John Cuckney, Baron Cuckney

John Graham Cuckney, Baron Cuckney (12 July 1925 – 30 October 2008) was a British

Early life and career

Born in India to Air Vice-Marshal E. J. Cuckney and his wife Lilian, Cuckney was educated at Shrewsbury School. He read medicine at the University of St Andrews, returning after service with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and the King's African Rifles during World War II to study history and economics. He was recruited by MI5, with whom he served until 1959. Cuckney's time in MI5 featured in Peter Wright's book Spycatcher, where Wright described him as "a tough, no-nonsense" officer.^[1][2]

Business and public service

After leaving MI5, he worked in the City at stockbroking firm Standard Industrial Group, before joining merchant bank Lazard, where he became the first director to resign in over 100 years.^[1] He then established Anglo-Eastern Bank with Sir David Alliance, specialising in trade finance between Britain and the Middle East.^[3]

Cuckney was appointed chairman of the

Cuckney had gained a reputation as a "the company doctor who never lost a patient" following his involvement with the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, Crown Agents, and John Brown.[1]^[3] His appointment in 1985 as chairman of Westland, when the company was facing bankruptcy, saw him become involved in the 1985–1986 Westland affair, a political scandal for Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party government. Cuckney, with Thatcher, favoured a merger with the American company Sikorsky,^[6] while the Secretary of State for Defence Michael Heseltine favoured a European merger. The American option prevailed, and the affair led to Heseltine's resignation.

In 1992 he was appointed as an advisor to

He was created a life peer in 1995 as Baron Cuckney, of Millbank in the City of Westminster,^[7] sitting as a Conservative in the House of Lords.^[1]

Arms

References