Arron Banks

Arron Fraser Andrew Banks (born 22 March 1966) is a British businessman and political donor. He is the co-founder of the Leave.EU campaign.[1] A former Conservative Party donor, he came to prominence in October 2014 when he donated £1 million to the UK Independence Party.[2]

Personal life

He was educated at Crookham Court Manor School (since closed) in Berkshire until he was expelled.[3] Also The Castle School in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. He is father of five and married to Russian "aspiring model" Ekaterina Paderina,[3] who reportedly previously received help to stay in the UK from the MP Mike Hancock.[4]

Business career

He is currently the Chief Executive of Southern Rock Insurance Company which underwrites insurance policies for the website GoSkippy.com which was founded by Banks.[5][6] He previously co-founded Brightside Group in 2005, and served as its CEO from June 2011 to June 2012 at which time the company was listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).[7] He also previously served as CEO of AIM listed Manx Financial Group from April 2008 to February 2009, and Chief Executive of Group Direct Limited.

UK Independence Party

On 1 October 2014 Banks announced that he would be donating £100,000 to the UK Independence Party; however, following comments by William Hague that he did not know who Banks was, Banks decided to increase his donation to £1 million.[8] He signalled his intention to stand for the UK Independence Party in the constituency of Thornbury and Yate at the 2015 general election.,[9] but in the event the candidate was Russ Martin, who came third.

References

  1. ↑ "Millionaire Jim Mellon backs £20million 'anti-politics' campaign to leave EU as name revealed". Telegraph.co.uk. 11 July 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "Ex-Tory donor Arron Banks gives £1m to UKIP". BBC News. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  3. 1 2 Pickard, Jim; Stacey, Kiran (23 January 2015). "Tycoon Arron Banks unrepentant for backing Ukip". The Financial Times.
  4. ↑ Swinford, Steven; Rayner, Gordon (7 December 2010). "Russian 'spy' case: Liberal Democrat MP 'helped second Russian girl'". The Telegraph.
  5. ↑ "Former Tory donor raises Ukip donation to £1m over Hague comments". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "Go Skippy founder Banks to bankroll UKIP". InsuranceAge. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Arron Fraser Andrew Banks". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "Conservative Party Donor Switches To UKIP". Sky News. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "Go Skippy founder Arron Banks to stand as UKIP MP". Insurance Times. Retrieved 3 October 2014.


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