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Andrew Stone, Baron Stone of Blackheath

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Stone of Blackheath
Stone in 2015
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office
29 October 1997
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born (1942-09-07) 7 September 1942 (age 82)
Political partyLabour (until 2019)

Andrew Zelig Stone, Baron Stone of Blackheath (born 7 September 1942) is a non-affiliated, and former Labour, member of the House of Lords.

He retired as joint managing director of Marks and Spencer plc in 1999.

He is currently a director of several non-government organisations, a retail company and is involved in several charities. He also chairs the charity DIPEx that helps patients gain information on their condition and their options.

In October 2019, he was suspended from the Labour peers group.

Professional career

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He joined Marks & Spencer as a trainee in 1966 and retired from his position as joint managing director of the company in 1999.

He is a director of N Brown Group plc. He was the non-executive chairman of Deal Group Media plc until 2007, when he resigned from this position.[1] He is an advisory board member of The Next Century Foundation.

He was the chairman of Sindicatum Climate Change Foundation and chairman of The DIPEx Charity, a charitable health organisation. He is a governor of the Weizmann Institute of Science and honorary vice president of The Movement for Reform Judaism.

He is a patron of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, the Gauchers Association, the New Israel Fund, the Jewish Chernobyl Children, the Orphaids charity, The Forgiveness Project (as of 2004) and LEAD Nepal – Development for the future of Nepalese Youth. He is a trustee of Prism the Gift Fund and formerly a trustee of the Olive Tree Educational Trust (now The Olive Tree Scholarship Programme at City University).[2]

Political career

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He was created a life peer as Baron Stone of Blackheath, of Blackheath in the London Borough of Greenwich on 29 October 1997.[3] He has voted strongly for the introduction of a smoking ban and for gay rights. He was a working Labour peer and did not usually rebel against his party.[4] However, he has repeatedly voted against the party on House of Lords reform as well as on the Prevention of Terrorism Bill and the Hunting Bill.[5]

He has listed his political interests as conflict resolution, art and science, health and ecology.[6]

In October 2019, he was suspended from the Labour peers group after the House of Lords standards committee found that he had harassed four female colleagues and made transphobic remarks. He also repeatedly used the N-word in evidence to the commissioner in a bid to defend his conduct.[7]

In December 2024, the House of Lords recommended that Lord Stone be suspended for six months after finding that he had bullied parliamentary security staff after he had left his suitcase unattended next to a parliamentary estate entrance.[8][9] It is alleged that he called security officers 'thick and stupid' and that he refused to move his suitcase. It is further alleged that he said to a security guard 'I don't care if they piss on it' (the suitcase).[10]

Memberships

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Lord Stone is a member of the International Trade Council.[11][unreliable source?] He is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.[12]

Personal life

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Lord Stone met his wife, Wendy, when both worked for Marks & Spencer: they are now separated. They have three children. Lord Stone was awarded an honorary degree, A Doctor of Law, at Oxford Brookes University.

Arms

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Coat of arms of Andrew Stone, Baron Stone of Blackheath
Crest
A dragon passant Gules gorged with a collar attached thereto a chain reflexed over the back and grasping in the dexter foot a pair of open scissors Or.
Escutcheon
Paly of four Vert and Gules four arms embowed in armour elbows outwards those in base reversed and all conjoined at the shoulder Proper garnished Or those in chief grasping a sword the blades downwards in saltire Argent hilts pommels and quillons Or and those in base each grasping a sword blades upwards in saltire Argent hilts pommels and quillons Or.
Supporters
Upon a compartment composed of stones Proper on the dexter side a ram Sable armed and unguled Or and holding in the mouth a sprig of heather Proper and on the sinister side a ram Sable armed and unguled Or holding in the mouth a sprig of calceolaria Proper.[13]

References

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  1. ^ Entry on Lord Stone in the Deal Media website
  2. ^ "City, University of London | City, University of London". 12 June 2018.
  3. ^ "No. 54938". The London Gazette. 4 November 1997. p. 12377.
  4. ^ Entry on Lord Stone in the "They work for you" database
  5. ^ Lord Stone's voting record in "The Public Whip" database
  6. ^ Parliamentary member profile for Lord Stone[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ Walawalkar, Aaron (23 October 2019). "Labour peer suspended over sexual harassment and transphobia". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  8. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cql569v0pq2o
  9. ^ "Tory peer faces suspension over 'Lord Poppadom' remark". The Guardian. 12 December 2024. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  10. ^ "Tory peer faces suspension over 'Lord Poppadom' remark". The Guardian. 12 December 2024. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  11. ^ International Trade Council
  12. ^ "LFI Supporters in Parliament". Labour Friends of Israel. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  13. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2019.
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gentlemen
Baron Stone of Blackheath 		Followed by
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