The Right Honourable The Lord Turner of Ecchinswell |
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Baron Turner of Ecchinswell in 2016, portrait via the Royal Society
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Director of the Confederation of British Industry | |
In office 1995–1999 |
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Preceded by | Howard Davies |
Succeeded by | Digby Jones |
Personal details | |
Born |
Jonathan Adair Turner 5 October 1955 Ipswich, England |
Spouse(s) | Orna Ní Chionna |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
Jonathan Adair Turner, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell (born 5 October 1955) is a British businessman, academic and was Chairman of the Financial Services Authority until its abolition in March 2013. He is the former Chairman of the Pensions Commission and the Committee on Climate Change, as well as the former Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry. He has described himself in a BBC HARDtalk interview with Stephen Sackur as a 'technocrat'. He is a vocal advocate of the so-called "Helicopter money" idea whereby central banks would finance directly government spending or cash distribution to citizens.
Adair Turner was born in Ipswich. He grew up in Crawley and East Kilbride (both new towns - his father Geoffrey was a University of Liverpool-educated town planner), and initially attended Hutchesons' Grammar School in Glasgow, then moved to Argyll. He attended Glenalmond College and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he took a double first in History and Economics and became President of the Cambridge Union. He was also Chairman of the University's Conservative Association. He joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981.