Gerry Robinson

Gerry Robinson is a former Chairman of the Granada Group (1996-2001) who was given the job of Head of the Arts Council by Tony Blair in 1998, a position he held until 2004. He gave more than £5000 to the Labour Party in 1997 and 1998, and £20,000 in May 2001.

Career

At Granada Robinson was paid £1,069,000 in 1999 and also made £5,263,438 from share options. He was paid £981,000 in 1998 (and £857,000 in 1997) at a time when Granada Television workers were striking over a 3% pay offer. In 1997 he was paid £375,000 for shortening his contract from 3 to 2 years. Shortly after the European Working Time Directive came into force, all 40,000 workers in the Group's Forte Hotels received letters offering them the "opportunity" to opt out of the 48-hour maximum working week.

When the Hospitality division of Granada merges with Compass Catering and splits from the rest of the Group in 2001, he is expected to cash in share options worth £6 million. Although he will step down from the board he will work as a consultant until 2003 on his £1 million salary.

In 1994 Gerry Robinson was Chairman of London Weekend Television (LWT), where a number of important Labour figures including Peter Mandelson, Greg Dyke, Trevor Phillips, Lord Bragg and Charles Leadbetter (Demos) also worked.

Charles Allen, Granada Chief Executive sits on the North West Regional Competitiveness Working Party and several Tourism Strategy working parties. Allen and Gerry Robinson made millions together through a management buy-out of Compass Catering in 1988. Stephanie Monk, Granada Group Human Resources Director, is a member of the Low Pay Commission and the New Deal Task Force. The former Chairman of Granada, Lord Alex Bernstein, was a Labour Party donor in 1997 and pledged £200,000 in 1999. He was given his peerage in March 2000. Granada Television was a sponsor of the Labour Party in 1999.

Robinson was of the 58 business leaders who wrote to the Times in May 2001 in support of the Labour Party.

He lives in a mansion in Holland Park, London and spends weekends in Donegal with his wife and children.

References

Taken from 'Gerry Robinson' available through search function on http://www.red-star-research.org.uk/subframe5.html