Michael Ashcroft
Encyclopedia
Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, KCMG
, (born 4 March 1946), is an international businessman, philanthropist
and politician
. He holds dual British and Belize
an nationality, and is a Belonger
of the Turks & Caicos Islands. Ennobled as a life peer
in 2000, he sits in the House of Lords
on the Conservative benches. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2009
ranking of the wealthiest people in the UK he was placed 37th with an estimated fortune of £1.1 billion. On 1 March 2010, after 10 years of holding his tax status as private, he revealed that he did not pay tax on his overseas earnings in the UK
. He is a former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party
.
, as his father Eric was a British colonial civil servant, Ashcroft spent some of his early years in British Honduras
(now Belize
) and Malawi
.
He was educated at Norwich School
, Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
, and Mid-Essex Technical College (now Anglia Ruskin University)
, where he obtained a Higher National Diploma
in Business studies
.
around Europe, and then for a short period of time became the manager of a rock and roll band. In 1967, Ashcroft joined Rothmans as a management trainee.
He left in 1969, joining Pritchard Group Services, after some months on the dole. Pritchard Group was a cleaning and business services company and Ashcroft worked his way up quickly to become an assistant in the company's head office accounting department, part of a large acquisitions team.
In 1972 at age 26, he started his own business, Michael A. Ashcroft Associates. His first acquisition was Uni-Kleen – a loss-making cleaning company with one thousand employees, which he purchased for just £1 in 1974. With a £15,000 bank loan he worked to turn the company around, selling it just three years later for £1.3 million.
1987 was a key year for Hawley. In the early part of the year, it bought Crime Control Inc. based in Indianapolis, for $50 million, placing the company in fourth place in the U.S. security market. Later in the year it bought ADT Security Services
, the largest electronic security company in the United States. This purchase transformed Hawley into the leading security services business in the United States, and resulted in the majority of its revenues coming from the North American market. As a result of the acquisition, Bermuda
-registered Hawley changed its name to ADT Inc. and decided to refocus its business around security services. At the end of 1987, the company sold its North American-based facility services business to Denmark
's ISS A/S
.
In 1997, ADT was sold by a reverse takeover
to US conglomerate Tyco International
for $6.7 billion, allowing Tyco to become tax-efficient.
Ashcroft disposed of large amounts of the Tyco stock which he had acquired as a result of the sale of ADT, explaining that he needed the capital to diversify into other things and that he never retained a substantial stake in any enterprise which he did not control. Ashcroft nevertheless continued as a non-executive director of Tyco, a role he still held in 2002 when Tyco CEO, Dennis Kozlowski
, was arrested in New York in connection with personal tax offenses. Unease had already been expressed at Tyco at some of Kozlowski's corporate decisions and Ashcroft was amongst the directors who appointed lawyer David Boies
to investigate irregularities in the company. In time, the exposure of management deficiencies led to Ashcroft demanding that the whole of the board of directors of Tyco should resign, to be replaced by new management.
between 1998 and 2000. In his 2005 biography, he admitted that it is a country where his interests have been "exempt from certain taxes for 30 years." In 2009, the Prime Minister of Belize Dean Barrow
told its parliament:
Barrow also warned David Cameron that relations with Britain would be damaged if Ashroft were given a senior position in government.
In 1981, Belize had gained independence from the UK. Seeing the opportunity to build an off-shore operations base and control the country's financial service, in 1984 Ashcroft formed Belize Holdings (BHI), which became the vehicle for a parallel acquisition spree during the 1980s, beyond the scope of Hawley.
By the late 1980s, BHI had become one of the largest holding companies in Belize, with direct interests in or holdings via main operating company Stargate Ltd, ranging from telecommunications, property, the Belize shipping register, and citrus fruits.
In 1987, BHI led the formation of Belize Bank Holdings (BBH), which took control of Belize Bank
from the Royal Bank of Canada
. Belize Bank has become the country's largest financial institution, controlling some 50 percent of the market. BBH developed local and international interests in facilities services, finance and telecommunications. Belize Bank itself formerly held a majority stake in Belize Telemedia Limited
(BTL), until it was nationalised by the Government of Belize.
In 2005, under pressure from the Belize Government to bring transparency to its Belize based financial interests, BBH restructured, demerging its interests in England and Ireland into a separate company, Carlisle Group Ltd. BBH then renamed itself BCB Holdings.
: Restore plc, Digital Marketing and Impellam Group .
