Robin Birley (businessman) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Robin Birley is an English businessman and political activist. He is the son of Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart and nightclub owner Mark Birley

Mark Birley

Marcus Lecky Oswald Hornby Birley , known as Mark Birley, was a British entrepreneur known for his investments in the hospitality industry...

. He had a brother, Rupert (disappeared and presumed deceased) and a sister, India Jane Birley

India Jane Birley

India Jane Birley is a British artist, heiress and businesswoman. She was a co-owner/manager of her father's famed London nightclub, Annabel's, in its later years, as well as some of her father's other establishments.-Biography:...

, from whom he is estranged.

Career

Birley has long been a figure in United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

business, public relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

and politics

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

. Until 2004 he was chairman of the Democracy Movement

Democracy Movement

The Democracy Movement is a crossparty Eurosceptic pressure group in the UK with around 150 local branches.-History:The Democracy Movement was founded by Lady Annabel Goldsmith in January 1999. She became its President and her son, businessman Robin Birley, served as the organisation's chairman...

, a crossparty pressure group once financed by Paul Sykes that succeeded the efforts of the now defunct Referendum Party

Referendum Party

The Referendum Party was a Euro-sceptic, single issue party in the United Kingdom formed by Sir James Goldsmith to fight the 1997 General Election. The party called for a referendum on aspects of the UK's relationship with the European Union.-Policy:...

. The Democracy Movement actively campaigns against a European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

constitution and a single European currency.

A staunchly conservative Eurosceptic, Birley stood as a candidate for the Referendum Party

Referendum Party

, founded by his stepfather Sir James Goldsmith with the aim of creating a referendum on UK membership in the European Union

European Union

.

In 1998, Birley began his work with Chilean Supporters Abroad. During a break in the trial of Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

's former president Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet

Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...

, Birley welcomed him to England and helped finance a sumptuous residence for him as well as a pro-Pinochet pamphlet. Birley stated: "It's also an abuse of hospitality to ambush an old man when he has come to this country year after year. He has done an immense amount for Chile. No one is supporting him and I have sympathy for the underdog

Underdog (competition)

An underdog is a person or group in a competition, frequently in electoral politics, sports and creative works, who is popularly expected to lose. The party, team or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the rare case where an underdog wins, the outcome is an upset. These...

.". Pinochet was the leader of a military junta which overthrew the democratically elected government of Chile in 1973.

In the early 1990s, Birley was president of the Mozambique Institute, which supported Renamo, a conservative political party sponsored by the white minority government in Rhodesia

Rhodesia

Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...

and later the by the apartheid regime in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. Birley once told George Monbiot

George Monbiot

George Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...

, that he believed he "had not just a right but a duty to give help to Renamo.

In 2005, Birley financed David Davis

David Davis (British politician)

David Michael Davis is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden...

' bid to become the leader of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

. Birley described Davis as "the most conservative of the candidates". Although the position ultimately went to David Cameron

David Cameron

David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....

, Birley's half-brother Zac Goldsmith

Zac Goldsmith

Frank Zacharias Robin "Zac" Goldsmith, MP is an English environmental journalist, entrepreneur and Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Richmond Park since winning the seat at the 2010 general election.Goldsmith is the middle child of the late financier Sir...

was given a high profile role as the party leader's advisor on environmental

Natural environment

The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....

issues.

When his father needed to use a wheelchair

Wheelchair

A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...

full-time, Birley and his sister took over the operation of his nightclub empire. Birley is best known for revamping Annabel's

Annabel's

Annabel's is a London nightclub, located at 44 Berkeley Square, London. It was founded by entrepreneur Mark Birley and named after Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart, then his wife.-Background:...

, the legendary London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

hotspot founded by his father and named for his mother.

However in late 2006, Birley was dismissed by his father and his sister on the grounds of alleged misconduct

Misconduct

A misconduct is a legal term meaning a wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated or intentional purpose or by obstinate indifference to the consequences of one's acts....

for having engaged a private investigator

Private investigator

A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...

to do a background check

Background check

A background check or background investigation is the process of looking up and compiling criminal records, commercial records and financial records of an individual....

on the father of his 45 year old sister India Jane's love child without her knowledge or permission. Birley paid £200,000 for what turned out to be false information. For this reason he and his sister, India Jane, are estranged.

Envirotrade

Since his dismissal

Termination of employment

-Involuntary termination:Involuntary termination is the employee's departure at the hands of the employer. There are two basic types of involuntary termination, known often as being "fired" and "laid off." To be fired, as opposed to being laid off, is generally thought of to be the employee's...

, Birley has concentrated on his company Envirotrade, which sells carbon credit

Carbon credit

A carbon credit is a generic term for any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or the mass of another greenhouse gas with a carbon dioxide equivalent equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide....

s. These carbon credits allow companies to voluntarily offset their carbon emissions. Envirotrade has set up community forestry projects in Mozambique

Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

and Bhutan

Bhutan

Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...

to produce carbon credits through reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and agroforestry

Agroforestry

Agroforestry is an integrated approach of using the interactive benefits from combining trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock.It combines agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems.-Definitions:According to...

.

In April 2010, the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

admitted that a documentary about Birley titled Taking The Credit, produced by Rockhopper TV, should not have been shown because of conflicts of interest.

Private life

Birley grew up in London

London

with his siblings, Rupert and India Jane. He was educated at Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

. His parents were divorced after his mother had two children with his father's friend Sir James Goldsmith

James Goldsmith

Sir James Michael "Jimmy" Goldsmith was an Anglo-French billionaire financier and tycoon. Towards the end of his life, he became a magazine publisher and a politician. In 1994, he was elected to represent France as a Member of the European Parliament and he subsequently founded the short-lived...

. His mother eventually married Goldsmith and continued their polyamorous relationship. Birley has three half-siblings through his mother's second marriage, Zac

Zac Goldsmith

, Jemima

Jemima Khan

Jemima Marcelle Khan is a British writer and campaigner. She is associate editor of the New Statesman and European editor-at-large for Vanity Fair. She has worked as a charity fundraiser, human rights campaigner and contributing writer for British newspapers and magazines...

, and Ben Goldsmith

Ben Goldsmith

Benjamin James Goldsmith is an English financier and environmentalist.- Career :Goldsmith is a founding partner of a venture capital fund that invests in clean technologies, and of its sister company...

.

During his adolescence, Birley was mauled by a tiger at Howletts Zoo

Howletts Zoo

Howletts Wild Animal Park was set up as a private zoo in 1957 by John Aspinall near Canterbury, Kent. The animal collection was opened to the public in 1975...

, the private zoo of family friend John Aspinall

John Aspinall

John Aspinall may refer to:* John Aspinall , zoo owner and gambler* John Aspinall , engineer* John Thomas Walshman Aspinall , English Conservative Party politician, Member of Parliament for Clitheroe 1853...

. The bones on one side of his face were crushed. He has endured years of cosmetic surgery but the accident left him severely disfigured

Disfigurement

Disfigurement is the state of having one's appearance deeply and persistently harmed medically, as from a disease, birth defect, or wound.Disfigurement, whether caused by a benign or malignant condition, often leads to severe psychosocial problems such as negative body image; depression;...

.

In 1986, his brother Rupert drowned in mysterious circumstances whilst working in Togo

Togo

Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...

, West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

, but his body was never recovered.

Robin Birley has a daughter, Maud, by a former girlfriend. He married Lucy Helmore

Lucy Helmore

Lucy Ferry is a former model and London socialite who is the former wife of Roxy Music lead singer Bryan Ferry....

, the ex-wife of Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...

, in October 2006.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.