Robin Granville Hodgson, Baron Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, (born 25 April 1942) is a British Conservative Party politician and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

Early life and education

Hodgson was born in 1942 in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

, son of Henry Edward Hodgson. He was educated at the independent, fee-paying

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by royal charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsb ...

. He graduated from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 1964 and attained an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from the

Wharton School of Finance The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

in 1969.

Political career

Hodgson ran as a Conservative in both the

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and October 1974 general elections, in which he unsuccessfully contested the strongly Labour seat of Walsall North. However, in a 1976 by-election caused by incumbent

John Stonehouse John Thomson Stonehouse (28 July 192514 April 1988) was a British Labour and Co-operative Party politician, businessman and minister who was a member of the Cabinet under Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He is remembered for his unsuccessful atte ...

's imprisonment, Hodgson managed to overturn the large Labour majority to become the seat's Member of Parliament. However, at the 1979 general election, Hodgson could not hold the seat against the Labour candidate,

David Winnick David Julian Winnick (born 26 June 1933) is a British Labour Party politician who served 42 years as a Member of Parliament (MP), for Walsall North between 1979 and 2017, he was also the MP for Croydon South from 1966 to 1970. Early life Bo ...

, despite achieving an 11% swing for the Conservatives. The seat was then held by Labour until

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, when it was won back by the Conservatives' Eddie Hughes. In 1981, he was selected as the candidate for the safe Conservative seat of

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...

, but resigned his candidature in 1982 for undisclosed personal reasons, and never returned to the Commons. He was awarded a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the 1992

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. Hodgson served as Chairman of the National Union of Conservative Associations from 1996 until 1998, and as Chairman of the National Conservative Convention from 1998 until 2000. He was created a life peer, as Baron Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, ''of Nash in the County of Shropshire'', on 7 June 2000. In November 2011, Hodgson was appointed by David Cameron's government to perform a wholesale review of the

Charities Act 2006 The Charities Act 2006 (c. 50) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to alter the regulatory framework in which charities operate, partly by amending the Charities Act 1993. The act was mostly superseded by the Charities A ...

and

Charities Act 2011 The Charities Act 2011 (c. 25) is a UK act of Parliament. It consolidated the bulk of the Charities Act 2006, outstanding provisions of the Charities Act 1993, and various other enactments. Repeals Legislation repealed in its entirety by th ...

, which was published in 2012. He is an ambassador for the volunteering network, REACH. In May 2021 Hodgson co-authored an essay entitled "Population Growth, Immigration, and 'the Levelling Up' Agenda" with Lord Horam, for inclusion in ''Common Sense: Conservative Thinking for a Post-Liberal Age'' published by the

Common Sense Group The Common Sense Group is an informal group of MPs in the British Conservative Party. ''The'' ''Guardian'' described it as a hard-right group that was sympathetic to culture wars. It was created in 2020, inspired by the European Research Gr ...

, an informal group of Conservative MPs.

Business career

Hodgson has more than 40 years’ experience in the private equity, securities and investment banking industries. He co-founded the private equity and investment banking specialist group Granville in 1979, and spearheaded its growth as chief executive and then chairman. Lord Hodgson played a role in developing the new regulatory structure of the City, including 10 years as a director of the Securities and Futures Authority. He is the co-founder and Chairman of Nova Capital. Lord Hodgson holds a number of other non-executive directorships, is an active private investor and is Chairman of Nova’s Investment Committee. He has also at various times been director of Staffordshire Building Society and Marstons plc, the pub chain.

Personal life

In 1982, Hodgson married Fiona Ferelith Allom, who was created Baroness Hodgson of Abinger in 2013.

References

*''Times Guide to the House of Commons 1979'' * *

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, Robin Baron Hodgson of Astley Abbotts Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, Hodgson, Robin, Baron Living people Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, Hodgson, Robin, Baron Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, Hodgson, Robin, Baron Honorary Fellows of St Peter's College, Oxford Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, Hodgson, Robin, Baron Spouses of life peers UK MPs 1974–1979 People educated at Shrewsbury School Life peers created by Elizabeth II National Council for Voluntary Organisations presidents