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Stanley Kalms, Baron Kalms

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Kalms
Official portrait, 2018
Member of the House of Lords
Life peerage
1 June 2004 – 9 July 2024
Personal details
Born
Harold Stanley Kalms

(1931-11-21)21 November 1931
Died30 March 2025(2025-03-30) (aged 93)
Political partyNon-affiliated (2009–2024)
Other political
affiliations		Conservative Party (until 2009)
Spouse
Pamela Jimack
​
(m. 1954)​
Children3
Parent(s)Charles Kalms (father)
Sarah "Cissie" Shlagman (mother)
OccupationBusinessman
Known for

Harold Stanley Kalms, Baron Kalms (21 November 1931 – 30 March 2025) was a British businessman who was the life president and chairman of Currys plc. In 1948 he joined Dixons, which was founded by his father Charles Kalms in 1937. He spent his whole career with the company, through its various mergers and acquisitions into Currys.[1]

Kalms was chairman of Volvere plc, a British turnaround group, from 2002 to 2011.

Background

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Stanley Kalms was educated at Christ's College, Finchley. He married Pamela Jimack in 1954. They had three sons (Richard, Stephen and Paul) and eight grandchildren.[2] Kalms died on 30 March 2025, at the age of 93.[3]

Career

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Kalms joined Dixons in 1948 at the age of 16 and over the years grew the company from a one-store family business into Europe's leading[peacock prose] specialist electrical retailer. Kalms was appointed Chairman of the Dixons Group plc in 1971.[2] He was also a Governor of Dixons City Academy in Bradford, West Yorkshire (where an art theatre complex is named in his honour), a Director of Business for Sterling, and a Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.[citation needed]

Charitable activities

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Kalms was also involved in many private charitable activities including the setting up of the Stanley Kalms Foundation in London and previously the Stanley Kalms Readership in Business Ethics and Strategic Management at University of North London. He was Chairman of King's Healthcare NHS Trust from 1993 to 1996. He was also involved in the King's Hospital ISLET Diabetes Research Programme.

Publications

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Kalms wrote in the press on the subjects of European Monetary Union (EMU), and on Corporate Governance; and a book – A Time to Change – a review of the activities of the United Synagogue (1996).[4]

Politics

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Kalms was treasurer of the Conservative Party, 2001–03.[2] Like many in the party, he opposed the Euro. Kalms, who was Jewish, attacked William Hague for his position on the Israeli attack in Lebanon, calling him an "ignorant armchair critic" and that remarks were "downright dangerous".[5] In 2004, he became a life peer in the House of Lords. He was expelled from the party in 2009 after voting for UKIP in that year's European Parliament elections.[6] and was subsequently non-affiliated.[7] On 10 July 2024 it was announced that Kalms had ceased to be a member of the House of Lords due to non attendance in the previous parliamentary session.[8]

He was the Director of the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank from 1991 to 2001.[9] He was a member of the Advisory Board of United Against Nuclear Iran which is an advocacy organization closely tied to neoconservative and other “pro-Israel” factions that promotes a confrontational U.S. stance towards Iran, particularly with respect to its nuclear program.[10] Kalms was a member of the Savile Club and Portland Club. The Stanley Kalms Foundation gave £100,000 to the neoconservative Henry Jackson Society in 2013.[11]

Honours

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Kalms had close connections to the University of Buckingham. He received an honorary degree from Buckingham,[2] and Chris Woodhead was the Sir Stanley Kalms Professor of Education. He received his knighthood in the 1996 New Years Honours[12][13] for his services to the electrical retailing industry and made a life peer as Baron Kalms, of Edgware in the London Borough of Barnet in 2004.[14]

Kalms ceased to be a member of the House of Lords on 9 July 2024 under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 because of non-attendance in the preceding session of Parliament.[15]

Coat of arms

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Coat of arms of Stanley Kalms, Baron Kalms
Crest
A lynx rampant guardant Gules grasping in the dexter forepaw a lightning flash Or.[16]
Escutcheon
Barry wavy of six Argent and Gules on a pale Azure a lightning flash Or.
Supporters
On either side a lynx guardant holding int the exterior forepaw a chain Or.
Motto
Constantia Et Integritas Vitae

Further reading

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  • KALMS, Sir (Harold) Stanley International Who's Who. accessed September 4, 2006.
  • "Fifty lessons: hear it through the grapevine". Telegraph. 29 September 2005. Retrieved 20 May 2012.

References

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  1. ^ Dixons through the ages[dead link]
  2. ^ a b c d Who's Who: Kalms, Baron, Harold Stanley Kalms. London: Oxford University Press. 1 December 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U22594. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  3. ^ Baron Stanley Kalms dies at 93
  4. ^ Kalms, Stanley (1992). A Time for Change. The Stanley Kalms foundation. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  5. ^ Cameron faces revolt over Israel[dead link]
  6. ^ Ramesh, Randeep (30 December 2014). "Rightwing thinktank pulls funds for Commons groups after disclosure row". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Lord Kalms". Parliament of the United Kingdom.
  8. ^ "Cessation of Membership - House of Lords Business - UK Parliament".
  9. ^ List of companies related to Baron Kalms – http://www.flixens.com/director/harold-stanley-kalms
  10. ^ "United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)".
  11. ^ Ramesh, Randeep (30 December 2014). "Rightwing thinktank pulls funds for Commons groups after disclosure row". The Guardian.
  12. ^ "No. 54255". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1995. p. 2.
  13. ^ "No. 54537". The London Gazette. 27 September 1996. p. 1.
  14. ^ "No. 57308". The London Gazette. 4 June 2004. p. 1.
  15. ^ The Lord Speaker (10 July 2024). "Retirements of Members and Cessation of Membership". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 839. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Lords. col. 5–6.
  16. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2015. p. 678.
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Media related to Stanley Kalms, Baron Kalms at Wikimedia Commons

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