Having attempted a takeover Corporate Services Group in 1999, in June 2006 he increased his stake to 28.5%, prompting speculation that he might make an offer for the remaining shares in the company. In May 2008 the merger of Carlisle Group and Corporate Services Group to form Impellam Group
was announced. Listed on the Alternative Investment Market, the combined group places in excess of 40,000 people into work each week.
In September 2007, Ashcroft agreed the sale of AIM listed cleaning services supplier OneSource. Based mainly in the USA, it was the old North American cleaning business of ISS that Ashcroft had sold to them when refocusing Hawley in 1987. Bought in 1997 for $1, he agreed the sale of the company at a value of £179m.
As of March 2006 he became the major shareholder in English
professional football
club Watford
, owning up to 42% of the club's shares. In September 2006, he accepted a bid for British Car Auctions
(BCA) worth £450m, netting him a personal gain of £200m.
in Berkshire
, and Belize.
Ashcroft owns a Dassault Falcon 7X
, registration VP-BZE, via his Bermuda
n registered company, Flying Lion. He owns two 150 feet (45.7 m) yachts, both registered in Belize:
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; 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."
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. Ashcroft stated in 2005: "I much prefer to be involved, to make sure that my investment is wisely placed."
In December 2005, he was appointed Deputy Chairman
of the Conservative Party
.
During the "Cash for Peerages
" controversy, on 31 March 2006 Ashcroft was named by the Conservative Party as having loaned it £3.6m.
On 12 October 2007 he was accused by Labour
MPs of being allowed to fund heavily local Conservative organisations in marginal seats of his choosing. Lord Ashcroft has insisted such funding is legitimate.
Significant donations made to the Conservative Party by Bearwood Corporate Services, a company controlled by Ashcroft, have also come under scrutiny. The trading status of the company, and thus the validity of donations totalling £5.1m between 2003 and 2008, is unclear and became the subject of an investigation by the Electoral Commission begun in October 2008. Both Labour MPs and the Prime Minister
have called for the process to be concluded in time for the next general election, due by mid-2010. Liberal Democrat
Lord Oakeshott
stated: "Democracy is in danger if Lord Ashcroft has been pouring millions into Conservative campaigns through an offshore pipeline from a Caribbean tax haven
." However, in March 2010 sources from the Electoral Commission described the donations as being "legal and permissible".
On 1 March 2010 Ashcroft admitted that he was not domiciled in the UK for tax purposes. On 4 March 2010 the House of Commons Public Administration Select committee decided to hold a “special one-off inquiry” into Lord Ashcroft’s peerage and his tax affairs. The committee’s three Conservative MPs are said to have refused to take part in the inquiry.
In September 2010, Ashcroft announced he would be stepping down as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party. His resignation came as he published Minority Verdict, his critical analysis of why the Conservative Party failed to gain an overall majority in the general election; leading to the Conservatives forming the current Coalition government with the Liberal Democrats
. He was replaced by the Conservative MP, former government minister and the current Treasury Select Committee member, Michael Fallon
.
in Belize $1m when it was in opposition. During its period in power, it introduced laws that are claimed by opponents and media commentators to be financially advantageous to Ashcroft.
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.
.
On 12 October 2009, Lord Ashcroft pledged NZ$50,000 for the safe return of two-year old toddler Aisling Symes. Aisling went missing a week earlier in West Auckland
.
He is the sponsor of Ashcroft Technology Academy
in Wandsworth, a state secondary school within the English academy programme.
, who persuaded him to back a television campaign in six Caribbean countries, aimed at coaxing them to withdraw their support for whaling. The countries had received $16 million (£8 million) a year in fisheries aid from Japan. The campaign coincided with the 2006 International Whaling Commission
conference in St Kitts.
es. His collection is by far the largest in the world and spans the three services—the Army
, Royal Navy
and Royal Air Force
(RAF). The collection also spans 128 years from acts of bravery at the start of the Crimean War
in 1854 to an act of courage during the Falklands War
in 1982. He wrote Victoria Cross Heroes, to mark the 150th anniversary of the Victoria Cross.
Following the theft of a number of Victoria Crosses awarded to New Zealand servicemen from the Army Museum at Waiouru
in late 2007, Ashcroft pledged NZ$200,000 for their return. Those stolen included the very rare VC & Bar of Charles Upham
. The medals were recovered three months later and at a presentation in Wellington on 15 April 2008 he pledged a further NZ$200,000 for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the thefts.
In July 2008, Ashcroft announced a donation of £5 million for a permanent gallery at the Imperial War Museum
, where the 50 Victoria Crosses held by the museum will be put on display alongside his own collection of 162 VCs.
