Mr Barry Townsley CBE .. a fascinating career

Those interested in the varied and interesting career of Barry Townsley CBE (Governer of the Weizmann Institute of Science, British friend of The Israel Center for Social & Economic Progress , along with ex jail bird Gerald Ronson) might like to look at this Times storyof October 2005 ....


On a stormy night in December 2003, a colourful group of international businessmen gathered at Villa Castagnola, a grand hotel on the shore of Lake Lugano in Switzerland.

The former home of a Russian nobleman, it made a sumptuous setting for two days of talks. The main item on the agenda: how to spend the £150m that had made Crown Corporation the largest cash shell on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

Among those present were Crown’s chairman Mariusz Rybak, a Canadian technology executive, and Jean-Pierre Regli, a Swiss-Italian banker and the company’s co-founder.

A full line-up of advisers included Barry Townsley of stockbroker Insinger Townsley, a Labour donor who had supported (to the tune of £10,000) Frank Dobson’s bid to become mayor of London. The bad weather meant he and Simon Fox, also from Insinger, had to hire a private jet to make the journey from France.

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BT of course gave £1.5m to sponsor a City Academy in Hillingdon.