The son of George and Helen Christopher, he was educated at Cheltenham Grammar School and at the Westminster College of Commerce.
Also since 1983, he is elected auditor of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and since 1988, he worked as Industrial and Public Affairs Consultant.
Christopher was trustee of the Commonwealth Trades Union Council Charitable Trust from 1985 to 1989 and of the Save The Children Fund from 1985 to 1990.
In the 1984 New Year Honours, Christopher was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)[2] and in 1989 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).
On 30 July 1998, he was created a life peer as Baron Christopher, of Leckhampton in the County of Gloucestershire,[3] taking the Labour whip.