Campbell Adamson

Sir William Owen Campbell Adamson (26 June 1922 – 21 August 2000) was a British industrialist, who was best known for his work as director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) from 1969 to 1976. He rose through the steel industry, where he was in charge of labour relations, and worked as a government adviser during the late 1960s.

Coming to the CBI at the peak of political controversy over the Labour government's attempt to reform trade union law, Adamson held the difficult role of representing industry through the complex struggle over Edward Heath's Industrial Relations Bill. Remarks he made about Government policy on the eve of the February 1974 election were blamed by Heath for the Conservative Party's loss of the election. Adamson was able to unite industry to support the British application to join the European Communities. In later life as Chairman of Abbey National, Adamson led the move to demutualise and convert it from a building society to a bank, and saw an overwhelming majority of the society's members support the move. Also interested in family policy, he set up the Family Policy Studies Centre.