Archie Norman

Born the second of five sons of two doctors, Archie Norman was educated at Charterhouse, the University of Minnesota, Emmanuel College, Cambridge and (after a short period at Citigroup), at Harvard Business School, where he obtained an MBA.

Business career

Norman joined McKinsey & Company on graduation, where William Hague (future British Foreign Secretary) was one of his protégés. He was the youngest-ever partner at McKinsey aged 28. He then held directorships at Geest and Railtrack, before becoming group finance director at Britain's then largest retailer, Kingfisher plc at 32.

From 1991 until 1999, Norman was Chief Executive and then Chairman of Asda, the large supermarket chain, and with Allan Leighton, he is credited with turning it around, and making it the second largest in the United Kingdom, before its sale to Wal-Mart in July 1999.

In November 1999, he stepped down from the chain. In the early nineties, Norman was also chairman of The Children's Trust, and in 1998, he was succeeded by Sir Brian Hill.

Married with one daughter, he has homes in Yorkshire, London and the small island of Lismore on the west coast of Scotland. His interests include farming, opera, fishing and tennis. He bought a pied-à-terre in Tunbridge Wells while MP.

In July 2004, The Independent reported he owned a REVA G-Wiz to commute around London, and outside London, he drove a Volkswagen Golf.

Political career

During the 1980s, Norman stood unsuccessfully as a Conservative candidate in council elections in Southwark, London. In 1996, on the advice of Francis Maude, Norman decided to apply for the Conservative safe seat of Tunbridge Wells, soon to be vacated by Sir Patrick Mayhew.

Norman was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for Tunbridge Wells in England, at the 1997 General Election, with a majority of 7,506. In December 1996, Labour warned that people voting for Norman would be short-changed, as he believed that being an MP was not a full-time job.

After the heavy Conservative defeat at the 1997 election, Norman supported William Hague's bid for leadership, becoming Chief Executive of the Conservative Party from July 1998 to June 1999. As Chief Executive he rationalised staffing at Conservative Central Office in Smith Square, sacking a third of the staff. He also proposed in a "Blueprint for change" plan that the election of party leader should be decided by party members, rather than MPs, and there should be a target of doubling membership.

He served as a shadow minister for the environment in 1999. From February 2000 to September 2001 he was Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions, where he was up against John Prescott on the Labour front bench.

In September 2001, after leaving the Shadow Cabinet, he founded the think tank Policy Exchange with Francis Maude. In July 2002, Norman became Chairman of Energis, having led a consortium of banks in the purchase and refinancing of the United Kingdom arm of Energis from the administrators. In October 2004, he announced his intention to step down as MP at the next general election, as he wished to pursue other interests.

In December 2004, Greg Clark was selected as the candidate to succeed him by the Conservative Party. In May 2005, Norman officially stood down as MP, prior to the general election.

In October 2016, Norman was appointed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as its Lead Non Executive Board Member, with Clark as Secretary of State.