Guinness Peat Group bring in former HMRC chief Clasper

INVESTMENT holdings company Guinness Peat Group has appointed former HM Revenue & Customs chairman Mike Clasper as its chairman with immediate effect.

Clasper had previously served as a non-executive director to the group, and will be swapping roles with outgoing chairman Rob Campbell, who will take up a non-executive role.

Clasper chaired HMRC between 2008 and 2012, but despite aiming to restore the public’s faith in the taxman – following a 2007 security scare when an unencrypted disc containing a list of child benefit recipients was lost – he found himself apologising for the treatment of taxpayers. This came after criticism from the Treasury’s select committee in July 2011.

In its report at the time, MPs highlighted bad management, demoralised staff, excessive job cuts and increasingly complex tax laws, which led to the apology.

Prior to Clasper’s stint with HMRC, he was group chief executive of BAA between 2003 and 2000. He is currently chairman of Coats, the industrial thread and textile crafts business, and publisher Which?.

He was previously senior independent director at ITV from which he stepped down on 31 December 2013 after eight years’ service on the board. He has also been appointed president-elect of the Chartered Management Institute where he will succeed the current president in October 2014.

Clasper said: “I am very much looking forward to leading GPG through the next stage of its evolution and I am extremely pleased that Rob is remaining on the board to give us the benefit of his experience and insight.”