Eric Pickles
MP declared on BBC Radio 4
that Ashcroft would be willing to appear on the station's flagship Today programme to clarify his unclear tax status. However, when invited, Lord Ashcroft quickly declined, according to John Humphrys
. Ashcroft delayed comment on whether he currently pays tax on his global income in the United Kingdom
, despite being a prominent and influential member of the legislature and major donor to the Conservative Party but eventually announced his non-domiciled status.
for the Lords. During their investigation, the House of Lords Appointments Commission
was fed certain information via the media, which originated from Jonathan Randel, an intelligence research specialist for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration
.
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 routinely had files on. Randel claimed that the DEA was ignoring Ashcroft in its investigation of money laundering
, allegations which The Times
newspaper later printed on its front page. However, later investigation by various British media sources from information released under the US Freedom of Information Act
showed that at no point did the DEA personally investigate Ashcroft.
After his second successful nomination to the Lords and his assent to the house, Ashcroft sued The Times in the High Court. The two parties eventually reached an out of court agreement which resulted in Rupert Murdoch
agreeing to The Times printing a full front page retraction of its allegations. Ashcroft later recounted his own side of the story in his book, Dirty Politics, Dirty Times.
A U.S. attorney later investigated Randel for his leak and indicted him on 18 counts. Randel pled guilty to one of these - a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641, and on 9 January 2003, Randel was sentenced to a year in a federal prison, followed by three years probation.
, Mr Justice Peter Smith
in Rock (Nominees) Ltd v RCO (Holdings) Plc. Smith condemned Ashcroft's tactics in relation to the takeover of cleaning company RCO by the Danish firm ISS. Smith said,
Smith added that Ashcroft "was not content with a small £250,000 profit earned in a matter of weeks. He now seeks to extract millions." Ashcroft responded by telling journalists that "being accused of blackmail by a man who states that speculation has no part to play in the City is rather like finding that you are sharing a railway carriage with a drunk. It's best not to take too much notice."
On 5 March 2010, Lord Ashcroft has been accused of avoiding VAT on opinion polls he commissioned for the Conservatives in 2005. The polls were carried out by YouGov
and Populus, and are believed to have cost in the region of £250,000.
The Guardian said that sources said that the bills were paid by a company owned by Lord Ashcroft in Belize, meaning that he did not pay VAT. The newspaper estimated that the total VAT bill could have totaled more than £40,000.
, and the title Baron Ashcroft, of Chichester in the County of West Sussex was gazetted
on 20 October 2000. His appointment to the House of Lords was controversial at the time, particularly because of his business and political interests in Belize; the body responsible for scrutiny of political honours had refused his becoming a member of the Lords one year earlier. He was nominated by Conservative party leader William Hague
on the condition that he became a UK resident although at the beginning of 2010 he announced his "non-domiciled" tax status. Ashcroft had 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".
In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours
, on the advice of the Belizean government, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) "for public service to the community and country" of Belize.
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
, (born 4 March 1946), is an international businessman, philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He holds dual British and Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
an nationality, and is a Belonger
Belonger status
Belonger status is a legal classification normally associated with British overseas territories. It refers to people who have close ties to a specific territory, normally by birth and/or ancestry...
of the Turks & Caicos Islands. Ennobled as a life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
in 2000, he sits in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
on the Conservative benches. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2009
Sunday Times Rich List 2009
The Sunday Times Rich List 2009 was published on 26 April 2009.Since 1989 the UK national Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times has published an annual magazine supplement to the newspaper called the Sunday Times Rich List...
ranking of the wealthiest people in the UK he was placed 37th with an estimated fortune of £1.1 billion. On 1 March 2010, after 10 years of holding his tax status as private, he revealed that he did not pay tax on his overseas earnings in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He is a former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in power, the Chairman is usually a member of the Cabinet being given a sinecure position such as Minister without Portfolio...
.
Biography
Born in ChichesterChichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
, as his father Eric was a British colonial civil servant, Ashcroft spent some of his early years in British Honduras
British Honduras
British Honduras was a British colony that is now the independent nation of Belize.First colonised by Spaniards in the 17th century, the territory on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, became a British crown colony from 1862 until 1964, when it became self-governing. Belize became...
(now Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
) and Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
.
He was educated at Norwich School
Norwich School (educational institution)
Norwich School is an independent school located in Norwich, United Kingdom. It is one of the oldest schools in the world, with a traceable history to 1096, and is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.It is a fee-paying, co-educational day school and has one of the best...
, Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
See Royal Grammar School for the other schools with the name RGS.The Royal Grammar School High Wycombe is a selective grammar school situated in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. As a state school it does not charge fees for students to attend, but they must pass an entrance exam...
, and Mid-Essex Technical College (now Anglia Ruskin University)
Anglia Ruskin University
Anglia Ruskin University is one of the largest universities in Eastern England, United Kingdom, with a total student population of around 30,000.-History:...
, where he obtained a Higher National Diploma
Higher National Diploma
A Higher National Diploma is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom. This qualification can be used to gain entry into universities, and is considered equivalent to the first or second year of a university degree course....
in Business studies
Business studies
Business studies is an academic subject taught at higher level in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, as well as at university level in many countries...
.
Business career
After a period in Belize after completing his education, Ashcroft returned to hitch hikeHitchhiking
Hitchhiking is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle to travel a distance that may either be short or long...
around Europe, and then for a short period of time became the manager of a rock and roll band. In 1967, Ashcroft joined Rothmans as a management trainee.
He left in 1969, joining Pritchard Group Services, after some months on the dole. Pritchard Group was a cleaning and business services company and Ashcroft worked his way up quickly to become an assistant in the company's head office accounting department, part of a large acquisitions team.
In 1972 at age 26, he started his own business, Michael A. Ashcroft Associates. His first acquisition was Uni-Kleen – a loss-making cleaning company with one thousand employees, which he purchased for just £1 in 1974. With a £15,000 bank loan he worked to turn the company around, selling it just three years later for £1.3 million.
Hawley/ADT
On exiting Uni-Kleen in 1977, his next purchase was Hawley Goodall, another poorly-performing company, this time in camping equipment manufacture. Ashcroft used Hawley to make a series of acquisitions, transforming Hawley into a business services group, ranging from janitorial services for hospitals and offices, to car auction services, and later with a focus on the security services industry. By 1981, Hawley had made its first acquisitions in the United States, and its total revenues had grown to $27 million. In 1986, Hawley bought out Ashcroft's former employer, Pritchard Services, leaping to the second place in the U.S. services industry. At this time, Hawley had revenues of more than $1.3 billion.1987 was a key year for Hawley. In the early part of the year, it bought Crime Control Inc. based in Indianapolis, for $50 million, placing the company in fourth place in the U.S. security market. Later in the year it bought ADT Security Services
ADT Security Services
ADT Security Services, originally American District Telegraph, now also known as simply ADT, is a division of Tyco International and a worldwide supplier of electronic security systems, fire alarm systems, communication systems, and integrated building management systems.-History:There were many...
, the largest electronic security company in the United States. This purchase transformed Hawley into the leading security services business in the United States, and resulted in the majority of its revenues coming from the North American market. As a result of the acquisition, Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
-registered Hawley changed its name to ADT Inc. and decided to refocus its business around security services. At the end of 1987, the company sold its North American-based facility services business to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
's ISS A/S
ISS A/S
ISS was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1901 and has since grown to become one of the leading Facility Services companies in the world. ISS offers a wide range of services within the following business areas: cleaning services, support services, property services, catering services, security...
.
In 1997, ADT was sold by a reverse takeover
Reverse takeover
A reverse takeover or reverse merger is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public...
to US conglomerate Tyco International
Tyco International
Tyco International Ltd. is a highly diversified global manufacturing company incorporated in Switzerland, with United States operational headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey...
for $6.7 billion, allowing Tyco to become tax-efficient.
Ashcroft disposed of large amounts of the Tyco stock which he had acquired as a result of the sale of ADT, explaining that he needed the capital to diversify into other things and that he never retained a substantial stake in any enterprise which he did not control. Ashcroft nevertheless continued as a non-executive director of Tyco, a role he still held in 2002 when Tyco CEO, Dennis Kozlowski
Dennis Kozlowski
Leonard Dennis Kozlowski is a former CEO of Tyco International, convicted in 2005 of crimes related to his receipt of $81 million in purportedly unauthorized bonuses, the purchase of art for $14.725 million and the payment by Tyco of a $20 million investment banking fee to Frank Walsh, a former...
, was arrested in New York in connection with personal tax offenses. Unease had already been expressed at Tyco at some of Kozlowski's corporate decisions and Ashcroft was amongst the directors who appointed lawyer David Boies
David Boies
David Boies is an American lawyer and chairman of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner. He has been involved in various high-profile cases in the United States.-Early life and education:...
to investigate irregularities in the company. In time, the exposure of management deficiencies led to Ashcroft demanding that the whole of the board of directors of Tyco should resign, to be replaced by new management.
