John Mills (businessman)

Mills was born in Hampstead Garden Suburb on 8 May 1938,

{{cite news

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|date = 14 April 2025

|title = John Mill: Labour supporting entrepreneur and pioneer of teleshopping who was chairman of Vote Leave until he fell out with Dominic Cummings

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|work = The Times

|issue = 74,694

|location = London

|publisher = News UK

|pages = 45

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| quote = John Angus Donald Mills was born in Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1938

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{{cite book|editor1-last=Levens|editor1-first=R.G.C.|title=Merton College Register 1900–1964|date=1964|publisher=Basil Blackwell|location=Oxford, UK|page=506}} the son of British Army Colonel Kenneth Mills.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/10310722/Rich-private-school-Oxford.-Meet-John-Mills-Labours-biggest-donor.html Meet John Mills – Labour's biggest donor], The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 April 2016. Mills' brother is lawyer David Mills, who was married to Tessa Jowell, a former Labour Cabinet minister.

Educated at Glenalmond College in Scotland, Mills then studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Merton College, Oxford. 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, making a profit by selling off the seats, while also selling household cleaning products door to door.{{Cite web|title=Official Biography {{!}} John Mills, Chairman of JML|url=http://johnmillsuk.com/john-mills.html|access-date=2020-11-18|website=johnmillsuk.com}}

After two years of National Service, he joined Unilever's graduate scheme, but quit after six months to start his own business.

Mills founded Fairlane UK Ltd. which initially sold imported products at trade fairs and exhibitions, and latterly manufactured them. As the pound rose during Margaret Thatcher's government, Fairlane UK went out of business in 1984. Charged by Trading Standards for selling brass trinkets as gold-plated jewellery, he pleaded guilty and was fined £750.{{Cite web|title=Rich, private school, Oxford. Meet John Mills, Labour's biggest donor|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/10310722/Rich-private-school-Oxford.-Meet-John-Mills-Labours-biggest-donor.html|access-date=2020-11-18|website=The Telegraph|date=15 September 2013 |language=en-GB}}

In 1986, Mills went on to found John Mills Limited, commonly known as JML, in the basement of his house in Camden, England. JML is a multi-channel retailer that sells consumer products through in-store video, TV shopping channels, and the internet.{{Cite web|title=JML - About Us|url=https://www.jmldirect.com/help/about-us|access-date=2020-11-18|website=www.jmldirect.com}} The company is based in London and Tyne Dock in the North East of England.{{Cite web|title=JOHN MILLS LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)|url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02021685|access-date=2020-11-18|website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=JML - Contact us|url=https://www.jmldirect.com/help|access-date=2020-11-18|website=www.jmldirect.com}}

JML sells more than 15 million products a year in more than 70 countries and employs about 250 people.{{Cite web|title=John Mills - Official Profile on The Marque|url=https://www.themarque.com/profile/john-mills|access-date=2020-11-18|website=THE MARQUE|language=en}}

Mills was a supporter and major donor to 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 his tenure on Camden council, 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.{{Cite web|title=John Mills: the millionaire behind the Snuggie and fast fit ironing board cover|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10101655/John-Mills-the-Labour-millionaire-donor-behind-the-snuggie-and-fast-fit-ironing-board-cover.html|access-date=2020-11-18|website=The Telegraph|date=5 June 2013 |language=en-GB}}

Mills contested Chipping Barnet at both general elections in February and October 1974, but was defeated both times by the Conservative former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Reginald Maudling. He was also a Labour candidate in the 1979 European Parliamentary election.{{Cite web|title=Researching Reginald Maudling: a man from a vanished age|url=https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/224626.researching-reginald-maudling-man-vanished-age/|access-date=2020-11-18|website=Times Series|date=30 October 2002 |language=en}}

In 2013, Mills donated £1,650,000 to the Labour Party in JML shares, making him the party's biggest financial donor.

A life-long Eurosceptic, Mills has been the Secretary of the Labour Euro-Safeguards Campaign since 1975. Mills has served on the board of various Eurosceptic lobby groups. In the lead up to the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union, Mills was Chair of The People's Pledge, Co-Chairman of Business for Britain and Chair of Labour for a Referendum. He was the Vice Chair of the Economic Research Council and founder of Labour Future.{{Cite web|date=2017-06-19|title=ERC Officers|url=https://ercouncil.org/about-the-erc/erc-officers/|access-date=2020-11-18|website=Economic Research Council|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Healing the Wounds|url=http://online.fliphtml5.com/mmxc/jdxb/#p=3|access-date=2020-11-18|website=online.fliphtml5.com}}

During the referendum, he served as the Chair and then Vice Chair of Vote Leave, the official designated campaign group for Britain to exit the European Union. In April 2016, Mills left Vote Leave to run Labour Leave which campaigned among left of centre voters for Brexit.{{Cite web|title=Brexit – The Uncivil War: The former Chair of Labour Leave responds|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/brexit-uncivil-war-former-chair-of-labour-leave-responds/|access-date=2020-11-18|website=openDemocracy|language=en}}

In July 2018, he resigned from Labour Leave, Labour Future, The Pound Campaign, Business for Brexit, and Labour for Britain, to comply with Ofcom requirements and to avoid any conflict of interest through also running a TV shopping channel.{{Cite web|date=2018-07-05|title=John Mills biography - economist, entrepreneur and political commentator|url=http://johnmillsuk.com/resignation.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705004219/http://johnmillsuk.com/resignation.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2018-07-05|access-date=2020-11-18}}

Mills was also an economist and author. He was a noted campaigner for a managed exchange rate policy, which sees sterling at parity with the dollar. He believed that reindustrialisation could increase the UK's economic growth rate by up to 2% per annum.

