Peter Cruddas, Baron Cruddas

Peter Andrew Cruddas, Baron Cruddas (born 30 September 1953) is an English banker and businessman. He is the founder of online trading company CMC Markets. In the 2007 Sunday Times Rich List, he was named the richest man in the City of London, with an estimated fortune of £860 million. As of March 2012, Forbes estimated his wealth at $1.3 billion, equivalent to £830 million at the time.

Cruddas was appointed Conservative Party co-treasurer in June 2011. In March 2012 it was alleged by ''The Sunday Times'' that he had offered access to the Prime Minister David Cameron and the Chancellor George Osborne, in exchange for cash donations of between £100,000 and £250,000. Cruddas resigned the same day.

In June 2013, Cruddas successfully sued ''The Sunday Times'' for libel over its coverage of him, which the High Court found had been defamatory. However, in March 2015, the Court of Appeal reduced the libel damages from the original £180,000 to £50,000, ruling that the ''Sunday Timess central allegation around "cash for access" had been borne out by the facts, while also ruling that a series of subsidiary allegations made in the same ''Sunday Times'' article were still false and defamatory.

In December 2020, it was announced he would be conferred a life peerage after a nomination by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, despite the contrary advice of the House of Lords Appointments Commission, which unanimously recommended that the Prime Minister rescind his nomination.

Early life

The son of a father who worked at Smithfield Market, Cruddas has a twin brother Stephen and an elder brother John, both of whom later became taxi drivers. Born in the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney, the boys initially lived on the Bracklyn Court Estate, before moving to Vince Court when the twins were six. Cruddas points to his time in the Boy Scouts as pivotal, claiming the organization fostered the self-discipline and confidence he would later exploit in his career:

He attributes the family turmoil to his father's alcoholism, while recalling that his mother worked as a cleaner and single-handedly raised the children through hardship. She remained in London even during World War II to care for her own mother. Throughout interviews and in his autobiography, Cruddas refers to his mother as the primary driver of his success. He says he started his business only to impress her, and "then never stopped".

Career

In his own words, Cruddas began working at the age of 14 as a weekend milkman for Express Dairies. As the family needed money, he left Shoreditch Comprehensive aged 15 with no qualifications and gained a job as a telex operator for Western Union in the City of London, earning about £7 a week. After being made redundant, he worked in the foreign currency trading rooms of various banks, including the Bank of Iran and Marine Midland. In 1982-89, he was Chief Dealer at SCF Equity Services.

By 1989, Cruddas had become the head foreign exchange dealer at the London branch of the Jordanian-based Petra Bank. He left the same year to set up his own business, starting CMC Markets with £10,000. His good fortune came during the 1991 Gulf War, when Arab banks asked him to act as an intermediary to obtain foreign exchange from Western institutions. In 1996, he became one of the first to offer online trading.

Cruddas held CEO position until October 2007, and again between July 2009 and June 2010. Between 2003 and March 2013, he also served as the Group's Executive Chairman. In March 2013, after CMC Markets reported a 21% revenue decline and a £19.4 million pre-tax loss, Cruddas replaced CEO Doug Richards and took on the role of chief executive, subsequently reducing the company's workforce by one-third At the end of November 2024, its stake in CMC Markets was 59.02%.

Politics

It is believed that Cruddas has donated over £3.5 mln to the Conservative Party. On 31 July 2013 on the BBC's ''Newsnight'' programme he stated to have given more than £1 million. He donated £100,000 in the last quarter of 2010 and £50,000 in the first week of the 2010 general election campaign. According to The Sunday Times, on 5 February 2021—just one week after receiving his peerage—Cruddas's total donations surpassed £3 million. ''The Times'' noted that most party treasurers drastically reduce their contributions after being elevated to the Lords. Only one continued to donate as before, insisting that he did not want his generosity to appear like a brazen purchase of a title.

Cash-for-Access scandal

Cruddas was appointed Conservative Party co-treasurer in June 2011 alongside Lord Fink, effectively the party's chief fund raiser, in succession to billionaire property tycoon David Rowland.

In 2012, he became embroiled in the "UK Cash-for-Access" scandal, a debacle that ultimately forced his resignation as co-treasurer. The Sunday Times' reporters Jonathan Calvert and Heidi Blake exposed how Cruddas, in exchange for sizable donations, offered exclusive dinners with prime minister David Cameron and the chancellor George Osborne. The reporters had secretly filmed Cruddas boasting that for a donation of £250,000 he will arrange "premier league" access to the government leaders, such as an invitation to dinners at Cameron's apartment in Downing Street, where the donor would "pick up a lot of information", pose "practically any question" or advance their interests if "unhappy about something".

The undercover journalists were introduced to Cruddas by Sarah Southern, a lobbyist who is David Cameron's former aide, and secured themselves a two-hour private meeting. The reporters posed as overseas financiers and claimed that their clients intended to buy distressed government assets and wanted to make political connections. Cruddas publicly apologized, feigning that his claims were mere "bluster" and insisting he lacked the authority to sway policy or guarantee outcomes for financial backers.

In July 2012, it became known that Cruddas was suing ''The Sunday Times'' for libel over its coverage of him. Initially, he appeared triumphant, securing £180,000 in damages on 31 July. However, in March 2015, all three judges of an appeal court ruled that the central allegation of the ''Sunday Times's'' story – that Cruddas had corruptly offered to potential donors access to leading members of the government – was supported by the evidence. While other related claims in the article remained unsubstantiated and defamatory, the judges slashed the libel award from £180,000 to £50,000.

