Rupert Soames
{{short description|British businessman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = The Honourable
| name = Rupert Soames
| honorific_suffix = OBE
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Rupert Christopher Soames
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1959|05|18}}
| birth_place = Croydon, Surrey, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education = Eton College
| alma_mater = Worcester College, Oxford
| occupation = Businessman
| years_active = 1982–present
| title =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| spouse = {{marriage|Camilla Dunne|1988}}
| children = 3
| parents = Christopher Soames
Mary Churchill
| relatives = Winston Churchill (grandfather)
Emma Soames (sister)
Nicholas Soames (brother)
}}
Rupert Christopher Soames OBE (born 18 May 1959) is a British businessman. He is chair of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), and was the chief executive of Serco from 2014 to 2023.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/12/serco-chief-to-retire-rupert-soames-outsourcing|work=The Guardian|title=Serco boss Rupert Soames to retire: 'It’s time for me to outsource myself'|first=Jasper|last=Jolly|date=12 September 2022|access-date=22 March 2025|issn=0261-3077}} He is a grandson of Winston Churchill, a nephew of one-time Defence Secretary Duncan Sandys and his wife Diana Churchill, of journalist Randolph Churchill, and of actress and dancer Sarah Churchill.
Early life and education
Soames was born in Croydon, to Christopher and Mary Soames. He is a grandson of Winston Churchill,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/02/serco-rupert-soames-outsourcing-privatisation|work=The Guardian|title=Can Winston Churchill's grandson save Serco? And is it worth saving?|first=Sam|last=Knight|date=2 July 2015 |access-date=22 March 2025}} a nephew of one-time Defence Secretary Duncan Sandys and his wife Diana Churchill, of journalist Randolph Churchill, and of actress and dancer Sarah Churchill, and is a great-nephew of the founders of the Scout movement, the 1st Baron Baden-Powell and his wife, the Baroness Baden-Powell.
Soames was educated at St Aubyns School in Rottingdean, East Sussex: in 2025 he revealed that he had been sexually abused by a master at the school.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/21/winston-churchill-grandson-rupert-soames-prep-school-abuse|work=The Guardian|title=Winston Churchill’s grandson reveals he was abused at prep school|date=21 March 2025|access-date=21 March 2025}} He continued to Eton College and then Worcester College, Oxford,{{cite book |title=The Encyclopaedia of Oxford |publisher=Macmillan |chapter=Presidents of the Union since 1900 |year=1988 |pages=527–532 |isbn=0-333-39917-X |editor-last=Hibbert|editor-first=Christopher |editor-link=Christopher Hibbert}} where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). While at Oxford he worked as a DJ at the London nightclub Annabel's and was a member of the Bullingdon Club,{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/general-election-2015-photographic-history-of-bullingdon-club-tracked-down-including-new-picture-of-10224679.html|work=The Independent |title=General Election 2015: Photographic history of Bullingdon Club tracked down|first1=Nick|last1=Mutch|first2=Jack|last2=Myers|first3=Adam|last3=Lusher|first4=Jonathan|last4=Owen|date=6 May 2015|access-date=22 March 2025}} as well as being elected to the Presidency of the Oxford Union and featuring in the Sunday Times 1981 article on Oxford, where Soames described himself as getting "hog-whimperingly drunk".
