Campbell Adamson

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Sir (William Owen) Campbell Adamson (June 26, 1922 – August 21, 2000) was a British industrialist and liberal capitalist who raised the profile of the Confederation of British Industry and pioneered a banking revolution at the Abbey National

Adamson was educated at Rugby School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he read economics. Being rejected by the armed forces due to hereditary night-blindness, he had a brief wartime stint with the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Subsequently Adamson decided to go into the steel industry where he began to gain recognition for his ideas. On 26 May 1945 Adamson married (Ada) Gilvray Allan (1921/2–1998), a sociologist, with whom he had two sons and two daughters.

A distinguished record in the steel industry drew Adamson to the attention of Harold Wilson's Labour government, and he was invited in 1967 (the year that the steel industry was nationalized for the second time) to join the relatively new Department of Economic Affairs. Adamson's role was that of senior industrial adviser, in charge of co-ordinating all the other industrial advisers.

After two years at the job, Adamson was glad to leave. He and his wife Gilvray planned a safari drive across the Sahara—a long-cherished ambition. As they were about to depart, John Davies, the founder director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), following its initial four years, rang to suggest that Adamson might be interested in the CBI job, which he was leaving. The Adamsons left for their holiday leaving poste restante addresses in Algiers and Cairo. On return to Cairo, Adamson received the somewhat surprising news that he had been appointed to the job.

Adamson's seven years with the organisation from 1969 were among the most turbulent years for British industry, and the economy, since the war. He always claimed that his biggest achievement was persuading the CBI, in 1971 to 1972, to hold back price rises, without which Heath's pay and prices policy would never have taken off. He was certainly the main architect of that policy, and it helped to halve the inflation rate. In retrospect, Adamson's most significant legacy was in carrying the CBI in support of Heath's pro-European policies. He was one of the first British industrialists to be convinced of the need to link with Europe, and his leadership was crucial in influencing Britain's largest companies.

In 1974 Adamson was involved in the widely publicized ‘Heath episode’. He had never been a strong supporter of Ted Heath's Industrial Relations Act (1971). Two days before the general election of February 1974, which Heath lost, Adamson made a speech to the Industrial Relations Society at what he thought was a private meeting. Asked what the Conservatives should do with the Industrial Relations Act if they won the election, he replied: ‘If I were them I would try to get close to the unions and hammer out something better’ (The Times). These words caused a political sensation. The unlikely claim was made by Heath that Adamson had cost him the election by his remarks. Adamson tendered his resignation, which was refused, partly on account of strong support from his staff, but his reputation undoubtedly suffered from this episode. He stayed at the CBI until 1976, when he was knighted. In 1975, Adamson won the much coveted Pipe Smoker of the Year award.

In 1977 he was nominated to follow Stella Cunliffe as a member of Council and then as President of the Royal Statistical Society. This provoked a grass-roots rebellion - Campbell came bottom of the poll of ??23 candidates for Council, and was then defeated by the relatively unknown Henry Wynn when Council persevered in proposing him as President. This was the only occasion to date when Council's nominee has not been returned unopposed.

Adamson was, however, still widely respected, and accepted several part-time board appointments. Then in 1978 he was appointed chairman of the Abbey National Building Society. Here he led a revolution. He was convinced that the building society movement needed to modernize itself, and he set about changing the status of the Abbey National from mutual ownership to a public company. Adamson retired from the Abbey National in 1991, having seen the new company make a prosperous start. Adamson's personal life also went through a period of dramatic change while on the Abbey board. He separated from Gilvray, and in 1984, married an American, Josephine Logan (Mimi) Lloyd-Chandler.

Adamson also served on the boards of many other companies, including Renold Chains, the Imperial Group, Yule Catto, Tarmac, Revertex Chemicals, and Lazards. As well as being on the boards of many charities, he was a govenor of Rugby School.

So many of Adamson's qualities can be gleaned from his Who's Who listing; brass rubbing, music, walking, arguing (in later years, he omitted brass rubbing). No one who walked with him was ever in any doubt about his unusual mix of qualities - immense sensitivity, a strong, ethically-based vision, and mischievous humour coupled with self-deprecation. (The Guardian)

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