He served as director-general of the CBI, chancellor of the University of Warwick, editor of the Financial Times newspaper and chairman of the board of the British Museum.

From June 2003 to March 2006, he was one of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, which sets the interest rate for the British pound.

[9] This position is disputed both by the Greek government and within Britain, where polls indicate that a majority of the British public support the repatriation of the Marbles to Athens.

[10][11] Lambert complained of not having received sufficient advanced notice from Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif, who resigned from the board of trustees, citing its connection with "corporate sponsorship" and its failure to repatriate artifacts such as the Elgin Marbles.

[14][15][16][17] This came about after the controversy intensified in Britain, in part thanks to British Labour Party politician Jeremy Corbyn, who suggested that he would approve of repatriating the Marbles to Greece.