George Gibson
George Gibson CH (1885–1953) was a British trade unionist and public servant. At the time of the Lynskey Tribunal in 1948–49 he was chairman of the North Western Electricity Board and a director of the Bank of England. The Tribunal found that he had allowed himself to be influenced by an improper offer from Sidney Stanley.
Career
The Tribunal's report (Cmd. 7616, para. 202) described Gibson, then 63 and living in Manchester, as originally a member and later general secretary of the Confederation of Health Service Employees, a union affiliated to the Trades Union Congress. He had been chairman of the Trades Union Congress for 1940–41. In 1946 he was made a Companion of Honour and was appointed a director of the Bank of England under the Bank of England Act 1946. From 1945 he was chairman of the North West Regional Board for Industry, until 1947, when he became chairman of the North Western Electricity Board. The National Portrait Gallery records him as a trade unionist and mental health worker, 1885–1953.
The Lynskey Tribunal
Gibson first met Stanley as a fellow passenger on the train between Manchester and London. In April 1947 he introduced Stanley to John Belcher, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, at a dinner at the Garrick Hotel. In the autumn of 1947 Stanley offered Gibson the chairmanship of a proposed new company, to be formed to acquire the Manchester retailer J. Jones (Manchester 1920) Ltd, at a salary of £10,000 a year, conditional on the Capital Issues Committee sanctioning a public issue. The Tribunal was satisfied that Stanley made the offer "to secure Mr. Gibson's support and influence" in obtaining that consent, and that Gibson "must have realised the object with which the offer was made" (paras 207, 242–243).
Gibson declined the offer on 1 November 1947, after accepting the electricity board chairmanship, but he did not break with Stanley. He obtained information from fellow Bank directors, including Lord Piercy, which he passed on, and later helped Stanley to obtain interviews and introductions. In its summary of findings the Tribunal stated that although Gibson refused the offer "for other reasons", he "continued to assist Mr. Stanley ... in the hope of material advantage to himself", and that apart from some trivial gifts all he received was a suit of clothes (para. 245).
Gibson denied that his official actions had been improperly influenced. In the Commons debate on 3 February 1949, the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, noted the finding that Gibson had been "influenced in his actions by the offer of a directorship". Winston Churchill, for the Opposition, said that Gibson had "acted with propriety in resigning his directorship of the Bank of England and also his position on the nationalised Electricity Board".