24 Facts About Geoffrey Robinson

Geoffrey Robinson was Paymaster General from May 1997 to December 1998, resigning after it was revealed that he had lent his government colleague Peter Mandelson £373,000 to buy a house.

Change of government led to a swift demise for the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation, and in 1970 Geoffrey Robinson joined British Leyland, the company in the creation of which he had been instrumental.

Geoffrey Robinson was from 1972 Chairman of Innocenti in Italy, appointed following acquisition of the business by British Leyland, Robinson having played a leading role in acquisition negotiations following the death of Ferdinando Innocenti.

Geoffrey Robinson resigned in 1975 because he could not agree with the Ryder plan to integrate the many different makes under BLMC.

Geoffrey Robinson served as an executive director in what was the last volume manufacturer of motorcycles in the United Kingdom.

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Geoffrey Robinson occupied a similar non-executive role in the subsequent Triumph Motorcycles Ltd that the co-operative became when he helped negotiate away its debt with the new Conservative Thatcher government in 1981, although he left before the firm eventually closed in 1983.

Geoffrey Robinson became the MP for Coventry North West, a safe Labour Party seat, in a by-election on 4 March 1976 caused by the death of MP Maurice Edelman.

Geoffrey Robinson was Paymaster General in Tony Blair's government from May 1997 to December 1998, resigning after it was revealed that in 1996 he had lent his government colleague Peter Mandelson £373,000 to buy a house.

Geoffrey Robinson is a lover of fine wine and dining.

Geoffrey Robinson owns holiday homes in Tuscany and the South of France, and owns a penthouse flat in London's Park Lane.

Geoffrey Robinson bought the house Orchards in Godalming, Surrey which has been described as 'among the finest Surrey Houses'.

Geoffrey Robinson bought and restored Lutyens' Marshcourt but sold it again in 1999 after resigning as Paymaster General.

In 2000 Geoffrey Robinson published a memoir of his time in the Blair government, The Unconventional Minister: My Life Inside New Labour.

Geoffrey Robinson was the subject of Tom Bower's 2001 book The Paymaster.

Coventry Telegraph's Simon Gilbert claimed in 2015 that Geoffrey Robinson had told party activists he would step down to allow Greg Beales, Director of Strategy and Planning for the Labour Party and a former aide to Ed Miliband, to contest his seat.

An email appeared to show Beales and Geoffrey Robinson discussing introductions to prominent members of the local Labour party.

The email, apparently sent before any announcement of Geoffrey Robinson's resignation, suggested selection of a new MP would take place within two weeks.

Geoffrey Robinson supported Remain in the EU referendum and subsequently voted against the EU Withdrawal Bill, in line with his party's whip.

In May 2019 it was alleged that Geoffrey Robinson had been a spy for the Communist Czechoslovakian government, shared 87 confidential pieces of defence-related information between 1966 and 1969.

Geoffrey Robinson is alleged to have had 51 meetings with Czechoslovakian authorities and had been in contact with Russian KGB agents.

Geoffrey Robinson was among a number of Labour MPs who did not seek re-election at the 2019 general election.

Geoffrey Robinson has had a long association with Coventry City FC, being a member of the board of directors from 1996.

In 1997, when Geoffrey Robinson was made Paymaster General, he was forced to stand down from the board because members of the government were not permitted to hold directorships.

On 21 September 2005, Geoffrey Robinson was named as acting Chairman of Coventry City after chairman Mike McGinnity was asked to step down by his doctor for an indefinite period due to ongoing health problems.