Recent newspapers have carried obituaries of Sir Geoffrey Chandler, a genial businessman and modest war hero who championed the idea of corporate social responsibility in principle and in practice. He was of particular interest to me because he was, once upon a time, my equivalent in the UK. What do you mean? I hear you ask. There is no UK Economic and Social Council, so how could there be a Secretary General? But there was, dear reader, there was. The National Economic and Development Council, modeled closely and consciously on the French Economic and Social Council, was created (1962) and destroyed (1992) by Conservative Governments. In 1978 Sir Geoffrey became its Director General and so served (before my time) as my direct UK equivalent. The days of ‘Neddy’, as the UK Council was universally known, were effectively numbered once Margaret Thatcher came to power but it will have its place in the history books as a symbol of a time when British Conservative governments looked to French corporatist economic planning as a viable model for the UK’s declining economy.
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