An eco-toff archetype

Adair Turner, to take up the position of chairman of Britain’s Financial Services Authority (FSA – the main financial regulator) in September, is an archetype “eco-toff”. He is a multi-millionaire member of the establishment with strong environmentalist leanings:

* Toff: chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association (later defected to the Social Democratic Party during its brief existence), president of the Cambridge Union, a consultant at McKinsey, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, member of the House of Lords and now FSA chairman.

* Eco: trustee of the World Wildlife Fund and has an organic farm.

His wife, Orna Ni-Chionna, also fits the mould. She graduated from Harvard Business School and did a stint at McKinsey. Now she is chair of the Soil Association (which promotes organic farming) and a director of Northern Foods (brands include Goodfella’s pizza and Fox’s biscuits, it also makes many food products for retailers using their own labels).

Turner’s 2001 book, Just Capital, advocated a “middle way” between free market economics and socialism.