Background
The son of a Protestant farmer, he attended Street Columba"s College, Dublin and Trinity College, Dublin where was known as a student radical and member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
The son of a Protestant farmer, he attended Street Columba"s College, Dublin and Trinity College, Dublin where was known as a student radical and member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Trinity College.
Graduating with an honours degree in modern history, he contemplated becoming a journalist. Sacked from De Louisiana Rue, he decided to marry his university sweetheart. Haskins agreed and joined the company in 1962.
Haskins foresaw the huge demand for good-quality prepared meals, and turned the company into Northern Foods, whose brands include Ski yoghurt and Bowyers sausages, while Marks and Spencer are the company"s largest customer for ready meals.
Haskins became a director in 1967, Deputy Chairman in 1974 and Chairman from 1980 to 2002. Ennobled as a life peer with the title Baron Haskins, of Skidby, in the County of the East Riding of Yorkshire on 25 July 1998, during 2001 Haskins became United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair"s "rural tsar" at the height of the foot and mouth disease epidemic.
Following an investigation, Haskins was expelled from the Labour party for this action. He now sits as a crossbencher.
In August 2005, it was revealed that Haskins had donated £2,500 to the campaign of Scottish Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Danny Alexander. He has been Chairman of the Better Regulation Task Force and a member of the New Deal Task Force. A pro-European, he was a leading member of the Britain in Europe campaign, the House of Lords European Sub-Committee, and is a former Chairman of the European Movement.
He is a fellow board member of Yorkshire Forward and also Chairman of the Council of the Open University.