Career
Upon graduation, he was offered a position at GEC by the managing director Arnold Weinstock. He remained at GEC for 15 years, working in the company's avionics and computing divisions, and became managing director of Avery Berkel, running the company's UK, India, Asia and Africa operations.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2936257/Business-profile-What-it-means-to-light-up-New-Orleans.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|title=Business profile: What it means to light up New Orleans|date=8 April 2006|access-date=22 March 2025}}
After leaving GEC in 1997, Soames joined the software company Misys as chief executive of its Midas-Kapiti division. He was promoted to chief executive of the Banking and Securities Division in June 2000.{{cite press release|url=http://www.misys.com/corp/media_press/t/1578/p/1/item/2001-08-20-01-pr/corporate_archive.html|publisher=Misys plc|title=Misys announces formation of new Group Operating Board|date=1 September 2001|access-date=1 September 2001}}{{dead link|date=March 2025}}
Soames left Misys after a disagreement with Misys founder Kevin Lomax on the company's direction, and was appointed chief executive of power hire group Aggreko in June 2003,{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2853939/Aggreko-chief-role-for-Rupert-Soames.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|title=Aggreko chief role for Rupert Soames|first=Lachlan|last=Johnston|date=5 June 2003|access-date=22 March 2025}} replacing Philip Harrower, who died when his car collided with a train in the United States.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2837892/Aggreko-chief-executive-killed-in-Louisiana-car-crash.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|title=Aggreko chief executive killed in Louisiana car crash|first=Alistair|last=Osborne|date=1 January 2003|access-date=22 March 2025}} Soames left Aggreko in 2014.{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/00f51a94-d4f2-11e7-8c9a-d9c0a5c8d5c9|work=Financial Times|title=Rupert Soames: how I averted a crisis at Serco|first1=Andrew|last1=Hill|first2=Gill|last2=Plimmer|date=11 December 2017|access-date=22 March 2025|url-access=subscription}}
Soames was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.{{London Gazette|issue=59282|date=31 December 2009|page=12|supp=y}}
In November 2010, he gave a speech at the Scottish Parliament in which he warned, "In the UK, we are already close to the rocks, because, over the next 8 years a third of our coal-fired capacity, two-thirds of our oil-fired capacity, and nearly three-quarters of our nuclear capacity will be closed down either through age or the impact of the European Large Combustion Plant Directive. Absent a massive and immediate programme of building new power stations, with concrete being poured in the next two years, we will be in serious danger of the lights going out."{{cite press release|url=http://www.aggreko.com/media-centre/press-releases/speech-to-scottish-parliament|publisher=Aggreko|title=Rupert Soames speech at the Scottish Parliament|date=12 November 2010|accessdate=28 September 2014}}{{dead link|date=March 2025}}
In December 2023, it was announced that Soames had been appointed as the new President of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), taking up the position in early 2024.{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/dc30272b-c954-46bf-8e02-381a087f02ab|work=Financial Times|title=City veteran Rupert Soames to head scandal-hit CBI|first=Michael|last=O'Dwyer|date=5 December 2023|access-date=22 March 2025|url-access=subscription}}
Personal life
He married Camilla Dunne, daughter of Sir Thomas Dunne, KG, KCVO in 1988. They have three children: Arthur, Daisy, and Jack. Daisy Soames is a god-daughter of Diana, Princess of Wales, and works as a horse safari guide in Kenya.{{cite web|url=https://www.tatler.com/gallery/princess-diana-godchildren|work=Tatler|title=Who are Princess Diana's godchildren? As Leonora Knatchbull features in The Crown, meet the accomplished men and women who were taken under the late royal's wing|first=Annabel|last=Sampson|date=11 November 2022|access-date=22 March 2025}} Jack Soames has served as a Page of Honour.{{CN|date=May 2024}} His brother is former MP Nicholas Soames, Baron Soames of Fletching.
On 21 March 2025 Soames, spoken publicly for the first time about the sexual abuse he suffered at the St. Aubyn's boarding school in the 1960s. He was abused by two masters with an "unhealthy appetite for young boys", from the age of “eight or nine”. Soames confirmed the abuse was “confronted”, with one of the school masters going to prison.{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/winston-churchill-rupert-soames-abuse-school-7pcsqbzsv|work=The Times|title=Winston Churchill’s grandson reveals he was abused at prep school|first=Lucy|last=Bannerman|date=21 March 2025|access-date=22 March 2025|url-access=subscription}}
References
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Category:English chief executives
Category:People educated at St. Aubyns School
Category:People educated at Eton College
Category:Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Presidents of the Oxford Union