[1] He studied at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating in 1961, and joined British Petroleum as a management trainee, becoming chief executive of BP Oil International in 1982, managing director of BP in 1985, chief executive from 1992 to 1995 and chairman from 1995 to 1997.
[2] In the early years of his career he spent some time at the elite business school INSEAD.
When Labour won the 1997 elections, he was appointed Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe.
Simon was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1991 New Year Honours[3] and knighted in 1995.
[4] He was created a life peer as Baron Simon of Highbury, of Canonbury in the London Borough of Islington on 16 May 1997.