Background
Vinson is the son of Ronald Vinson, a farmer, Vinson was educated at Pangbourne.
Vinson is the son of Ronald Vinson, a farmer, Vinson was educated at Pangbourne.
After school he served in the Queen"s Royal Regiment from 1948 to 1950, reaching the rank of Lieutenant. In 1952 Vinson began a small plastics company in Guildford (Plastic Coatings Limited), which in 1969 was floated on the Stock Exchange, with over 1,000 employees. Vinson was Deputy Chairman of the Confederation of British Industry"s Smaller Firms Council from 1979 to 1984 and President of the Industrial Participation Association from 1979 to 1989.
He was Director of the Sugar Board from 1968 to 1975, Director of the British Airports Authority from 1973 to 1980, and a Director of Barclays Bank from 1982 to 1987.
He worked for the Centre for Policy Studies between 1974 and 1980. Vinson was Deputy Chairman of Electra Investment Trust 1990 to 1998 and was also chairman and deputy chairman of a number of other firms and trusts.
From 1976 to 1978 he was an honorary director of the Queen"s Silver Jubilee Appeal. Since 2003, he is a Trustee of Civitas (think tank).
And is life Vice President of the Institute of Economic Affairs where he was Chairman of Trustees 1989 to 1995.
On 7 February 1985, he was created a life peer as Baron Vinson, of Roddam Dene in the County of Northumberland. Vinson has been married to Yvonne Collin since 1972. They have three daughters.
He is a regular attender at House of Lords debates, and spoke in the 2007 and 2014 sessions in support of nuclear power, against what he sees as the folly of policies based on costly British renewable generation solutions, increasing, he argues, fuel poverty, whilst the growing world population issue remains unaddressed.
On the 4 August 2012, Lord Vinson threatened to defect to UKIP unless the Conservatives took a more Better Office Out approach to Europe. On 4 June 2013 he spoke and voted in the Lords against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.
He was a Member of the Northumbrian National Parks and Countryside Committee between 1977 and 1987, and a member of the Foundation for Science and Technology between 1991 and 1996. He was a member of the Design Council from 1973 to 1980 and unsalaried Chairman of the Rural Development Commission 1980 to 1990. He was a council member of Street George"s House, Windsor Castle, from 1990 to 1996.