| The Right Honourable The Lord Levy |
|
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 July 1944 |
| Political party | Labour |
| Religion | Judaism |
Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy, (born 11 July 1944) is President of Community Service Volunteers (CSV) Jewish Care, Jewish Free School (JFS) and Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade (JLGB).
Levy is a Labour member of the House of Lords and was the chief fundraiser for the UK Labour Party. A long-standing friend of former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, Lord Levy spent nine years from 1998 to 2007 Tony Blair's special envoy to the Middle East.[1] being replaced by Gordon Brown's appointee, Michael Williams from September 2007.
Levy was arrested and questioned in connection with the "Cash for Honours" inquiry by the Metropolitan Police on 12 July 2006 (whereby it was suggested that monies were paid to political parties for Honours in particular peerages).[2] In July 2007 the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges against him.
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Born in Stoke Newington, North London, to devout Jewish immigrant parents of modest means, Levy was educated at Grocers, later known as Hackney Downs Grammar School.[3]
Levy qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1966 (ACA then FA) and set up a very successful professional accountancy practice.
The practice attracted a great number of clients in the music and entertainment industry and Levy became a specialist in international copyright and licence.
Amongst the clients were The Foundations - Vanity Fair - Roger Greenaway, Barry Mason and many other successful producers and artists.
Levy founded Magnet Records in 1973 and this became one of the most successful independent labels and at one stage had 10% of the British singles market with four singles in the top ten.
The successful artists on the label included Alvin Stardust, Chris Rea, Bad Manners, Darts, Susan Cadogan, Silver Convention and Guys and Dolls.
Levy sold Magnet Records to Warner Brothers in 1988 for £10m.
Guitarist Chris Rea said of Levy, "He is extremely tough, one of the hardest bastards I have ever met, but I would leave my children with him rather than anyone else." The music producer Pete Waterman described him as "the greatest salesman I have ever met. He would be able to sell sand to the Arabs."[3]
After Magnet was sold, Levy set up M&G Records with backing from Polygram. M&G Records was so named as it was the initials of Michael and his wife Gilda, and featured acts such as Zoe who had a top five hit with "Sunshine On A Rainy Day" and Pele who had success with "Fair blows the wind for France". Polygram were then bought out and the company was eventually sold to Bertlesmann (BMG) in 1977.
Levy was involved in fundraising from his early life and from the late 1960s for many causes including Jewish and Israeli causes. For this he showed a special adeptness, raising, between 1988–1994, £60m for Jewish Care, an amalgam of several Jewish charitable organisations, of which he is now President.[3] Simon Morris, Chief Executive of Jewish Care, said of Levy that, when it comes to fundraising, "there's no one better in the country."[4] He is also a supporter of the NSPCC.[5]
Levy first met Tony Blair at a dinner party in 1994, hosted by Israeli diplomat Gideon Meir,[3] the two having a common friend in Eldred Tabachnik, a senior barrister (now a QC and a former president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews) at 11 King's Bench Walk, the chambers founded by Derry Irvine where Blair had trained in the early 1980s.[6] They soon became close friends and tennis partners. Levy ran the Labour Leader's Office Fund to finance Blair's campaign before the 1997 general election and received substantial contributions from such figures as Alex Bernstein and Robert Gavron, both of whom were ennobled by Blair after he came to power. Levy himself was created a life peer in 1997 as Baron Levy, of Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet. Since making his maiden speech on 3 December 1997, Levy has not spoken in a debate at the House of Lords.
He has been described by The Jerusalem Post as "undoubtedly the notional leader of British Jewry".[6] He was a founding member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the leadership of UK Jewish community. Levy has close ties with Israeli political leaders. He has a home in Herzliya - Israel. [7] His son, Daniel Levy, was active in Israeli political life, and has served as an assistant to the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and to Knesset member Yossi Beilin. Daniel is now based in the USA and heads a think tank linked to the New America Foundation. Levy has praised Blair for his "solid and committed support of the State of Israel".[8] and "his commitment to the peace process".
Known as "Lord Cashpoint" to some in the media and politics,[6] he was the leading fundraiser for the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007 (having raised over £100m for the Labour Party. In 2007 he voluntarily decided to step down at the same time as former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In 2000, Levy was heavily criticised when it was revealed that he had paid only £5,000 tax during the financial year 1998-1999[9] - however it as shown even in that year the tax paid was £30,000. In an interview at the time, repeated on BBC2's Newsnight on 16 March 2006, Levy stated that "Over the years I have paid many millions of tax and, if you average it, each year it comes to many hundreds of thousands of pounds. In that particular year, I was giving my time to the Labour Party and the voluntary sector, and I just lived off capital.".[10]
From 1998 until 2007, he acted as Prime Minister Blair's personal envoy to the Middle East.
Many leaders in the region including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have praised Levy for always offering constructive suggestions. Mr Blair has said Lord Levy carried out "a perfectly excellent job as my envoy under very difficult circumstances".
In September 2005, Levy was appointed President of the Council of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, the body overseeing the government's Specialist schools and Academy programmes.
(Whereby it was suggested that monies were paid to political parties for Honours in particular peerages).
On 12 July 2006, Lord Levy was arrested and immediately released on bail in connection with Scotland Yard's investigation into the "Cash for Honours" controversy.[2] In March 2006, it was revealed that the Labour Party had raised £14 million in loans from private individuals, some of whom were later nominated for peerages. Unlike political donations, that are governed by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 or PPERA, loans made on a commercial basis do not have to be declared.
Levy stopped his fundraising activities for Labour when Tony Blair left office, something he had always indicated he was likely to do. Since then he has strongly advocated increased state funding of political parties.
On 30 January 2007 it was announced that he was arrested by police on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice regarding the cash for peerages investigation and immediately released on bail.[11]
On 20 July 2007, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that Lord Levy was not to be prosecuted in connection with the so called "Cash for Honours" affair and there were to be no charges against him.[12]
Levy is President of Jewish Care, the Jewish Free School, Community Service Volunteers and the Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade.[13][14]
He is the Chair of the Policy Network Foundation, a policy think tank.
He also holds and has held a number of other positions in the voluntary sector.
In 2008 Levy became Chairman of International Standard Asset Management.[13]
He and his wife Gilda have a son, Daniel and a daughter Juliet.
Levy's home in Totteridge, North London was burgled in 2003. He and his wife, Gilda were restrained with handcuffs and had bleach poured over them. Levy was hit on the head with a shovel and had his wrist broken; the attackers fled with £80,000 of cash and jewellery.[6]
Lord Levy's autobiography, "A Question of Honour", was published in 2008.[15]
Lord Levy has also received the following awards and recognitiion:-
Honorary Doctorate - Middlesex University, 1999 Israel Policy Forum (USA) Special Recognition Award 2003 Recipient of the 1994 B'nai B'rith First Lodge Award Recipient of the Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Scopus Award 1998