Lord Stevenson

So now we must consider, among others, the following in all the fine words as they appear in Wikipedia: Henry Dennistoun 'Dennis' Stevenson, Baron Stevenson of Coddenham, CBE, DL (born 19 July 1945) was created a life peer as Baron Stevenson of Coddenham, of Coddenham in the County of Suffolk in 1999 having previously been awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1981.

Stevenson worked as a market researcher for Conrad Jameson Associates in Lower Belgrave Street, Belgrave, London around 1968.

He is a businessman who was Chair of the SRU Group of Companies^[1] from 1972 to 1996. He became Chair of Halifax plc in 1999 and when they merged with Bank of Scotland he became Chair of the merged group, HBOS plc, from 2001 to 2008. He was also Chair of Pearson PLC. He is Chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission and Chancellor of the University of the Arts London.^[2]

On SRU a media firm the same source provides the following:

Specialist Research Unit (SRU) was a market research based consultancy formed by Dennis Stevenson and Peter Wallis in 1974. [1]

The BBC lists Peter Mandelson as having been a consultant to SRU between 1990 and 1992. [2] In 1990 a Sunday Times report on Mandelson's move to SRU described the company as "problem-solver for companies including ICI, Unilever, Marks & Spencer, BAT, Clarks Shoes, Allied Dunbar, Thorn EMI, WH Smith and Ladbroke."

In a profile on Stevenson in the Evening Standard Chris Blackhurst wrote that "while other consultancies stuck with traditional formats, SRU dared to be different. It built an enviable client list of the biggest companies and was called in to advise on the largest projects, but always remaining in the shadows, often answering only to the chairman personally." [3]

Enough background, any who watched the evidence before the Commons Committee by the failed bankers earlier this week will be fully aware of the demeanour and mannerisms of Lord Stevenson, which in my case left me struggling to digest my breakfast. Yesterday I quoted from The Times and commented as follows: Does anybody believe this statement taken from the linked The Times report: Lord Stevenson emphatically denied suggestions from one of the MPs that Mr Moore had been “subject to threatening behaviour” by the bank. He rejected Mr Moore’s allegations, saying that the bank commissioned an independent study and the matter was closed to the satisfaction of the FSA. Any who do not trust that assertion, and I suspect it will soon be shown to be false, surely will not be able to continue with Gordon Brown in Downing Street for this particular piece of filth, Sir (note that giveaway sign) James Crosby, is now a senior regulator for the ongoing wrecking activities of our demented Prime Minister. I also recall the same Lord Stevenson denying that Board Minutes had been drafted in such a manner that the warnings of unacceptable risk did not appear. Now, today, faced with the resignation yesterday of Sir James Crosby (don't you just loathe these titles when writing of New Labour scumbags) the attention must turn to the long-time Chairman of HBOS, Lord Stevenson, and his relationships to the Prime Minister who himself faces a Commons Committee of Select Committee Chairmen later today. Lord Stevenson has not been very active in the Lords, although this speech on the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill of July 2000 seems to imply that the businesses he ran might consider moving certain activities from the UK should the costs of the regulation become too severe.