A Conservative member of the House of Lords, he previously served as the UK government's Minister of State for Trade and Investment.

[4] The fourth generation son of Polish-Lithuanian Jews who arrived in Scotland 120 years ago, Livingston's family owned a factory making flying jackets and police uniforms.

[2] Livingston is the youngest of four children brought up in Kelvinside, his father was a general practitioner who practised medicine in Parkhead.

After being spotted by Sir Stanley Kalms, he moved to the corporate development department of Dixons Group in 1991, before becoming the youngest FTSE 100 finance director at the age of 32.

[citation needed] After the sale of Freeserve, Livingston joined BT Group as finance director, before he took up the post of CEO Retail, on 7 February 2005.