Michael Ashcroft
Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft KCMG (born
4 March,
1946) is a
British businessman and
politician who has been a member of the
House of Lords since 2000. He also holds
Belize nationality.
Michael Ashcroft spent some of his early years in Belize and Malawi in connection with his father having been a colonial civil servant with placings abroad.
He was educated at
Anglia Polytechnic University and became a management trainee at
Rothmans.
From 1977 he developed an international business services company, ADT Limited, which was sold to US conglomerate
Tyco for £2.5 billion in 1997. He is now chairman of BB Holdings Limited (
Alternative Investment Market) which has interests in facilities services, finance and telecommunications. It is the parent company of
The Belize Bank and has a 26% share in Belize Telecommunications.
Michael Ashcroft has other business connections with
Belize, and was appointed as the Belize government's Permanent Representative to the
United Nations up to April 2000. He has made large donations to the People's United Party of Belize.
He also has significant interests in the following companies quoted on the
Alternative Investment Market: Wraith, Mavinwood, Seashell II, Bombshell, Carlisle, OneSource, Corporate Services Group, Watford.
In June 2006, he increased his stake in Corporate Services Group to 28.5%, prompting speculation that he might make an offer for the remaining shares in the company. Ashcroft attempted a takeover of Corporate Services Group in 1999.
As of
March 2006 he became the major shareholder in
English professional
football club
Watford, owning up to 42% of the clubs shares.
[{{cite news]| author=BBC Sport | title=Billionaire to own 42% of Watford | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/watford/4805978.stm | publisher=BBC | date=March 14, 2006 | accessdate=2006-03-14In the UK, he was a major donor to and Treasurer of the Conservative Party from 1998 to 2001, under William Hague. His tenure was marked by a number of controversies: he was seen to pay little UK income tax due to his domicile in Belize; he gained overseas donations for the Party which some thought inappropriate; and he was at the centre of a debate about openness and accountability of political funding.
Unsubstantiated speculation about his business affairs was concluded when he pursued a libel action against The Times. This was settled on 9 December, 1999, when The Times issued a statement that "[...] Litigation between the parties has been settled to mutual satisfaction, with each side bearing its own costs."[{{cite news]| author=Kevin Maguire, Nick Hopkins and Paul Murphy | title=Dramatic end to Ashcroft and Times libel battle | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/ashcroft/story/0,7369,500043,00.html | publisher=Guardian Unlimited | date=December 9, 1999 | accessdate=2006-03-12
In 2004 he clashed with Conservative leader Michael Howard when he offered a £2m donation on the condition that it should go to his specified candidates, rather than into general Conservative Central Office funds.Conservative Party loansDuring the "Cash for Peerages" controversy, on 31 March 2006 he was named by the Conservative Party as having loaned it £3.6m.Michael Ashcroft has become a significant figure in Australian politics having been identified as the single largest individual donor to any Australian political party during the Financial Year 2004/2005. The Australian Electoral Commission reported in February 2006 that Ashcroft (who gave his address as "House of Lords, Westminster, London") had donated $1,000,000 to the Liberal Party in September 2004 just before the 2004 Federal election. It was the biggest single disclosed private donation in Australian political history.[Lord Ashcroft KCMG Annual Return (PDF) at Annual Returns Locator Service]In the U.S., an intelligence research specialist for the Drug Enforcement Agency, Jonathan Randel, leaked Ashcroft's name as being in the DEA's files, although it later emerged that Ashcroft was one of 5 million people they had files on.
Randel claims to have believed the DEA was ignoring Ashcroft in its investigation of money laundering, so Ashcroft sued. A U.S. attorney investigated Randel for his leak. On January 9, 2003, Randel was sentenced to a year in a federal prison, followed by three years probation.In March 2000, Ashcroft was appointed as a life peer with the title Baron Ashcroft, of Chichester in the County of West Sussex. His appointment to the House of Lords was controversial at the time, particularly because of his business and political interests in Belize. He was nominated by Conservative party leader William Hague on the condition that he became a UK resident. Ashcroft then announced that he intended to take the title "Baron Ashcroft of Belize", a suggestion that infuriated his political opponents. He later claimed this had been a joke, and his title was created as simply Baron Ashcroft.[Ashcroft inquiry called off – BBC News]
In June 2000 he was awarded a KCMG for public service to the community and country of Belize.
He has been Chancellor of Anglia Polytechnic University since November 2001, and has donated £5 million for the university's business school at Chelmsford, now called Ashcroft International Business School.
He is Chairman of UK charity Crimestoppers.
He ranked 66th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006, with an estimated personal wealth of £820m.
He is also known for his collection of Victoria Cross medals, which is reputed to contain about 135 examples, which would probably be the largest private collection of VCs ever assembled.*Register of Lords' Interests
*Michael Ashcroft's personal website
*The Times libel statement
*Guardian section on Ashcroft
*Crimestoppers
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