Belize and cross holdings
Ashcroft has close business and other connections with the Commonwealth country of Belize, and served as the country's ambassador to the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
between 1998 and 2000. In his 2005 biography, he admitted that it is a country where his interests have been "exempt from certain taxes for 30 years." In 2009, the Prime Minister of Belize Dean Barrow
Dean Barrow
Dean Oliver Barrow is Prime Minister of Belize and leader of the United Democratic Party. An attorney by trade, he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1998 and was then Leader of the Opposition until the UDP won the February 2008 election...
told its parliament:
Barrow also warned David Cameron that relations with Britain would be damaged if Ashroft were given a senior position in government.
In 1981, Belize had gained independence from the UK. Seeing the opportunity to build an off-shore operations base and control the country's financial service, in 1984 Ashcroft formed Belize Holdings (BHI), which became the vehicle for a parallel acquisition spree during the 1980s, beyond the scope of Hawley.
By the late 1980s, BHI had become one of the largest holding companies in Belize, with direct interests in or holdings via main operating company Stargate Ltd, ranging from telecommunications, property, the Belize shipping register, and citrus fruits.
In 1987, BHI led the formation of Belize Bank Holdings (BBH), which took control of Belize Bank
Belize Bank
Belize Bank is the first, oldest continuing, and largest bank in Belize. It has over BZ$825 million in assets and BZ$182 million of capital reserves . Its network of 13 branches covers the entire country. BB has a 44% market share in loans and 38% market share in deposits...
from the Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Canada
The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...
. Belize Bank has become the country's largest financial institution, controlling some 50 percent of the market. BBH developed local and international interests in facilities services, finance and telecommunications. Belize Bank itself formerly held a majority stake in Belize Telemedia Limited
Belize Telemedia
Belize Telemedia Limited , formerly Belize Telecommunications Limited, is a telecommunications company in Belize. Established in 1972 as the Telecommunications Authority, it rapidly became Belize's leading telecommunication provider in the 1980s and 90s. Today, it enjoys the most subscribers to...
(BTL), until it was nationalised by the Government of Belize.
In 2005, under pressure from the Belize Government to bring transparency to its Belize based financial interests, BBH restructured, demerging its interests in England and Ireland into a separate company, Carlisle Group Ltd. BBH then renamed itself BCB Holdings.
Other business activity
Ashcroft also has significant interests in the following companies quoted on the Alternative Investment MarketAlternative Investment Market
AIM is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, allowing smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market....
: Restore plc, Digital Marketing and Impellam Group .
Having attempted a takeover Corporate Services Group in 1999, in June 2006 he increased his stake to 28.5%, prompting speculation that he might make an offer for the remaining shares in the company. In May 2008 the merger of Carlisle Group and Corporate Services Group to form Impellam Group
Impellam Group
Impellam Group plc was formed in May 2008 through the merger of The Corporate Services Group plc and Carlisle Group Limited.Impellam operates globally, with more than 20 specialist brands across a broad range of staffing sectors, which are complemented by businesses in the outsourced support...
was announced. Listed on the Alternative Investment Market, the combined group places in excess of 40,000 people into work each week.
In September 2007, Ashcroft agreed the sale of AIM listed cleaning services supplier OneSource. Based mainly in the USA, it was the old North American cleaning business of ISS that Ashcroft had sold to them when refocusing Hawley in 1987. Bought in 1997 for $1, he agreed the sale of the company at a value of £179m.
As of March 2006 he became the major shareholder in English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
professional football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
club Watford
Watford F.C.
Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as Watford F.C., Watford, or by the team's nickname The Hornets . Watford Rovers, Founded in 1881, entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade...
, owning up to 42% of the club's shares. In September 2006, he accepted a bid for British Car Auctions
British Car Auctions
BCA Europe , is the largest vehicle remarketing business in Europe, with an annual turnover in excess of £4 billion.-History:...
(BCA) worth £450m, netting him a personal gain of £200m.
Personal life
Ashcroft is married to Susan Anstey, whom he married in 1986. His second marriage, the couple have homes in London, MaidenheadMaidenhead
Maidenhead is a town and unparished area within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It lies on the River Thames and is situated west of Charing Cross in London.-History:...
in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, and Belize.
Ashcroft owns a Dassault Falcon 7X
Dassault Falcon 7X
|-See also:-External links:****...
