Lord Michael Ashcroft, KCMG PC, was appointed non-executive chairman of Impellam Group, which had revenue of £1.7 billion in its last financial year. He is a successful businessman, philanthropist, pollster and former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party between 2005 and 2010. In 2010, his 57% holding of Impellam was transferred to his children and “remoter issue.” The Sunday Times estimates his personal fortune at more than €1 billion, half of which he has pledged to donate to charity. In March 2015, he resigned from the House of Lords, stating that his other activities did not permit him “to devote the time that membership of the Lords properly required”.