Mills published a series of books on economics, exchange rate policy, the Eurozone, and manufacturing, subjects on which he also blogged. His published books include A Critical History of Economics, Managing the World Economy, and Britain’s Achilles Heel.{{Cite web|date=2017-06-19|title=Britain's Achilles Heel|url=https://www.civitas.org.uk/publications/britains-achilles-heel/|access-date=2020-11-18|website=Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society|language=en-GB}} In September 2020, Mills published The Elephant in the Room, a book on why Britain needs to rebalance its economy after 40 years of deindustrialisation.{{Cite web|title=The Elephant in the Room: Why UK living standards may be lower in 2030 than today|url=https://instituteforprosperity.org.uk/research/post/2020-10-09-the-elephant-in-the-room-why-uk-living-standards-may-be-lower-in-2030-than-today|access-date=2020-11-18|website=instituteforprosperity.org.uk|language=en}}

In 2018, Mills launched the IPPR Economic Prize, which was run by the Institute for Public Policy Research. The prize awarded £100,000 for the best proposal to increase UK economic growth. Mills sat on the judging panel alongside Stephanie Flanders, John Eatwell, and Helena Morrissey.{{Cite web|date=2018-11-07|title=About the prize|url=https://www.ippr.org/economics-prize/about-the-prize/|access-date=2020-11-18|website=IPPR|language=en-GB}}

In May 2020, Mills, in his own capacity, launched the John Mills Institute for Prosperity. The Institute seeks to provide policymakers with fresh ideas for economic growth. It launched with a report into how Britain can recover from the impact of COVID-19 through a manufacturing revival.

Mills was portrayed by Nicholas Day in the 2019 Channel 4 drama, Brexit: The Uncivil War.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/brexit-uncivil-war-review-benedict-cumberbatch-gripping-watch/|title=Brexit: The Uncivil War review: Benedict Cumberbatch is superb in this thrilling romp through the referendum|last=Bennett|first=Asa|date=28 December 2018|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=8 January 2019|issn=0307-1235}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/49f2b912-0f67-11e9-acdc-4d9976f1533b|title=Vote Leave's Matthew Elliott on Channel 4's Brexit: The Uncivil War|work=Financial Times|author=Matthew Elliott|author-link=Matthew Elliott (political strategist)|date=4 January 2019|quote=Screenwriter James Graham has turned the campaign into a compelling story – and nailed my mannerisms}}

Mills was married to barrister Barbara Mills, who from 1992 to 1998 was Director of Public Prosecutions, from July 1962, shortly after they both graduated from Oxford, until her death in May 2011. The couple had a son and three daughters. Mills lived in London.

In 1995, he was stabbed and seriously injured in a mugging in North London. The muggers went on to be involved in the murder of Philip Lawrence later in 1995.{{Cite web|date=2016-12-06|title=Youths committed series of horror crimes|website=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/youths-committed-series-of-horror-crimes-1289205.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206084209/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/youths-committed-series-of-horror-crimes-1289205.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-12-06|access-date=2020-11-18}}

In 2018, Mills founded the John Mills Charitable Trust, which supports research causes. He was a supporter of the mental health charity SANE, of whom his partner Marjorie Wallace is chief executive. The couple were married in 2021.

Mills used to hold a pilot's licence. He flew private Cessna aircraft, and, aged 66, he qualified to fly his own Citation jet. Other interests of his included opera, theatre, cinema and tennis.

Mills died on 6 April 2025, at the age of 86.{{Cite web|date=2025-04-11|title=Harrington: Millionaire who never dodged a call|website=Westminster Extra|url=https://www.westminsterextra.co.uk/article/harrington-millionaire-who-never-dodged-a-call|access-date=2025-04-11}}{{Cite news |last=Obituaries |first=Telegraph |date=2025-04-14 |title=John Mills, founder of the JML homewares and gadgets sales empire and influential Labour Eurosceptic |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/04/14/john-mills-jml-direct-marketing-eurosceptic-labout-party/ |access-date=2025-04-14 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}

• Why Trump Won (Labour Future Ltd, November 2016)
• Brexit Economics: How to make the UK economy the powerhouse of Europe whatever happens with the Brexit negotiations (Labour Future, April 2017)
• Britain's Achilles Heel: Our Uncompetitive Pound (Civitas, May 2017)
• Raising Productivity (Labour Future, February 2018)
• Manufacturing a Recovery from Coronavirus (The Institute for Prosperity, May 2020)
• The Elephant in the Room (Civitas, September 2020)

• Labour for a Referendum

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Category:1938 births

Category:2025 deaths

Category:Alumni of Merton College, Oxford

Category:British Eurosceptics

Category:British retail company founders

Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Camden

Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors

Category:Labour Party (UK) donors

Category:People educated at Glenalmond College