, registration VP-BZE, via his Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
n registered company, Flying Lion. He owns two 150 feet (45.7 m) yachts, both registered in Belize:
- Lady M - built NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
- Atlantic Goose - built originally for Sir Donald Gosling as Brave Goose in 1987 by Tough Brothers of TeddingtonTeddingtonTeddington is a suburban area in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south west London, on the north bank of the River Thames, between Hampton Wick and Twickenham. It stretches inland from the River Thames to Bushy Park...
, on the River ThamesRiver ThamesThe River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
. On 30 January 1987, Brave Goose became wedged under the central arch of the Richmond Bridge, LondonRichmond Bridge, LondonRichmond Bridge is an 18th-century stone arch bridge in south west London, England, which was designed by James Paine and Kenton Couse, and which crosses the River Thames at Richmond, connecting the two halves of the present-day London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.The bridge, which is a Grade...
, eventually being freed at low tide the next day.
Conservative Party
In the UK, he was a major donor to and Treasurer of the Conservative PartyConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
from 1998 to 2001, under William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
. His tenure was marked by a number of controversies: he was seen to pay little UK income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
due to his domicile in Belize; 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
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. 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."
In 2004 he clashed with Conservative leader Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
when he offered a £2m donation on the condition that it should go to his specified candidates rather than into general Conservative Central Office
Conservative Campaign Headquarters
Conservative Campaign Headquarters , formerly known as Conservative Central Office is the headquarters of the British Conservative Party, housing its central staff and committee members....
funds. Ashcroft stated in 2005: "I much prefer to be involved, to make sure that my investment is wisely placed."
In December 2005, he was appointed Deputy Chairman
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in power, the Chairman is usually a member of the Cabinet being given a sinecure position such as Minister without Portfolio...
of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
.
During the "Cash for Peerages
Cash for Peerages
Cash for Honours is the name given by some in the media to a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations and the award of life peerages...
" controversy, on 31 March 2006 Ashcroft was named by the Conservative Party as having loaned it £3.6m.
On 12 October 2007 he was accused by Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MPs of being allowed to fund heavily local Conservative organisations in marginal seats of his choosing. Lord Ashcroft has insisted such funding is legitimate.
Significant donations made to the Conservative Party by Bearwood Corporate Services, a company controlled by Ashcroft, have also come under scrutiny. The trading status of the company, and thus the validity of donations totalling £5.1m between 2003 and 2008, is unclear and became the subject of an investigation by the Electoral Commission begun in October 2008. Both Labour MPs and the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
have called for the process to be concluded in time for the next general election, due by mid-2010. Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
Lord Oakeshott
Matthew Oakeshott, Baron Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay
Matthew Alan Oakeshott, Baron Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay , is a British Liberal Democrat politician.-Education:Oakeshott was educated at Charterhouse School, a co-educational independent school in Godalming in Surrey, followed by University College at the University of Oxford, from which he...
stated: "Democracy is in danger if Lord Ashcroft has been pouring millions into Conservative campaigns through an offshore pipeline from a Caribbean tax haven
Tax haven
A tax haven is a state or a country or territory where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all while offering due process, good governance and a low corruption rate....
." However, in March 2010 sources from the Electoral Commission described the donations as being "legal and permissible".
On 1 March 2010 Ashcroft admitted that he was not domiciled in the UK for tax purposes. On 4 March 2010 the House of Commons Public Administration Select committee decided to hold a “special one-off inquiry” into Lord Ashcroft’s peerage and his tax affairs. The committee’s three Conservative MPs are said to have refused to take part in the inquiry.
In September 2010, Ashcroft announced he would be stepping down as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party. His resignation came as he published Minority Verdict, his critical analysis of why the Conservative Party failed to gain an overall majority in the general election; leading to the Conservatives forming the current Coalition government with the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
. He was replaced by the Conservative MP, former government minister and the current Treasury Select Committee member, Michael Fallon
Michael Fallon
For the American Physician / Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives see Mike FallonMichael Cathel Fallon is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Sevenoaks, and as of September 2010 the deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party.-Early life:Michael Fallon...
.
Belize
Ashcroft allegedly gave the People's United PartyPeople's United Party
The People's United Party is one of two major political parties in Belize, and currently the main opposition party. It is a Christian Democratic party; the current Party Leader is Francis Fonseca....
in Belize $1m when it was in opposition. During its period in power, it introduced laws that are claimed by opponents and media commentators to be financially advantageous to Ashcroft.
