Nothing sums up how the UK Establishment works better than this glittering gemstone from ‘Yes, Minster’.
Sir Arnold is stepping down as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service. He will not be idle in his retirement. The long list of Sir Arnold’s new jobs include “Chairman of the Banque Occidentale, Director of IBM, BP, and that sort of thing, Chairman of the Opera House Trust, Chancellor of Oxford, Deputy Chairman of Bank of England, Head of the Security Commission, President of the Anglo-Caribbean Association and Secretary General of the Commonwealth.”
After his resignation as Chief Executive of BP in difficult circumstances in 2008, Lord John Browne of Madingley already wears as many hats as Sir Arnold. An examination of his many jobs seems reasonable, as Lord Browne is now hoping to add to them with the Chancellorship of Cambridge University
Chairman, Francis Crick Institute: Overseeing the governance of one of Europe’s leading biomedical research institutions.
Chairman, Courtauld Institute of Art: Leading the board of trustees at this renowned center for the study of art history and conservation.
Co-Chair, Prime Minister’s Council on Science and Technology: Providing strategic advice on science and technology policy.
Crossbench Member of the House of Lords: Participating in the UK’s upper chamber of Parliament since 2001.
Managing Director at General Atlantic: Providing strategic support and advice to the firm’s investment teams and portfolio companies
Director, Stanhope Capital Advisory Board: Stanhope Capital is a wealth management firm.
Chairman of Carbonplace: Heading the board of this carbon credit transaction platform..
Chairman of BeyondNetZero: A climate growth equity fund co-founded with General Atlantic, focusing on investments in companies developing solutions to achieve net-zero emissions.
Non-Executive Director, Venterra Group Plc: Venterra is involved in wind energy development.
Chairman, Equatic Advisory Board: Equatic focuses on carbon removal technologies.
Member, Advisory Board, Blue Bear Capital: Blue Bear Capital is a private equity firm specializing in energy technology investments.
Member, Advisory Board, Giant Ventures: Giant Ventures is a venture capital firm.
Member, Advisory Board, Terrestrial Energy: Terrestrial Energy is developing integral molten salt reactor technology.
Member, Advisory Board, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies: This company is working on high-speed transportation systems.
Member, Advisory Board, International Environmental Standards PBC: This company focuses on greenhouse gas emissions measurement, monitoring, and reporting.
Member, Advisory Board, Kayrros SAS: Kayrros provides predictive analytics for energy markets.
Member, Board of Advisors, Angeleno Group: Angeleno Group is a private equity firm focusing on energy and power.
It’s noticeable how Lord Browne is usually the Chairman or Managing Director. Clearly, being merely present isn’t enough— he must dominate.
Some of the venture capital companies focus on activities sometimes referred to as ‘green-washing’. Lord Browne’s own commitment to tackling climate change can be gauged by his enthusiasm for travel by private jet
I decided that I needed a private method of transportation. I didn’t want to use any corporate assets to get from one place to the other on my private activities. And I wanted to be able to do it quickly because time was of the essence, so I’ve used it a lot to fly to my other house which is in Venice, Italy. So one thing led to another and so I kept upgrading the contract. I started with a card and then I became on Owner for Citation XL and I was an Owner for the Citation for a long time – I think maybe I went through a couple of planes. And then I went onto a Phenom, which was ideal for me. So I used it to travel around Europe both on my private business and on my vacations…and I like it very much. It’s easy to get in and out of the airport, I find going through airports takes a lot of time if you are going commercially and it almost doubles the amount of time you have to spend on a reasonably short haul flight. “ [Interview with NetJets]
As with Sir Arnold’s long list, it’s reasonable to ask whether so much power should actually be concentrated in the hands of one retired individual, no matter how well-qualified.
12 Comments
TheGreenMan · 2 June 2025 at 11:38
A hypocrite. God help Cambridge University if he is elected
GOT_1ue · 3 June 2025 at 17:44
God help Cambridge if any of them are elected.
Xerxes · 3 June 2025 at 22:11
Lord Oil-Can is clearly much worse than the others.
If you lie before a judge, that’s perjury. By itself, it should disqualify him from standing
Cynic · 4 June 2025 at 12:54
When have people lost positions at universities for a thing like perjury? Any examples?
Ataxerxes · 4 June 2025 at 20:03
We would not consider electing Jeffrey Archer as Chancellor of Cambridge University. Or Jonathan Aitken. Or Andy Coulson. Or Tommy Sheridan. Or Carl Beech.
They all went to prison for perjury.
While perjury is a serious crime (up to 7 years imprisonment), the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) would have had to formally charge and prosecute Lord Browne
For some reason, that did not happen. 😉 It was decided that he had suffered enough.
