Tony Christopher, Baron Christopher

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"Tony Christopher" redirects here. For the American entertainer and businessman, see Tony Christopher (American businessman).

Life peerage
Personal details
Born
Anthony Martin Grosvenor Christopher

(1925-04-25) 25 April 1925 (age 99)
NationalityBritish
Political partyLabour
SpouseAdela Joy Thompson
Alma mater
  • Cheltenham Grammar School
  • Westminster College of Commerce

Anthony Martin Grosvenor Christopher, Baron Christopher,

FRSA
(born 25 April 1925) is a British businessman, trade unionist, tax official, and life peer. As of 2024, he is the last living British parliamentarian to have served in the Second World War.

Early life

The son of George and Helen Christopher, he was educated at

Cheltenham Grammar School and at the Westminster College of Commerce. Between 1941 and 1944, Christopher worked first as articled pupil then as agricultural valuers in Gloucester. From 1944 to 1948, he served in the Royal Air Force and from 1948 to 1957, he worked for the Inland Revenue
, leaving to work full-time for the Inland Revenue Staff Federation.

Trade union career

Between 1976 and 1988, Christopher was

general secretary of the Inland Revenue Staff Federation.[1] Since 1981, he is director of the TU Fund Managers Ltd and since 1983 its chairman. Also since 1983, he is elected auditor of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
and since 1988, he worked as Industrial and Public Affairs Consultant.

Christopher worked for

Birmingham Midshires Building Society. Christopher was further member of the General Medical Council (GMC) from 1989 to 1994, of the Audit Commission from 1989 to 1995 and of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission
from 1989 to 1997.

Christopher was trustee of the

Save The Children Fund from 1985 to 1990. For the Institute for Public Policy Research, he was trustee from 1989 to 1994 and treasurer from 1990 to 1994. Since 1981, Christopher is also trustee of the Trades Union Unit Trust Charitable Trust and since 1998 of the Douglas Houghton Memorial Fund
.

Honours

In the

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)[2] and in 1989 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). On 30 July 1998, he was created a life peer as Baron Christopher, of Leckhampton in the County of Gloucestershire,[3] taking the Labour whip. Following the death of Lord Carrington in July 2018, Christopher became the oldest sitting member of the House of Lords.[4]
In March 2021, he took a leave of absence from the House of Lords but as of mid-2024 has yet to return.

Since 1953, Christopher has been married to Adela Joy Thompson.

Works

  • Policy for Poverty (1970)
  • The Wealth Report (1979)
  • The Wealth Report 2 (1982)

References

  1. ISBN 9781135347697
    . Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  2. ^ "No. 49583". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1983. p. 8.
  3. ^ "No. 55215". The London Gazette. 4 August 1998. p. 8475.
  4. ^ "House of Lords, Official Website - Who is the oldest sitting Member of the House of Lords?". Retrieved 5 October 2015.
Trade union offices
Preceded by General Secretary of the Inland Revenue Staff Federation
1976–1988 		Succeeded by
Clive Brooke
Preceded by President of the Trades Union Congress
1989 		Succeeded by
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Lord Clarke of Hampstead
 Gentlemen
Baron Christopher 		Followed by
The Lord Brookman
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