel poverty, while the growing world population issue remained unaddressed.[citation needed]
On 4 August 2012, Lord Vinson threatened to defect to UKIP unless the Conservatives took a more of a Better Off Out approach to Europe.[15] On 4 June 2013, he spoke and voted in the Lords against the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Bill.
From 1980 to 1990, Vinson served as chairman of the Rural Development Commission, during which time he initiated reforms to remove restrictions on rural enterprise. These included a change to planning laws that enabled redundant farm buildings to be turned into workshops, leading to the creation of thousands of small rural firms.[citation needed]
Vinson was Deputy Chairman of the Confederation of British Industry's Smaller Firms Council from 1979 to 1984 and President of the Industrial Participation Association from 1979 to 1989.[16]
Since 2003, he has been a trustee of the British think tank Civitas.[17]
He retired from the House of Lords in July 2022. [1]
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Philanthropy
The Nigel Vinson Charitable Trust, established in 1970 with an initial donation representing ten percent of Vinson's current wealth, has since donated more than £10 million to educational, humanitarian, and environmental projects, as well as to individual scholars and public policy foundations.[9] Beneficiaries have included the University of Buckingham, which unveiled the £8 million Vinson Building housing the Vinson Centre for Economics and Entrepreneurship in 2018.[citation needed]
He was the founder donor of the Martin Mere Wildfowl Reserve in 1972 and donated a village green to Holburn, Northumberland, in 2006.[citation needed]
He was a member of the Design Council from 1973 to 1980. From 1976 to 1978, he was an honorary director of the Queen's Silver Jubilee Appeal. He was a Member of the Northumbrian National Parks and Countryside Committee between 1977 and 1987 and a member of the Foundation for Science and Technology between 1991 and 1996.[citation needed]
In a 2019 article in Standpoint magazine, Vinson criticized several major UK charities for misusing donor funds, overpaying senior staff, and engaging in political activism.[18]
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Personal life
In 1972, Vinson married speech therapist Yvonne Ann, daughter of Dr John Olaf Collin (d. 2000), MB BCh,[19] of Forest Row, East Sussex.[20][21] They have three daughters[22] and nine grandchildren.[citation needed]
Vinson was invested as a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in the 1979 New Year Honours.[23][a]
He was a council member of St George's House, Windsor Castle, from 1990 to 1996.[citation needed]
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Notes
References
External links
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