The Head of the CPS at that time was Lord Macdonald, cofounder of Matrix Chambers with Cherie Blair. So, we see the slap-and-tickle of elite names in the story.
The same entanglements with the elite in arts and sciences runs through Lord Browne’s supporters list — so we almost certainly going to end up with him as Chancellor. This is how the story goes.
Lord Browne of Fibbingly · 4 June 2025 at 20:25
Of course, I ‘m going to win.
The People That Matter met, decided, and moved on long ago.
The rest of you can now return to your little world of lectures, seminars & research papers.
You’ll be informed when I’ve won
ProfPlum · 2 June 2025 at 18:40
There’s enough scandal on Lord Browne for a whole Netflix series.
https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/hubris-lies-and-the-gay-affair-that-brought-down-bp-boss-7261100.html
“But a ruling handed down by Mr Justice Eady yesterday laid bare the scandalous lies Lord Browne had been prepared to tell to protect himself from the scrutiny of shareholders and the BP board.
He lied to the court about how he met 27-year-old Mr Chevalier – they split up last year after four years together – and falsely accused the young Canadian of having drink and drug problems.
Lord Browne had claimed in court that his right to privacy was being invaded, even though many of Mr Chevalier’s allegations involved his business activities.
They included claims that:
(i) BP computers and support staff were used to run Mr Chevalier’s business.
(ii) BP executives were persuaded to act as directors in the lover’s company.
(iii) Browne’s personal assistant acted as the Canadian’s secretary and a senior BP employee carried cash between the lovers.
The BP boss paid for a university course in Britain so his partner could stay in the country on a student visa. Lord Browne paid for renovations to his flat in Venice with cash and “dodged” a tax bill – an allegation he vehemently denies.
Mr Chevalier, a computer operator from Toronto, shared Browne’s millionaire lifestyle for four years, staying in luxury homes – including one owned by a “well-known entertainer” rumoured to be Sir Elton John – travelling by private jet and wearing £2,000 designer suits.
He became Browne’s acknowledged partner and was invited to high-profile dinners with friends and contacts, including Peter Mandelson, formerly Tony Blair’s senior aide and now a European trade commissioner.
The life peer – ennobled by Mr Blair in 2001 – fought in the High Court and Appeal Court in a bid to gag Mr Chevalier before finally running out of legal options this week.
His defeat meant the lifting of an injunction which had prevented any details being published.
In the course of his disastrous legal action, Lord Browne lied for two weeks about how he met Mr Chevalier, claiming their paths crossed by chance while he was “exercising in Battersea Park” near his five-storey Chelsea mansion.
It was, according to Mr Justice Eady, a “deliberate and casual lie”. But the judge banned the true version of their meeting from being disclosed.
In an attempt to smear his former lover and discredit his evidence, Lord Browne told the court Mr Chevalier was “a liar, unstable and adversely affected by dependence on alcohol and illegal drugs”.
But medical records proved this was false, and a clearly angry Judge Eady was scathing in his assessment of Browne’s testimony.
He accused the BP boss of launching a pre-emptive strike against Mr Chevalier’s credibility “so that, when his evidence was submitted, I should be pre-disposed to reject it.”
The judge went on: “I am not prepared to make allowances for a ‘white lie’ told to the court in circumstances such as these – especially by a man who prays in aid his reputation and distinction and refers to the various honours he has received under the present government when asking the court to prefer his account.
“It may be that it should be addressed as contempt or as some other form of criminal offence.“
21percent.org · 2 June 2025 at 18:46
The full legal judgment is here
https://www.5rb.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Browne-v-Associated-QBD-9-Feb-2007.pdf
Lord Petrov · 2 June 2025 at 20:17
He is only running for Chancellor to add a line to his CV
Doubtful he does any more for these orgs than add a name and cash the stash
If we are stupid enough to offer him the job. The engines will still be running on his private jet at Cambridge Airport so he can be back out same day to wherever he is going next
Loadsamoney · 2 June 2025 at 22:17
Oh great. So our present but absent VC is about to switch from charging the university for first class air travel to private jets at 50k a pop?
Lord Browne of Drillmore · 3 June 2025 at 07:56
Consider the optics: what sends a stronger message of institutional prestige than Debbie and me climbing into a private jet with tail numbers embossed with the Cambridge University crest?
We’ll be closing multimillion-dollar international partnerships over champagne at 40,000 feet, dodging the indignity of airport security, and landing directly on donor estates for bespoke fundraising brunches.
A private jet isn’t a luxury—it’s an airborne boardroom, a high-altitude vessel of academic ambition
ABB — Anyone but Browne - 21percent.org · 2 July 2025 at 21:09
[…] The 21 Group has already expressed our reservations about the suitability of Lord Browne here and here. […]