Christopher Haskins

{{Short description|Irish businessman and peer (1937–2026)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Haskins | honorific_suffix = | image = The Lord Haskins.jpg | image_size = | caption = | order = | office1 = Member of the House of Lords | status1 = Lord Temporal | term_label1 = Life peerage | term_start1 = 25 July 1998 | term_end1 = 1 December 2020  | birth_name = Christopher Robin Haskins | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1937|5|30}} | birth_place = Dublin, Ireland | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2026|3|26|1937|5|30}} | death_place = | citizenship = | party = {{plainlist| * Independent (since 2005) * Labour Party (until 2005) }} | spouse = | partner =  | children = | education = | alma_mater = {{hlist| St Columba's College, Dublin | Trinity College, Dublin }} | occupation = | profession = | committees = | awards = }}

'''Christopher Robin Haskins, Baron Haskins''' (30 May 1937 – 26 March 2026) was an Irish-born businessman and life peer, who was a member of the British House of Lords from 1998 to 2020.

==Early life== Christopher Robin Haskins was born in Dublin, Ireland on 30 May 1937.<ref>[http://www.fedtrust.co.uk/uploads/Essays/Essay_27.pdf Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925213600/http://www.fedtrust.co.uk/uploads/Essays/Essay_27.pdf |date=25 September 2006 }}, fedtrust.co.uk; accessed 8 May 2015.</ref> The son of a Protestant farmer, he attended St Columba's College, Dublin, and Trinity College, Dublin, where was known as a student radical and member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Graduating with an honours degree in modern history, he contemplated becoming a journalist but later joined De La Rue.

==Career== Haskins proposed to marry Gilda Horsley, whose father consented upon condition that Haskins joined the family business, Northern Dairies, based in Yorkshire, England. Haskins agreed and joined the company in 1962.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=242|title=Northern Foods|publisher=Corporate Watch|accessdate=8 May 2015}}</ref> Haskins foresaw the huge demand for good-quality prepared meals, and turned the company into Northern Foods, whose brands include Ski yoghurt and Bowyers sausages, while Marks & Spencer are the company's largest customer for ready meals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2001/nov/18/theobserver.observerbusiness13|title=Pastures new for milk man turned rural tsar|work=The Guardian|date=18 November 2001|accessdate=8 May 2015}}</ref> Haskins became a director in 1967, deputy chairman in 1974, and was chairman from 1980 to 2002.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=The Public Sector:Managing the Unmanageable|author=Stevenson, Alexander|isbn=978-0-7494-6777-7|year=2013|publisher=Kogan Page}}</ref>

==House of Lords== Haskins was ennobled as a life peer with the title '''Baron Haskins''', of Skidby, in the County of the East Riding of Yorkshire, on 25 July 1998.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=55210|page=8287|date=30 July 1998}}</ref> During 2001, at the height of the foot and mouth disease epidemic, he became Prime Minister Tony Blair's 'rural tsar'.<ref name=":0" /> Lord Haskins retired from the Lords on 1 December 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/2644/career|title=Lord Haskins|publisher=UK Parliament|accessdate=1 December 2020}}</ref>

In August 2005, it was revealed that Haskins had donated £2,000 to the campaign of Scottish Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Danny Alexander. Following an investigation, Haskins was expelled from the Labour party for this action.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4275578.stm|title=Labour peer expelled for donation|date=23 September 2005|accessdate=2 November 2006|work=BBC News}}</ref> He subsequently sat as a crossbencher.

He was Chairman of the Better Regulation Task Force and a member of the New Deal Task Force.<ref name=":0" /> A pro-European, he was a leading member of the Britain in Europe campaign,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3955639.stm#haskins|title=Lord Haskins on the EU constitution|work=BBC News|date=28 October 2004|accessdate=2008-04-28}}</ref> the House of Lords European Sub-Committee, and was a former chairman of the European Movement. He was a fellow board member of Yorkshire Forward and also Chairman of the Council of the Open University. In 2016, he was chair of the Humber local enterprise partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.humberlep.org/people/lord-haskins-of-skidby/ |title=Lord Haskins of Skidby » Humber LEP |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=14 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914202732/http://www.humberlep.org/people/lord-haskins-of-skidby/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

==Death== Haskins died on 26 March 2026, at the age of 88.<ref>[https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/haskins/5295855 The obituary notice of Christopher HASKINS]</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Rahman |first1=Miran |title=Tributes paid to 'inspirational' businessman and regional ambassador Lord Haskins |url=https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/yorkshire/news/2152520-tributes-paid-to-inspirational-businessman-and-regional-ambassador-lord-haskins |access-date=30 March 2026 |publisher=The Business Desk |date=30 March 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Lord Haskins, Northern Foods chief, tub-thumping Europhile, farmer and New Labour 'rural tsar' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2026/04/01/northern-foods-chris-haskins-tony-blair-new-labour-tsar/ |access-date=1 April 2026 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=2 April 2026}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Wikiquote}} * [https://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/lord_haskins Lord Haskins] at TheyWorkForYou * [http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Lord_Haskins&mpc=Lords Lord Haskins at The Public Whip] * {{IMDb name| 2517155}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haskins, Christopher}} Category:1937 births Category:2026 deaths Category:Businesspeople from Dublin (city) Category:Irish expatriates in England Category:Businesspeople from Yorkshire Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers Category:Crossbench life peers Category:People educated at St Columba's College, Dublin Category:Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Category:Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014