Brexit

Cruddas, a prominent Eurosceptic, was one of the most generous supporters of Brexit. As co-treasurer of the Vote Leave campaign, he was the first high-profile figure to announce a major donation, contributing £1 million in November 2015. Notably, CMC Markets highlighted potential risks associated with Brexit in its prospectus. Despite Cruddas's central role in the pro-Brexit campaign, the document raised concerns about the financial and operational impacts of the UK leaving the EU. In total, Cruddas donated £1.5 million to the official Vote Leave campaign.

2013 – present

In June 2019, Sky News reported that Cruddas donated £50,000 to Boris Johnson's Conservative leadership campaign.

During the 2022 Conservative leadership election, following the resignation of Boris Johnson, Cruddas led a campaign to reinstate Johnson as a candidate. He stated the governmental mass resignations leading to Johnson's resignation had been "anti-democratic to the party and to the electorate". He went on to found and preside over the Conservative Democratic Organisation, a pro-Johnson faction established in December 2022, purporting to seek greater representation of the party's membership in its governance. In August 2022, Cruddas threatened to cut off funding to the Tories unless they changed their constitution and reduced the power of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs.

In June 2024, Baron Peter Cruddas, a Conservative peer and former party donor, shared several social media posts supporting Nigel Farage and the Reform UK party. An analysis by ''The Guardian'' revealed that out of his most recent 100 retweets on Twitter, 48 were in favor of Reform UK and Farage, while 12 criticized the Conservative Party and its government. Among his retweets was a post by Arron Banks claiming that "those who continue to support the Conservative Party are not patriots."

Peerage

In 2020, under prime minister Boris Johnson, Cruddas was nominated for a peerage, despite the House of Lords Appointments Commission explicitly stating it could not support his nomination. Johnson dismissed this advice, thus becoming the first prime minister ever to defy the commission's guidance. In a public letter to Lord Bew, the commission's chair, Johnson sought to justify his decision by referencing Cruddas's "outstanding contributions" to charity and his "long track of committed political service." Yet, as The Guardian pointed out, Cruddas had poured more than £3.5 million into Conservative Party funds since 2010, including a £500,000 donation delivered a mere three days after he took his seat in the upper chamber in February 2020. As described by the historian Lord Lexden, nomination of Peter Cruddas was "the worst honours scandal in a century".

On 27 January 2021, Cruddas assumed the title Baron Cruddas, of Shoreditch in the London Borough of Hackney. He made his maiden speech on 12 March 2021 in response to the budget statement. By 2023, The ''New Statesman'' named Cruddas the 38th most powerful right-wing British political figure for his financial ability to shape the Conservative Party's future.

Charity

Cruddas claims to have pledged a total of £100m to charitable causes, though this figure remains self-reported.

In 2006, he established the Peter Cruddas Foundation that aims to help disadvantaged and disengaged youth.

As of 2010, Cruddas was the largest individual donor to the Duke of Edinburgh Award International Association.

In 2011, The Independent ranked Cruddas as the fourth most generous philanthropist in its giving list. Cruddas supported the Great Ormond Street Hospital. He also supported the Royal Opera House and The Royal Ballet, and after becoming a member of the Chairman's Circle, in March 2012 was invited to become a Trustee and join the Board of the Royal Opera House though as of December 2024 he is no longer listed as either trustee or a board member.

By June 2011, he had resigned from the Prince's Trust, quietly stepping back from one of his public philanthropic roles. Previously, Cruddas served as a Trustee for the Prince's Trust starting in March 2009. In 2008, the Peter Cruddas Foundation contributed £1 million to support the Trust's Enterprise Programme in Wales.

Personal life

Cruddas has four children, two from each marriage. His second wife is Fiona.

From 2001 to 2009, he resided in Monaco, commuting daily from an apartment on Avenue des Spélugues to London City Airport. A long-standing legal loophole, originating back in the steamship era, allowed the ultra-wealthy British business elite — including Cruddas — to maintain non-resident status while effectively continuing their professional activities in Britain. Under this regulation, they could spend up to 90 days per year in the UK, not counting the day of arrival and the day of departure, enabling them to work in the City three to four days a week and then return to Monaco, avoiding any income tax on dividends. Despite relying on this advantageous scheme, Cruddas indignantly refused to be labelled a tax dodger.

He is reported to have been a regular attendee of the Presidents Club Charity Dinner, an annual, men-only event rife with reports of hostesses being subjected to harassment, groping, and persistent propositions. After a 2018 report by the Financial Times journalist Madison Marriage, the event was hit by a major scandal, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Evelina London Children's Hospital refused the event's donations. Before that, for more than 30 years the charity dinner took place annually, sexual harassment of women is reported to be an integral part of the event.

In an early 2011 interview, he stated of owning "a £10m apartment in Monaco, a £5m house in Hertfordshire, a house in Antibes, a yacht and a private jet." He plays golf with a low handicap, composes quatrains, and supports Arsenal FC.

Cruddas recalls that the Conservative Party once requested he refrain from parking his silver Rolls-Royce outside its headquarters during meetings. He admits to still doing so occasionally, "as an act of defiance.".

In 2016, Cruddas and his wife Fiona paid £42 million in cash for Balfour House, a seven-storey Victorian mansion in London's Mayfair district near Park Lane, formerly owned by the Iranian-born art dealer Nasser Khalili. Cruddas also owns the very first Rolls-Royce Wraith Kryptos.

References

External links

Peter Cruddas FoundationCMC Markets

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruddas, Peter Andrew
1953 births
Living people
People from Hackney Central
English bankers
Bankers from London
English expatriates in Monaco
English philanthropists
British billionaires
Conservative Party (UK) officials
English Eurosceptics
Conservative Party (UK) donors
Conservative Party (UK) life peers
Life peers created by Elizabeth II