Anthony Bamford
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Bamford was raised to the peerage in August 2013.
Anthony Bamford is an English businessman and chair of JCB.
He is a member of the Midlands Industrial Council.
He is a donor to right-wind causes: he is one of the largest donors to the Conservative Party; has donated money to the Taxpayers' Alliance; and gave money to the campaign for the UK to leave the EU.[2]
Contents
Background
Bamford is the son of Joseph Cyril Bamford, who founded the excavation machinery business JCB in 1945. The firm prospered in the postwar boom.[3]
Bamford has a brother Mark Bamford, who is a director of eight companies within the JCB Group and sits on the board of the Conservative Party Foundation. [4]
Business career
Anthony Bamford took over as head of JCB in 1975.[3]
Property
'W magazine reports:
- In addition to the Gloucestershire stronghold [1'700 acre Daylesford], there’s a London mansion; a 4,200-acre estate in Staffordshire, known as Wootton; Heron Bay, the fabled Barbados home once owned by Ronald and Marietta Tree; and Château de Léoube, in Provence. At sea and in the air they are no less pampered: There’s the Virginian, their 240-foot yacht previously owned by John Kluge; the private jet; and one of the biggest private helicopters in England, a Sikorsky S-76 (Anthony uses it to commute daily to his factory in Staffordshire).[5]
Politics
Bamford was knighted by the Conservative Government in 1990.[3]
In December 2005, Bamford was one of a number of prominent business-people who signed a letter to the Telegraph calling on Chancellor Gordon Brown to lower taxes.[6]
Bamford was a guest of Tony Blair at Chequers on 11 December 2004.[7]
The Independent reported in 2006:
- "Anthony puts much of his success down to anti-union policies adopted at JCB over the years, and has spiritual reservations about Labour," says a political acquaintance. "But on a personal level, he finds Blair pretty charming, and is obviously happy with the direction he has taken the party in. It's a measure of the remarkable guy he is that he can be friends with Blair, Cameron, and the Prince of Wales, all at the same time."[3]
Bamford's name was withdrawn from a list of prospective Conservative peers in May 2010, amid claims that the decision was related to his tax affairs.[8]
Three years later in August 2013 he was finally made a peer. [9]
Bamford is a member of The Leader's Group, an elite Conservative Party supporter group which enables donors to secure access to leading party members and the prime minister through an annual membership fee of £50,000.[10]
Support for the Conservatives
On 1 April 2015 Anand was one of 103 business leaders who wrote to the Telegraph praising the British Conservative Party's economic policies and claiming a Labour government would 'threaten jobs and deter investment' in the UK.[11]
Dinner at Downing Street with the Camerons
- See Powerbase page on Downing Street Dinner Guest List
Affiliations
JCB | Taxpayers' Alliance | Conservative Party | Midlands Industrial Council | White's
Political Donations
Recorded by the Electoral Commission:
| Date | Name of donor | Amount | Donated to | Subsidiary (parties only) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/10/2007 | Anthony Bamford | £9,999.00 | Conservative Party | Witney |
| 22/10/2007 | Anthony Bamford | £5,000.00 | Conservative Party | Cotswold |
| 25/02/2008 | Sir Anthony Bamford | £15,000.00 | Boris Johnson MP | |
| 13/02/2009 | Anthony Bamford | £21,250.00 | Conservative Party | Central Party |
| 28/07/2009 | Anthony Bamford | £50,000.00 | Conservative Party | Central Party |
External Resources
- Big Wheel: The social circle of Sir Anthony Bamford, Independent, 23 August 2006.
- Rich List 2012: No.2 - Sir Anthony Bamford (£1.85bn), Birmingham Post, 23 January 2012.
- Kamal Ahmed, Sir Anthony Bamford: cut tax on UK manufacturing, Sunday Telegraph, 12 February 2012.
- Joe Murphy, JCB chief and Tory donor 'is next in line for a peerage', thisislondon.co.uk, 27 March 2012.
Notes
- ↑ Jamie Doward, Feud between Bamford brothers threatens to cast light on funding for Tories, the Guardian, 14-November-2010
- ↑ Robert Winnett and Holly Watt, Tories forced to name club of millionaire supporters, the Sunday Times, 15-October-2006
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Big Wheel: The social circle of Sir Anthony Bamford, Independent, 23 August 2006.
- ↑ Meet the Board: Mark Bamford Esq, Conservative Party Foundation website, acc 26 March 2011.
- ↑ James Reginato, Lady Bountiful, W Magazine, December 2007.
- ↑ Ambrose Evans-pritchard, UK faces death by taxes, say City chiefs, Telegraph, 3 December 2005.
- ↑ Open House: The Prime Minister's guest list, Independent, 20 June 2005.
- ↑ Vikram Dodd, Conservatives confirm leading party donor withdrew from peerage list, The Guardian, 31 May 2010.
- ↑ Working peerages announced, Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street, press release, 1 August 2013
- ↑ Conservative Party, The Leader's Group guests 2012 quarter 4, accessed 25 February 2015
- ↑ Peter Dominiczak, 100 business chiefs: Labour threatens Britain's recovery, Telegraph, 1 April 2015.
- ↑ Electoral Commission, Donation Search, accessed 16 February 2015
