Talk:Digby Jones, Baron Jones of Birmingham

Copyright issues
This seems to be a direct copy of. Can anyone clarify if the "kind permission of the CBI" (granted where?) is compatible with the GFDL? Alai 04:43, 13 February 2006 (UTC)


 * As Alai points out, this material is taken directly for the CBI website with a few minor edits. Since this is not an acceptable copyright provenance (the CBI site has a copyright notice: copyright CBI 2006), and also suggests that the bio is not NPOV, I have removed the material in question. It would be very good if someone could now rewrite this bio without stealing directly from this website again. Via strass 16:26, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

There a too few references about what Digby Jones has actually done. The CBI is an employers' mouthpiece, not a business in itself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.77.137.57 (talk) 20:34, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

maybe he has'nt done much useful at all then? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.90.232.145 (talk) 11:14, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Climate change
I am removing the section on climate change. It stated Jones was "antagonistic to effective action". I doubt very much he would accept that he opposed "effective action". I suspect he would say he opposed pointless and damaging action. In other words, it's a point of view, but it is not attributed to anyone. Neither is the claim that Jones caused "much damage to the credibility of the CBI". A source is given, but the source does not backup the claim Wikipedia makes, or make any mention at all of Jones' impact on the credibility of the CBI. Then the article quotes Jones as saying the next Bill Gates will be the person who finds answers to climate change, which seems to contradict the idea that he opposes effective action ("next Bill Gates" sounds like a compliment to me, especially coming from a businessman).

There is also no justification given for focusing specifically on Jones' views on climate change. I suspect the idea is that his views are controversial, but he is not actually known in particular for his views on climate change and there is nothing in the article which asserts his views on this issue are notable. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.196.231.33 (talk) 15:40, 7 July 2008 (UTC)
 * On a casual google I immediately find from the Guardian: "Critics say he drags his feet on climate change."  So there's a basis for such an assertion right there.  Removal of material like this is exactly why we later on this page have the "reads like a CV" discussion.  109.255.211.6 (talk) 08:44, 16 August 2022 (UTC)

Election issues
Was Baron Jones ever elected to any public office, or is it "by appointment" only?
 * He was given a seat in the Lords and made a Minister by Brown so no, he was not elected to public office.Hobson (talk) 19:25, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

The article says that his political party is Labour. However despite being a Minister in the Labour Government he is not a member of the Labour Party and refused to join even when Gordon Brown asked him. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.131.180.197 (talk) 12:47, 15 January 2009 (UTC)


 * You are right. He did take the Labour whip in the Lords when he was a Minister, but he now sits as a crossbencher (ie an independent). Perhaps there was a case for saying "Party: Labour" in the past, but not now. I am going to change "Labour" to "Crossbench", which seems to be the style Wikipedia uses for other crossbenchers.Hobson (talk) 17:41, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Edits by User:CFRMKO
It's an suspicious set of edits by a user who has touched no other article that corrected some tenses and details in the wordings, but removed all the links to citations of newspaper articles, and made some un-cited additions to the CV.Goatchurch 10:08, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Advisor ?
According to this article:, his lordship is recently appointed as an advisor to Harvey Nash. This is quite striking because Harvey Nash was recently involved in criminal activities in the Netherlands. Trying to downsize on employees it asked the support of an organisation, headed by a well known criminal.

This organisation, then operating as a replacement bureau (Cygnus), offered the affected employees a new contract with better prospects at his associated company (Bright IT Solutions). After signing the contract, and resigning voluntarily at his current position, the employee is - however - fired in his probation period at the associated company. This operation saved the original employer both a time-consuming redundancy request at the Employment Exchange Office and the costs of a redundancy fee. In the Netherlands this turned out to be a large scale fraud with labour contracts all over the country. Even three times questions were raised in parliament. It seems that employers, using this "service", informed eachother about the remarkable achievementas of Cygnus. However, when presenting these findings, the Harvey Nash management refused to investigate them. Instead the HN management increased the pressure on the employees to sign the contracts without further delay. Former Harvey Nash employees, together with others, informed the juidicial authorities and finally the organisers of the fraud (and would-be owners of Cygnus and Bright IT Solutions) were arrested and sentenced to jail. At present the role played by the Harvey Nash management (as well as other employers) is still under investigation by authorities.

