Weinstock: The Life and Times of Britain’s Premier Industrialist

The life and times of one of the most pivotal (and private) figures in Britain’s manufacturing industry throughout the political and economic upheavals of the last 30 years. Knighted by a Labour government in 1970 and ennobled by Mrs Thatcher in 1980, Arnold Weinstock has achieved a consistent level of business success without rival in post-war Britain. Now Alex Brummer and Roger Cowe, Guardian journalists who have closely followed his career for many years, tell the story and give their clear-eyed assessment of the man who, as managing director of GEC from 1963 to 1996, steered the company through financial and industrial turbulence to make it one of Britain’s largest and most stable businesses of the post-Cold War era. Lord Weinstock has also been at the centre of government/industrial relations throughout that time, dealing with both Labour and Tory governments at the highest level. The authors explore what makes Weinstock tick. What are the origins of his ruthless dedication to efficiency, his drive for control, and his highly personalised style of management, exemplified by the famously no-nonsense ‘Weinstock memoranda’ in which he forcefully – sometimes ferociously – outlined his views on managerial accountability? As one colleague comments, ‘He had the tremendous ability to lift people up and make them feel they could go and do something superhuman when they left the room – those who hadn’t been murdered, I mean.’ The son of a poor immigrant Polish-Jewish tailor, Weinstock was orphaned at an early age and became a wartime evacuee. From the LSE he progressed to the Admiralty, where he was in effect writing Cabinet papers in his early twenties, then to the property world and the electronics and defence industry. Here he developed the concept of the industrial conglomerate and perfected the art of the hostile takeover. In a Britain which has put so much emphasis on the short term, his has been a career devoted to long-term excellence. This riveting account sets his achievements – and his failures – in their rightful context.

About the Author :
Alex Brummer and Roger Cowe are the authors of Hanson: A Biography (1994). Alex Brummer is Financial Editor of the Guardian, where he writes a daily column. Roger Cowe is a prize-winning journalist and editor of The Guardian Guide to the UK’s Top Companies.