John Barton, former chair of easyJet and Next, dies aged 77

Businessman was appointed non-executive chair of fashion chain Ted Baker in 2020

John Barton stepped down as the chairman of easyJet last week. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesMark Sweney@marksweneyMon 6 Dec 2021 09.14 GMT

A couple of years ago John Barton was on an easyJet flight and went forward for a chat with the captain. On returning to his seat, the passenger next to him inquired how in these days of tight security he was able to enter the cockpit. “I’m just a trainee pilot,” joked the company’s 75-year-old chairman.

Barton, who once described himself as a “boorish Scottish accountant”, was considered a safe pair of hands in the City. He was a low-key, hardworking and diligent chairman of companies ranging from Next, which under his decade-long leadership outperformed the FTSE all-share index by 76 per cent, to the more volatile environments of easyJet and Ted Baker. The closest he came to acquiring a public profile was in April last year when he exchanged verbal blows with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the easyJet founder, over the company’s £4.5 billion deal to buy 107 Airbus aircraft.

It was not the first time that Sir Stelios, who remains a significant and voluble shareholder, had caused the easyJet board some discomfort, but the chairman, who spoke with a slight Scottish burr, had a habit of turning such situations to his advantage. After an earlier intervention, Barton said that the added pressure had served to help ensure that the deal was watertight. “It has made us be meticulous in our calculations,” he told the Financial Times. “It’s made us go through the figures again and again to make sure we’re right.”

Over the years Barton observed many changes in the way that board-rooms function, both for better and worse. “There is far more regulation than before,” he said in 2016. “And the most unenviable role on the board has now passed from the chair of the audit committee to the chair of the remuneration committee.”

While he could be steely in the boardroom, and did not shrink from speaking his mind, his idea of a good board was one with plenty of challenging debate that is stimulating for executive directors and non-executive directors alike. “It’s also important to leave your ego at the door,” he explained. “We should banish such phrases as ‘with all due respect’, which must be the least respectful way of saying anything. That style of behaviour in the boardroom, as in life, won’t get you very far. There will always be people who love to talk, which can crowd out quieter board members. So for all key decisions, I go around the table and ask each person for their views one at a time. It’s the only way to make sure everyone’s voice is heard.” Outside the boardroom he enjoyed exchanging gossip with his fellow directors.

Above all Barton was sceptical about the aggrandisement of “strategy” in the boardroom, arguing that it should be an organic process. “In my experience, strategy is a post-rationalisation for an idea that’s been trialled and that’s worked out,” he said. “The history books hail Wellington a master strategist. But I’m sure his ‘strategy’ was nothing more than trial and error, repeating the things that brought him success. The same goes for boards.”

Robert John Orr Barton was born in Lahore, now in Pakistan, in 1944, the son of Ken Barton, a farmer, and his wife Elizabeth (née Orr), known as Judy, a doctor with the Indian army; he had a sister Anne Marie, who predeceased him, and a brother, Callum, a retired executive who lives in Switzerland. After the war they settled in Angus, Scotland, where his parents bought a farm next to one owned by Lord Boyd-Orr, his maternal grandfather, who was an authority on nutrition, introduced free milk into British schools and won the 1949 Nobel peace prize.

Barton, left, as chief executive of JIB Group in 1991, when it listed on the stock exchange, with Rodney Leach, the chairmanADRIAN BROOKS/TIMES NEWSPAPERS LTD

Young John was educated at Brechin High School and Gordonstoun. About five years ago he was flicking through an old school report: “It said that I played too much sport and didn’t read enough. I showed it to my wife who said, ‘That’s the man I married.’ But my reports also pointed out that I got on particularly well with my peers.” To the horror of his grandfather, Barton dropped out of university in Dundee. “Getting into the boardroom was never an objective,” he explained. “It was the job of the pig farmer that I set my sights on, not one around a boardroom table.” His father’s accountant was persuaded to take on the wayward son. “I qualified as a chartered accountant and then went on to do an MBA,” Barton recalled. That was at the University of Strathclyde and he never looked back.

He joined Hunting, the air services group, which sent him to Canada. Not knowing anybody there he spotted someone with a squash racquet and asked where he could play. Through squash he met Anne Coffey, a nurse, and they were married in 1972. She survives him with two sons, Will, a director of an IT company, and Sam, a City fund manager, and a daughter, Lucy, a commercial finance director. He often took his eldest grandson to watch Chelsea and was never without a supply of Maltesers, which miraculously appeared in his grandchildren’s ears.

Barton moved on to Jardine Matheson, which sent him to Hong Kong and the Philippines, before settling in London as finance director and later chief executive of Jardine Insurance Brokers. By 1984 he was chairman, overseeing a period of rapid growth. After the company’s merger with the Lloyd Thompson Group in 1997 he became chairman of the combined group, Jardine Lloyd Thompson. That led to a succession of City chairmanships including Wellington Underwriting from 2001 to 2006; Next, 2006-17; British Insurance Holdings, 2008-10; Cable & Wireless, 2011-12; and Catlin Group, 2012-15.