Australia
Lord 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 CommissionAustralian Electoral Commission
The Australian Electoral Commission, or the AEC, is the federal government agency in charge of organising and supervising federal elections and referendums. State and local government elections are overseen by the Electoral Commission in each state and territory.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
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
in September 2004 just before the 2004 Federal election. It was the biggest single disclosed private donation in Australian political history.
Anti-crime supporter
Lord Ashcroft is the Founder and Chairman of CrimestoppersCrimestoppers UK
Crimestoppers UK is an independent crime-fighting charitable organization in the United Kingdom, based in the Wallington district of Surrey. Crimestoppers runs the 0800 555 111 phone number, allowing people to call anonymously to pass on information about crime. People can also pass on information...
.
On 12 October 2009, Lord Ashcroft pledged NZ$50,000 for the safe return of two-year old toddler Aisling Symes. Aisling went missing a week earlier in West Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
.
Education
Ashcroft has been Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University since November 2001. He donated £5 million in 1999 for the university's business school at Chelmsford, now called Lord Ashcroft International Business School, and another £5million gift in 2009 £5million to create a new business school in Cambridge.He is the sponsor of Ashcroft Technology Academy
Ashcroft Technology Academy
Ashcroft Technology Academy, formerly ADT College, is a state secondary school within the English academy programme in Wandsworth, London. It has specialist status in Technology. Its current headmaster is Mr Marcus Barker. The school has been awarded with the Charter Mark, Investors in People and...
in Wandsworth, a state secondary school within the English academy programme.
Environmentalist
Ashcroft is a whale spotter, through which interest he has financially supported various environmental groups and campaigns. He financially supported the Environmental Investigation AgencyEnvironmental Investigation Agency
The Environmental Investigation Agency is an NGO founded in 1984 by Dave Currey, Jennifer Lonsdale and Allan Thornton, three environmental activists in the United Kingdom. Its stated goal is to investigate and expose crimes against wildlife and the environment...
, who persuaded him to back a television campaign in six Caribbean countries, aimed at coaxing them to withdraw their support for whaling. The countries had received $16 million (£8 million) a year in fisheries aid from Japan. The campaign coincided with the 2006 International Whaling Commission
International Whaling Commission
The International Whaling Commission is an international body set up by the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling , which was signed in Washington, D.C...
conference in St Kitts.
Victoria Crosses
Ashcroft collects Victoria CrossVictoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
es. His collection is by far the largest in the world and spans the three services—the Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
(RAF). The collection also spans 128 years from acts of bravery at the start of the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
in 1854 to an act of courage during the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
in 1982. He wrote Victoria Cross Heroes, to mark the 150th anniversary of the Victoria Cross.
Following the theft of a number of Victoria Crosses awarded to New Zealand servicemen from the Army Museum at Waiouru
Waiouru
Waiouru is a small town in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. It is on the North Island Volcanic Plateau, 25 kilometres south-east of Mount Ruapehu, and in the Ruapehu District....
in late 2007, Ashcroft pledged NZ$200,000 for their return. Those stolen included the very rare VC & Bar of Charles Upham
Charles Upham
Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham VC and Bar was a New Zealand soldier who earned the Victoria Cross twice during the Second World War: in Crete in May 1941, and at Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt, in July 1942...
. The medals were recovered three months later and at a presentation in Wellington on 15 April 2008 he pledged a further NZ$200,000 for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the thefts.
In July 2008, Ashcroft announced a donation of £5 million for a permanent gallery at the Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
, where the 50 Victoria Crosses held by the museum will be put on display alongside his own collection of 162 VCs.
Tax status
Lord Ashcroft courted controversy when Chairman of the Conservative PartyChairman of the Conservative Party
In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in power, the Chairman is usually a member of the Cabinet being given a sinecure position such as Minister without Portfolio...
Eric Pickles
Eric Pickles
Eric Jack Pickles is a British Conservative Party politician. Pickles was appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government of the coalition government headed by Prime Minister David Cameron on 12 May 2010....
MP declared on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
that Ashcroft would be willing to appear on the station's flagship Today programme to clarify his unclear tax status. However, when invited, Lord Ashcroft quickly declined, according to John Humphrys
John Humphrys
Desmond John Humphrys , is a Welsh-born British author, journalist and presenter of radio and television, who has won many national broadcasting awards...
. Ashcroft delayed comment on whether he currently pays tax on his global income in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, despite being a prominent and influential member of the legislature and major donor to the Conservative Party but eventually announced his non-domiciled status.
