Background
Mills was born in Hampstead Garden Suburb, the son of British Army Colonel Kenneth Mills, who according to The Independent was a senior spy.
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John Mills
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Education
Merton College.
Career
The company is known for its direct-to-consumer marketing through major retail stores groups and its shopping channels. At the end of World World War II, Kenneth Mills was running MI5"s operations from Gibraltar. Later, he was transferred to Jamaica and—according to a family legend—personally foiled an attempted revolution in Cuba.
Mill"s brother is lawyer David Mills who is married to the former Labour minister Tessa Jowell.
Searching for extra income as a student, he started selling household cleaning goods door-to-door, and in 1958 hired a plane to fly fellow students to Canada for summer jobs by selling off the seats. After two years of National Service he joined Unilever"s graduate scheme, but quit after six months to start his own business.
Charged by Trading Standards for selling brass trinkets as gold-plated jewellery, he pleaded guilty and was fined £750. Mills then founded Fairlane United Kingdom Limited., which initially sold imported products at trade fairs and exhibitions, and latterly manufactured them.
As the pound rose during Margaret Thatcher"s government, Fairlane United Kingdom went bust in 1984.
Outside of JML, Mills has published a series of books on economics, a subject on which he regularly blogs. His has a private pilots licence, and is on the board of various eurosceptic lobby groups, and charity boards including SANE. Mills has published a number of books on the history of economics, including "A Critical History of Economics". He has also published books advocating a deep devaluation of sterling and criticising the economics of the Eurozone.
He is Vice-Chairman of the Economic Research Council, Secretary of the Labour Euro-Safeguards Campaign, Company-Chairman of Business for Britain, and Chairman of The Pound Campaign.
Politics
Educated privately at Glenalmond College in Scotland, he then read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Merton College, Oxford. A supporter of the Labour Party, he served as a councillor for the party in the London Borough of Camden for most of the period between 1971 and 2006. During this time he held a number of political appointments, including Deputy Chairman of the London Docklands Corporation, Chair of the Housing Committee at the Association of Metropolitan Authorities and the London Boroughs Association, and Chair of both the Housing and Finance Committees of the London Borough of Camden.
In 2013, it was revealed he had donated £1.65m to the Labour Party in JML shares, making him the party"s biggest financial backer.
Membership
Mills was a Labour member of Camden London Borough Council from 1971 until 2006, and is presently (2014) the biggest donor to the Labour Party United Kingdom.
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Born
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Died
March, 2011 (aged 72) -
Political Party
Labour Party