In 2013 he was appointed chairman of easyJet, though he was not immune from being bumped off their flights and agonised with his family over the propriety of brandishing his orange ID card bearing the word “chairman”. Last year he joined Ted Baker, the clothing retailer, to steer its recovery after the “forced hugging” regime of the founder Ray Kelvin.

Some observers thought that adding Ted Baker to his portfolio was too much to take on while fighting off attacks from the easyJet founder and contending with sales drying up because of Covid travel restrictions. He disagreed, but stepped down from the airline on December 1. “I’ve never considered my position in the boardroom to be superior to the pig farmers looking after 5,000 pigs,” he said, referring to his childhood. “When I board an easyJet plane I often marvel at the work of our cabin crew and how much better a job they do than I could. And I feel the same about our shop managers at Next.”

Barton, who enjoyed skiing, was playing golf the day before he died. He talked to his brother on the phone every week, though the two of them had rarely lived in the same country since childhood. He continued to insist that he had no time to read recreationally, adding: “And I’m not someone who has ever been in the habit of reading just for the pleasure of it.” Asked for his golden rule in running a business, he replied: “I have two. Treat people with respect and don’t worry. If something goes wrong, don’t agonise over it. Just sort it out.”

John Barton, the chairman of the fashion chain Ted Baker and the former chair of easyJet and Next, has died.

Ted Baker said the veteran businessman, who was appointed non-executive chairman of the troubled fashion retailer last year, died suddenly.

“John was a source of great wisdom for me and for so many of us at Ted Baker, and we will hugely miss his support and guidance,” said Rachel Osborne, the chief executive of Ted Baker, who joined a month before Barton’s appointment in April 2020. “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with his wife, Anne, and their family.”

Last week, the 77-year-old stood down as chairman of easyJet, ending a near nine-year stint during the most tumultuous period in the airline’s 26-year history.

arton last year weathered an attempted ousting by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the airline’s founder and largest shareholder, who threatened to requisition a series of shareholder meetings after the coronavirus pandemic struck to force easyJet to abandon £4.5bn of planes from Airbus he believed would bankrupt the business.

At an extraordinary general meeting, Barton came through an attempt to oust him, winning 58% of the vote.

“I am truly shocked and extremely saddened to hear of John’s passing,” said Johan Lundgren, the chief executive of easyJet. “I was very fortunate to have worked closely with him over the years and benefited greatly from his wise counsel.

“He was a man of huge integrity who was very much liked and respected by everyone across the airline. On behalf of all of his former colleagues at easyJet, we send our heartfelt sympathies to John’s family at this time. He will be greatly missed.”

Stephen Hester, the former boss of Royal Bank of Scotland who took over from Barton as the chair of easyJet, said he was a “distinguished chair who made an outstanding contribution to the company” and was “also a wonderful human being”.

Barton spent 15 years on the board at the high street fashion retailer Next. Joining as a non-executive director in 2002, he rose to the position of chairman in 2006. He retired in 2017.

“John was a wonderful, wise and deeply perceptive man whose calm good sense was rarely too far ahead of his wry sense of humour,” said Simon Wolfson, the chief executive of Next.

“Hard working and never afraid to speak his mind, John’s moral courage, humility and resilience served Next well in both the best and worst of times. He held the respect and deep affection of those around him. I will miss him, as will his many friends at Next.”

Barton has also served as the chair of the insurers Catlin, and Cable & Wireless Worldwide, as well as a senior independent director at the high street chain WH Smith, the property group Hammerson, and SSP, which runs the Caffè Ritazza and Upper Crust chains at transport hubs.

Born in Lahore, Barton was educated at Gordonstoun school and went on to complete an MBA at the University of Strathclyde. He was a chartered accountant.

“John combined a generosity of spirit with insight, humility and humour, and we will all miss him,” said Helena Feltham, the senior independent director at Ted Baker. “He led the board with great skill and it was a privilege to have worked with him. Our hearts go out to his family.”

John Barton became a member of the board of Next in 2002, deputy chairman in 2004 and chairman in 2006. He is the chairman of easyJet and a non-executive director of SSP Group.^[3][2][4][5]

Barton has been the chief executive of JIB Group and chairman of Cable and Wireless, Catlin Group, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Wellington Underwriting, and Brit plc, and a non-executive director of WH Smith plc and Hammerson.^[3][2]

“He led the board with great skill and it was a privilege to have worked with him. Our hearts go out to his family.”

Feltham will become interim chair of the company with immediate effect.

Barton, who turned 77 in August, spent more than a decade as the chairman of fashion chain Next.