Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft is the founder and chairman of the Board of Trustees of Crimestoppers.

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC is an international businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster.

In 1988, Michael Ashcroft, as he was then known, set up Crimestoppers when it became apparent that significant portions of society were unwilling to speak directly to police. The purpose of the charity then, and today, remains to empower people to speak up to stop crime, 100% anonymously.

Lord Ashcroft was knighted and made a life peer in 2000 (though he resigned as a member of the House of Lords in 2015 to concentrate on other areas of his life). He was Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party in the UK from 2005 to 2010 having previously served as Treasurer of the party. In 2011, he was appointed as lead adviser to the Ministry of Defence for the strategic review of military bases in Cyprus. In 2012, he was appointed a member of the Privy Council and made the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Veterans’ Transition, a post he held for six years.

Lord Ashcroft is Honorary Chairman of the International Democratic Union (IDU), having served as its Treasurer for more than a decade.

His significant and varied business interests cover public and private companies worldwide, particularly in the UK, US and the Caribbean. At various times, he has run companies employing more than 100,000 people.

Lord Ashcroft has donated tens of millions of pounds to charities. His main areas of support include crime prevention, education and the military. He has a life-long interest in bravery and gallantry, and built up the largest collection of Victoria Crosses in the world – more than 200 – which are on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum, London. In 2013, he signed up to The Giving Pledge, a commitment by some of the world’s richest people to donate the majority of their wealth to charity.

In the UK, Lord Ashcroft is Chairman of the Trustees of Ashcroft Technology Academy, Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University and Vice Patron of the Intelligence Corps Museum. In the US, he is also a Trustee of the Cleveland Clinic.

For more information about his work, visit www.lordashcroft.com. Follow him on X: @LordAshcroft