Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC is an international businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. He is the former Treasurer and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party in the UK, the current Honorary Chairman and former Treasurer of the International Democracy Union (IDU), and currently a Privy Council member. He was formerly the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Veterans’ Transition.
In the UK, he is the founder and Chair of Trustees of both Crimestoppers and the Ashcroft Technology Academy. He is a former Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University (which awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in 1999), a former Patron of the Forces in Mind Trust Research Centre, a former Trustee of Imperial War Museums and a former President of the West India Committee. He is currently Vice Patron of the Intelligence Corps Museum, a Trustee of the Cleveland Clinic in the US and a Life Governor of the Royal Humane Society. As well as donating tens of millions of pounds to good causes, he signed up to The Giving Pledge in 2013, a commitment by some of the world’s richest people to dedicate the majority of their wealth to charity.
His life-long interest in bravery led to the creation of the largest collection of Victoria Crosses (VCs) in the world, which currently stands at more than 200 such decorations. The collection is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at Imperial War Museum London.
Lord Ashcroft has varied and substantial business interests around the world in public and private companies. His current business roles include being Chairman of Waterloo Investment Holdings Limited, Non-Executive Chairman of Impellam Group plc from 2014 to 2024, Deputy Chairman of Rendeavour, a Non-Executive Director of Merit Group plc from 2022 to 2024 and a Non-Executive Director of Marlowe plc.
He is an award-winning author who has written 29 books, largely on politics and bravery. He was knighted and created a life peer in 2000, but he resigned from the House of Lords in 2015 to concentrate on other areas of his work.
In 2016, Lord Ashcroft was made Knight Grand Cross of the Most Sacred Order of the Holy Trinity (Ethiopia) and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. In 2017, he was made a Senior Fellow of the International Strategic Studies Association, in 2021 was promoted to Grand Collar of the Most Sacred Order of the Holy Trinity (Ethiopia) and in 2022 was honoured with the hereditary title of Viscount Gondar by the Crown Council of Ethiopia.
Lord Ashcroft carries out extensive polling, mainly linked to his interest in politics, and the quality of his work in this area is widely acclaimed.