U.S. DEA leak fiasco
In 1999, Ashcroft was first nominated by Conservative Party leader and friend William HagueWilliam Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
for the Lords. During their investigation, the House of Lords Appointments Commission
House of Lords Appointments Commission
The House of Lords Appointments Commission is a non-partisan, non-statutory, independent body in the United Kingdom. It has three roles:*to recommend people for appointment as non-party-political life peers;...
was fed certain information via the media, which originated from Jonathan Randel, an intelligence research specialist for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
.
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 routinely had files on. Randel claimed that the DEA was ignoring Ashcroft in its investigation of money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
, allegations which The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper later printed on its front page. However, later investigation by various British media sources from information released under the US Freedom of Information Act
Freedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
showed that at no point did the DEA personally investigate Ashcroft.
After his second successful nomination to the Lords and his assent to the house, Ashcroft sued The Times in the High Court. The two parties eventually reached an out of court agreement which resulted in Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
agreeing to The Times printing a full front page retraction of its allegations. Ashcroft later recounted his own side of the story in his book, Dirty Politics, Dirty Times.
A U.S. attorney later investigated Randel for his leak and indicted him on 18 counts. Randel pled guilty to one of these - a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641, and on 9 January 2003, Randel was sentenced to a year in a federal prison, followed by three years probation.
Business style
In 2003, Ashcroft was criticised by the High Court judgeHigh Court judge
A High Court judge is a judge of the High Court of Justice, and represents the third highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales. High Court judges are referred to as puisne judges...
, Mr Justice Peter Smith
Peter Smith (judge)
Sir Peter Winston Smith , styled The Hon Mr Justice Peter Smith, is a Judge of the High Court of Justice in England and Wales, appointed to that office on 15 April 2002 and assigned to the Chancery Division...
in Rock (Nominees) Ltd v RCO (Holdings) Plc. Smith condemned Ashcroft's tactics in relation to the takeover of cleaning company RCO by the Danish firm ISS. Smith said,
Smith added that Ashcroft "was not content with a small £250,000 profit earned in a matter of weeks. He now seeks to extract millions." Ashcroft responded by telling journalists that "being accused of blackmail by a man who states that speculation has no part to play in the City is rather like finding that you are sharing a railway carriage with a drunk. It's best not to take too much notice."
On 5 March 2010, Lord Ashcroft has been accused of avoiding VAT on opinion polls he commissioned for the Conservatives in 2005. The polls were carried out by YouGov
YouGov
YouGov, formerly known as PollingPoint in the United States, is an international internet-based market research firm launched in the UK in May 2000 by Stephan Shakespeare, now Chief Executive Officer, and Nadhim Zahawi...
and Populus, and are believed to have cost in the region of £250,000.
The Guardian said that sources said that the bills were paid by a company owned by Lord Ashcroft in Belize, meaning that he did not pay VAT. The newspaper estimated that the total VAT bill could have totaled more than £40,000.
Honours
On 31 March 2000, Ashcroft was appointed as a life peerLife peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
, and the title Baron Ashcroft, of Chichester in the County of West Sussex was gazetted
London Gazette
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published...
on 20 October 2000. His appointment to the House of Lords was controversial at the time, particularly because of his business and political interests in Belize; the body responsible for scrutiny of political honours had refused his becoming a member of the Lords one year earlier. He was nominated by Conservative party leader William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
on the condition that he became a UK resident although at the beginning of 2010 he announced his "non-domiciled" tax status. Ashcroft had 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".
In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours
Queen's Birthday Honours
The Queen's Birthday Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen...
, on the advice of the Belizean government, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) "for public service to the community and country" of Belize.
Books
- Dirty politics Dirty times: My fight with Wapping and New Labour, MAA Publishing, 2005
- Smell the Coffee: A Wakeup Call for the Conservative Party, Politico's Media, 2005
- Victoria Cross Heroes, Headline Review, 2007
- Special Forces Heroes: Extraordinary True Stories of Daring and Valour, Headline Review, 2009
- Minority Verdict: The Conservative Party, the voters and the 2010 election, Biteback Publishing, 2010
- George Cross Heroes, Headline Review, 2010
External links
- Michael Ashcroft's personal website
- Conservative Home, owner
- Lord Ashcroft Foundation
- Register of Lords' interests
- Crimestoppers, founder
- The Times libel statement, 5 June 2003
- How did Ashcroft do it? The Ins and Outs of Non-Dom tax avoidance, March 2010
- Victoria Cross Heroes
- Special Forces Heroes
- George Cross Heroes
- George Cross website and books used by Ashcroft for his book on the George Cross