Michael Abraham Levy

Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy wiki

"Educated at Fleetwood primary school, where he was head boy, and Hackney Downs grammar school, he went on to become an accountant. But he made his money as an impresario in the 1960s and 1970s, managing singers including Alvin Stardust and Chris Rea, and as the founder of Magnet Records who gave the public Bad Manners. Having sold the company to Warner Bros for £10m, he met Tony Blair at an Israeli diplomatic dinner in 1994, the year he became Labour leader. The two soon became tennis partners, and Mr Blair made him a life peer - Baron Levy of Mill Hill - after Labour's landslide election victory in 1997. Lord Levy has told David Osler, the author of Labour Party plc: New Labour as a Party of Business, he and Mr Blair, are "like brothers". In 2000, the prime minister made Lord Levy his personal envoy to the Middle East, with an office inside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The same year, the multi-millionaire came under fire when it was revealed he had only paid £5,000 in tax during the financial year 1998-99 - equivalent to that paid on a salary of £21,000...It was Lord Levy who secured the £1m donation to Labour from Formula One millionaire Bernie Ecclestone... He and his wife Gilda have a son, Daniel, who used to work for former Israeli justice minister Yossi Beilin, and a daughter. "

• Supporter, Labour Friends of Israel
• Former Trustee, Holocaust Educational Trust
• International Board of Governors, Peres Center for Peace
• Advisory Council, Foreign Policy Centre
• Honorary President, United Jewish Israel Appeal
• President, Community Service Volunteers

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