So, if his lordship values a high standard of moral he'd better resign his position at Harvey Nash.

Read more:


 * http://www.freewebs.com/belverbs/rolwerkgevers.html
 * 

Can someone put this in a few lines in the article ? Thanks 84.19.184.90 (talk) 20:10, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 1 one external link on Digby Jones, Baron Jones of Birmingham. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100415020637/http://www.bl.uk:80/supportus/pdf/friendsannrep0607.pdf to http://www.bl.uk/supportus/pdf/friendsannrep0607.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 00:48, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Digby Jones, Baron Jones of Birmingham. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070926224644/http://www.cbi.org.uk/pdf/annualreport2007.pdf to http://www.cbi.org.uk/pdf/annualreport2007.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 12:27, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

Reads like a CV
I'm not a skilled enough editor to take up the task myself, but was tidying up one or two areas on the article for practice and realised it reads like sections from a CV rather than an actual explanation of who this person is. Could someone more experienced take a look? Social scientist (talk) 21:45, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

Further actions and future directions
I have taken out some of the material that appears to be copied from Jones' personal website. What's now most notably missing from the career section -as far as I can tell- are the details of his career as a crossbench peer in the 2010s. Social scientist (talk) 12:56, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I think the entire "Registered interests" section seems like a non-notable bragsheet too. It's not strictly speaking a primary source, as it's mediated by the HoL, but it's simply a self-identified list that every such member has.  Doesn't seem to be common practice elsewhere to just cut-and-paste it into the articles of politicians, and seems no good reason for it here.  109.255.211.6 (talk) 09:06, 16 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I've made some trims, but it's still pretty heavy on "source: own puffed-up bio" stuff.  If you (or anyone else) have any further thoughts on what else needs to be done (or if what I've done is wrong) please wade on in.  109.255.211.6 (talk) 06:57, 2 October 2022 (UTC)

Alex Scott
In July 2021 Jones accused BBC Television presenter Alex Scott of "spoiling Olympics coverage by dropping her ‘g’s":, In reply Scott said "I’m from a working-class family in east London, Poplar, Tower Hamlets and I am PROUD. Proud of the young girl who overcame obstacles, and proud of my accent! It’s me, it’s my journey, my grit." She was later defended by comedian Stephen Fry who wrote on Twitter: "You are everything linguists and true lovers of language despise. Also, since we’re being picky, you are not ‘Lord Digby Jones’, you are Digby, Lord Jones. There’s a world of difference":. Should this be added? Martinevans123 (talk) 19:09, 3 August 2021 (UTC)
 * It'd be feasible to do so, as Zoe Williams had an entire column on this ("What would cure Digby Jones’s snobbery? Elocution lessons are not the answer.") and it was covered in the Indy, too. 109.255.211.6 (talk) 09:18, 16 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Fresh round of mentions of this: PA story "Alex Scott says trolling and racist abuse left her 'scared for her life'" mentions Jones appeared in a number of papers.  In fact if one looks for news sources on Jones generally, this is the topic that dominates.  I'm increasingly minded to include it.  109.255.211.6 (talk) 18:44, 2 October 2022 (UTC)

Naval "service"
The article states that "From 1974 until 1977, Jones served in the Royal Navy." giving the worst possible source for this -- himself. There's at least a brief mention in a Times piece, so that sources (and their wording) might be preferable. "Jones studied law at University College London on a Royal Navy cadetship." If his "service" was for three years, and exactly coincided with his three-year law degree, that sounds considerably less like "naval service", and more like "being a (full-time) student". Did this programme involve any actual naval duties, either before (such as an previous period as a cadet to qualify for a scholarship), during (on a reservist-type basis?), or after? (Doesn't seem to have been in the navy for any length of time post-graduation.) 109.255.211.6 (talk) 09:17, 16 August 2022 (UTC)