The peer acquired a large roster of contacts from his time as the European
trade commissioner between 2004 and 2008, and as a key member of the administrations of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
In the case of this former business secretary and EU
trade commissioner, his title has a whiff of the hereditary principle:
between 1956 and 1965, its holder was his grandfather, the esteemed former Labour high - up Herbert Morrison.