Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt honour former supermarket chief

Lord Sainsbury

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Lord Sainsbury, the controversial businessman and politician, is amongst those receiving honorary doctoral degrees from both the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University.

The former Science Minister and Labour Party peer received an Honorary Degree of Doctor honoris causa from the University of Edinburgh on Tuesday 27 November, having been awarded a Doctor of Engineering degree from Heriot-Watt the previous week. Both were awarded in recognition of Lord Sainsbury’s role in founding the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, an organisation that awards grants to charitable causes, in 1967.

Heriot-Watt in particular pointed to Lord Sainsbury’s and the foundation’s “championing of science, technology and innovation.”

Multi-millionaire Lord Sainsbury, most of whose personal fortune is derived from his family’s supermarket chain, resigned as Science Minister in November last year, following the cash-for-honours investigation, during which he was questioned over an undisclosed £2 million loan to the Labour Party. He had previously been cleared of breaching ministerial code by not declaring the loan, claiming he had confused it with a £2 million donation he had also made to the party.

Lord Sainsbury has previously been accused of conflicts of interest in his role as Science Minister, particularly with respect to GM crops, having a large investment in biotechnology company Diatech Ltd, held in a supposedly “blind” trust during his time in government.

Adam Ramsay, campaigner and University of Edinburgh student, said: "Lord Sainsbury has long used his position in government to promote his own commercial interest. He has made millions from the government’s failure to regulate supermarket monopolisation, while hundreds of jobs are lost and communities are destroyed.”

“As science minister he gave the go ahead for GM crops–an industry he had millions of pounds invested in. Lord Sainsbury is symbolic of New Labour corruption. Why is our university symbolically honouring him?"

Others receiving University of Edinburgh honorary doctorates included George Reid, former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, and Sir Keith O’ Nions, Director General of the Research Council.

Heriot-Watt honours also went to Stuart Rose, Chief Executive of Marks and Spencer, and Lord Wallace of Tankerness, former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the first Deputy First Minister of the Scottish Executive.

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