Andrew Cook (businessman)

Cook was born in Sheffield and attended High Storrs Grammar School and University College London, where he studied law. He graduated in 1971 and was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1972. Having completed a short pupillage and a technical apprenticeship, he joined the former family firm, William Cook & Sons.

In 1981, Cook became chairman of William Cook[2] and began a period of rapid expansion and refocusing on new markets. By 1986, sales exceeded £10 million and, following a series of acquisitions over the next five years, by 1991 they had grown to £120 million.[3] In 1997, he defeated a hostile takeover bid from the now defunct industrial conglomerate Triplex Lloyd,[4] and took William Cook into private ownership with the aid of the venture capitalist Electra Investment Trust.[5]

In 2004, he bought out Electra Investment Trust, thus restoring the company to 100% family control for the first time in 50 years. Since 2004, Cook has consolidated his company's manufacturing activities in four factories in Sheffield, Leeds and Stanhope. In 2011, the William Cook group employed approximately 600 people and had annual sales in the region of £60 million.[6]

In 1989,Cook was elected the CBI "Company of the Year". In 1991, the UK Monopolies Commission commended Cook for his perception in producing lasting solutions to the industry's chronic structural problems.[7]

In 1996, Cook was made Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Her Majesty the Queen, in the New Year's Honours List, for services to the steel casting industry.[8]

In 2008, Cook was awarded the E J Fox medal by the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers[9]

Also in 2008, Cook was named 82nd in the Telegraph's Top 1,000 British Business People.[10]

In 2015, Cook and his family were named joint 52nd in the Yorkshire Rich List, with a stated £80m wealth.[11]

In 2016, he was knighted in David Cameron's Resignation Honours List.[12]

In July 2020, Sir Andrew was elected President of the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce in its centenary year. On election, Sir Andrew said he would do everything in his power to serve British and Swiss business and boost bilateral trade.[13]

Cook is a charitable donor. His recent donations include £1.5 million[14] to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, £300,000 to University College, London, of which he is an alumnus, and £250,000 to the South Yorkshire Community Foundation.[15] Cook has also donated significant sums to the Peppercorn A1 locomotive trust, in order to get A1 class "Tornado" into running order.

Apart from these significant financial donations, Cook also makes annual donations totalling approximately £50,000 to various children's, homeless, medical and welfare charities, including the Centre for Social Justice. He also donates his time to assist in person at homeless shelters during the Christmas period from time to time.

Cook is a major Conservative Party supporter and donor. Since restoring his company to 100% family control in 2004, he has donated substantially and frequently to the party. To date, his donations total in the region of £2.5 million.[16] He was also the principal funder of the "Conservatives IN" referendum campaign and to which he donated in excess of £300,000.[17]

In November 2014, Cook took part in a public debate on devaluation, hosted at the Judge Business School in Cambridge, arguing against devaluation as a means of restoring the UK's manufacturing sector. His opponent was the businessman John Mills, founder of the Pound Campaign and an advocate for devaluation.

A vote from the audience at the conclusion of the debate confirmed that Cook had won the debate, with 79% of audience members voting in support of his argument.[18]

Cook is occasionally called upon by the national press to comment on economic crises and situations.[19]

Cook is a published author, with several books and papers to his name. In 1999, his first book, Thrice Through the Fire, a history of the William Cook company from 1985 to 1998, was published as a sequel to Philip Hansen's book, The History of the William Cook Company and the Cook Family,[20] which covered the company's history up to 1985 and to which Cook contributed substantially. Thrice Through the Fire was written after a thirteen-year period of exponential growth for the company, seeing it become the world leader in steel castings, thanks to Cook's successful "re-launch" of the company soon after he became chairman in 1981.

In 2008, concerned that there would be an energy crisis in the following decade and "on the Conservative watch" as he described it, Cook financed and co-wrote (with Professor Ian Fells CBE, an acknowledged energy expert) A Pragmatic Energy Policy for the UK.[21] Following a private launch to Charles Hendry, then shadow energy secretary, the publication was launched nationally at the Royal Institution. Many of its predictions have come to pass.

Cook's second and third books wre published in 2011. Ashes and Dust is a book of recollections and reflections, events and experiences, from various times to 2011. Coal, Steam and Comfort - 141R568 and the Swiss Classic Train is an account of a train restoration project he had undertaken over the 5-year period 2005 to 2010.

In 2015, he published his fourth book, The Doctors of Ulm and other stories.