55 Facts About Arron Banks

Arron Fraser Andrew Banks was born on 1966 and is a British businessman and political donor.

In November 2018 the National Crime Agency opened an investigation into Arron Banks following concerns raised over the source of his funding.

Arron Banks was reported to have had multiple meetings with Russian embassy officials as well as being offered business opportunities in Russia in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.

Arron Banks said he had been "completely vindicated" after reaching a settlement with the Electoral Commission.

Arron Banks was born in Cheshire, England, and raised by his mother in Basingstoke, Hampshire; his father worked as a sugar plantation manager in various African countries.

Arron Banks then attended St Bartholomew's School in Newbury but was expelled again.

Arron Banks returned to Basingstoke, where he sold paintings, vacuum cleaners, and then houses.

Arron Banks was offered a junior job at the insurance market of Lloyd's of London.

Arron Banks used the money to found Commercial Vehicle Direct about which he says "within a very short period we were the largest van insurance company in the country".

Over seven years, along with Australian business partner John Gannon, Arron Banks expanded the van insurance business to become Group Direct Limited, and in 2008 the company floated by means of a reverse takeover as Brightside Group.

Arron Banks was its CEO from June 2011 to June 2012, at which time the company was listed on the Alternative Investment Market.

Arron Banks was the chief executive of Southern Rock Insurance Company in 2014, which underwrites insurance policies for the website GoSkippy.

Arron Banks was previously CEO of AIM-listed Manx Financial Group from April 2008 to February 2009.

The Guardian reported in 2014 that Companies House records appeared to show that Arron Banks had set up 37 different companies using slight variations of his name.

Arron Banks owns Eldon Insurance, whose CEO Elizabeth Bilney was in charge at Leave.

Arron Banks said that Eldon's business had been transformed by the same AI technology used in the Brexit campaign.

Arron Banks bought Old Down Manor from musician Mike Oldfield, converting it into a wedding venue.

However, a spokesperson for Arron Banks has denied any links to the lawyer named and denies that Arron Banks was involved with the Papers.

Arron Banks has stated that he has a controlling interest in a diamond mine in Kimberley, South Africa, and a licence to mine in Lesotho.

In July 2018, Arron Banks denied that money paid to a government minister in Lesotho was a bribe; it had been paid to guarantee diamond mining rights in Lesotho.

Arron Banks has connections to companies based in Gibraltar and the Isle of Man, and close connections with family members of the Belizean Prime Minister.

However, following remarks made by The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci on BBC One's Question Time programme, Arron Banks denied owning a company in Belize or seeking to avoid UK tax "via any device".

Arron Banks has been a "substantial" shareholder in STM Fidecs, of which Leave.

Arron Banks said that he had changed party allegiance because he agreed with UKIP's policies and its view that the European Union "is holding the UK back" because it's a "closed shop for bankrupt countries".

Arron Banks has been described as the "leading figure" behind the anti-EU Grassroots Out and Leave.

Arron Banks signalled his intention to stand for UKIP in the constituency of Thornbury and Yate at the 2015 general election, but the candidate chosen by the party was Russ Martin, who came third.

Arron Banks suggested he might stand in Clacton at the 2017 general election against Douglas Carswell, before opting not to be a candidate.

Arron Banks claimed in March 2017 that he had been suspended from UKIP; he believed the reason was that he had criticised the leadership.

In May 2018, Arron Banks attended a fundraising event for the Democratic Unionist Party, alongside Nigel Farage, and stated that he would support a bid by Farage to seek office as a DUP candidate after the end of his tenure as Member of the European Parliament in 2019.

However, Companies House records show that Arron Banks resigned from the company in September 2005; therefore it was considered questionable as to whether Arron Banks was controlling the company at the time, or whether he was "using the firm as a 'proxy donor'", according to The Guardian.

Arron Banks threatened Douglas Carswell with deselection in September 2015 when it emerged that Carswell supported Vote Leave, as opposed to the Leave.

EU campaign funded by Arron Banks, describing Carswell as "borderline autistic with mental illness wrapped in", according to The Huffington Post.

Arron Banks was sceptical of UKIP under the leadership of Paul Nuttall.

Arron Banks has considered starting and funding a pro-Brexit, nonpartisan citizens' movement called Patriotic Alliance, based on the Five Star Movement, which would target "the 200 worst, most corrupt MPs" for deselection.

Arron Banks said that Britain's EU membership "is like having a first class ticket on the Titanic".

Arron Banks said in May 2016 that his strategy during the Brexit campaign was to "bore the electorate into submission", in the hope that a low turnout would favour Brexit.

Arron Banks threatened to sue the official Vote Leave campaign's candidacy as the official spokesperson for the "Leave" vote in the 2016 EU referendum, which may have possibly delayed the vote by two months.

However, Arron Banks has since rejected this and stated that he would not pursue a judicial review any further.

Arron Banks denied any wrongdoing and stated that he welcomed the police investigation to put an end to the allegations.

Arron Banks accused Channel 4 News journalists of creating "fake news" themselves.

Arron Banks described the United Kingdom's parliamentary Electoral Commission as "the legal division of the In campaign" and disagreed with their decision to enlist Vote Leave as the official campaign.

In 2017, Arron Banks viewed the Brexit vote as "a kind of halfhearted revolution" due to the fact that Theresa May, who supported Britain remaining in the EU, would end up betraying those who voted to leave.

EU campaigners made by Arron Banks and by Better for the Country Ltd, a company of which Arron Banks is a registered director.

Arron Banks was offered a chance to invest in Russian-owned gold or diamond mines; the deal involved funding from a Russian state-owned bank, and was announced 12 days after the Brexit referendum.

For two years, Arron Banks said his only contacts with the Russian government consisted of one "boozy lunch" with the ambassador.

Arron Banks said he was defamed after comments Cadwalladr made about his relationship with the Russian state.

Arron Banks initially lost his case in the High Court but partly succeeded in the Court of Appeal.

On 19 January 2017 Arron Banks launched Westmonster alongside Michael Heaver, former press adviser to Nigel Farage.

At age 21, Arron Banks married his first wife, Caroline, with whom he has two daughters.

In 2001, Arron Banks married Russian Ekaterina Paderina, with whom he has two sons and a daughter.

Arron Banks is reported to have received help to remain in the UK from Mike Hancock while he was a Liberal Democrat MP.

In 2014, Arron Banks reportedly lived in the village of Tockington near Bristol in a house with a "huge" Union flag flying over the front lawn, and owned another house overlooking a game reserve near Pretoria in South Africa.

In 2020, Arron Banks spent six months in Auckland, New Zealand after the country went into lockdown following the coronavirus pandemic.

Arron Banks has previously voiced his support for the leader of the New Zealand First Party, Winston Peters.

Arron Banks was portrayed by actor Lee Boardman in the 2019 HBO and Channel 4 produced drama entitled Brexit: The Uncivil War.