Anthony Bamford

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Right Honourable
The Lord Bamford
DL
Chairman of JCB
Assumed office
1975
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
3 October 2013
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born
Anthony Paul Bamford

(1945-10-23) 23 October 1945 (age 76)[1]
Staffordshire, England[2]
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Carole, Lady Bamford
Children4
EducationAmpleforth College
Alma materUniversity of Grenoble
OccupationBusinessman

Anthony Paul Bamford, Baron Bamford, DL (born 23 October 1945) is a British billionaire businessman who is chairman of J. C. Bamford (JCB). He succeeded his father, Joseph Cyril Bamford, as chairman and managing director of the company in 1975, at the age of 30. He was knighted in 1990[3] at the age of 45. He has appeared in the Sunday Times Rich List,[4] and in 2021 his net worth was estimated at US$9.48 billion.[5]

Education[]

Bamford was educated at Ampleforth College, followed by the University of Grenoble.[6]

Life and career[]

In 1974, Bamford sued the then MP Jeffrey Archer for bankruptcy after Archer failed to repay a £172,000 loan. Archer had lost the money in a fraudulent share scam. Archer later repaid the money from his earnings as a novelist and Bamford subsequently withdrew the bankruptcy notice.[7]

In 2000, JCB was fined £22 million by the European Commission for antitrust breaches. Bamford said the decision was "disappointing and wrong".[8][9] A six-year legal battle ensued, which resulted in the European Court of Justice upholding the penalty.[10]

Outside of business, Bamford is a well-known collector of early vintage Ferraris,[11] and is the only individual to own two Ferrari 250 GTOs.[12] He was once the owner of a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 grand prix car raced by the five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina,[13] and in August 2006, he expressed an interest in purchasing Jaguar Cars[14] but backed out when he was told the sale would also involve Land Rover, which he did not wish to buy.

Bamford is married to Carole, Lady Bamford, OBE, and is close to Tony Blair and Prince Charles.[15]

Politics[]

Bamford is a major donor to the UK Conservative Party, with JCB and related Bamford entities giving the party £8.1m in cash or kind between 2007 and 2017.[16]

He donated £1 million before the 2010 General Election, and Prime Minister David Cameron recommended him for a peerage that same year, however Bamford withdrew his name from consideration days before the members were announced.[17]

In 2012, Bamford was later outspoken on the need for the UK Government to champion manufacturing in the UK and commissioned a report in 2012 on the subject which was sent directly to David Cameron.[18] He was elevated to the House of Lords in August 2013,[19] when he took the title "Baron Bamford" of Daylesford in the County of Gloucestershire and of Wootton in the County of Staffordshire.[20]

In June 2016, Bamford wrote a letter in support of voting to leave the European Union to his employees.[21] In October 2016, he then led his company to leave the CBI over the organisation's anti-Brexit stance.[22] JCB also donated £100,000 to Vote Leave, the official pro-Brexit group.[22] In May 2021, Bamford rejected an invitation to rejoin CBI, after previously having called it a "waste of time" that "didn’t represent my business or private companies".[23][24]

During the 2019 United Kingdom general election campaign Bamford donated £3,935,984 to the Conservative Party.[25]

Personal life[]

Bamford owns mansions in several countries (including in England Daylesford House and Wootton Lodge).[26] Although he was linked to offshore tax havens in the Panama papers through sole ownership of Casper Ltd., his spokesman said the company was inactive for its entire existence before being dissolved in 2012.[27]

Armes des Bamford de Uttoxeter.svg

Styles and honours[]

  • Mr Anthony Bamford (1945–90)
  • Sir Anthony Bamford (1990–2002)
  • Sir Anthony Bamford DL (2002–2013)
  • The Right Honourable The Lord Bamford DL (2013–present)
Coat of arms of Anthony Bamford
Escutcheon
Gules a sword erect Proper pommel and hilt Or surrounded by a fess wavy Erminois in chief two cross crosslets fitchy Or.
Supporters
On either side a Dark Bay Horse with black point colouration Proper unguled Argent that to the dexter resting the interior hind hoof on a Stafford knot and that to the sinister resting the interior hind hoof on a horseshoe both Or.
Motto
Dum Rectus Securus[28]

References[]

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ Strachan, Ian (26 January 2017). "Rich List 2017: No.2 - Lord Bamford and family". birminghampost.
  3. ^ "No. 52543". The London Gazette. 28 May 1991. p. 8207.
  4. ^ Times, The Sunday. "Rich List 2020: profiles 21-50, featuring Salma Hayek and Sir Richard Branson". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Anthony Bamford". Bloomberg. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Anthony Paul Bamford BAMFORD – BIOGRAPHY". Debrett's People of Today. Debrett's. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  7. ^ Davies, Caroline (20 July 2001). "He lied his way to the top". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  8. ^ "JCB hit by £22m competition fine". The Guardian. 15 June 2016.
  9. ^ "Commission fines JCB for unlawful distribution agreements and practices". European Commission Press Release Database. 21 December 2000.
  10. ^ BusinessLive (21 September 2006). "End of the line for JCB's six-year fight against £21m EU fine". Business Live. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  11. ^ "New Faces, New Tastes". www.ferraris-online.com. 4 June 2006. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  12. ^ Okulski, Travis. "Here Is A List of All The People Who Own Ferrari 250 GTOs". Jalopnik. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  13. ^ Levine, Leo (5 July 2013). "A Singular Mercedes Aims for Another Record". The New York Times.
  14. ^ "JCB's Sir Anthony Bamford eyes Jaguar". Contract Journal. 24 August 2006. Archived from the original on 31 May 2009.
  15. ^ "Big Wheel: The social circle of Sir Anthony Bamford". The Independent. London. 23 August 2006.
  16. ^ "Tories boosted by construction donations". The Construction Index. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  17. ^ Dodd, Vikram (31 May 2010). "Conservatives confirm leading party donor withdrew from peerage list | Politics | The Guardian". The Guardian. London: GMG. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  18. ^ Quinn, James (1 August 2013). "Sir Anthony Bamford and Dame Lucy Neville-Rolfe lead list of new business peers". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  19. ^ Working Peerages announced Gov.uk
  20. ^ "No. 60649". The London Gazette. 7 October 2013. p. 19679.
  21. ^ "EU referendum: JCB chairman tells staff of Brexit support". BBC News. 15 June 2016.
  22. ^ a b Chan, Szu Ping (10 October 2016). "Manufacturing giant JCB ends CBI membership over anti-Brexit stance". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  23. ^ Millard, Rachel (15 May 2021). "JCB chief rejects invitation to rejoin CBI after Brexit row". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  24. ^ Burton, Lucy (10 May 2021). "New CBI boss tells Brexiters to rejoin business lobby group". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  25. ^ McCall, Nick Rodrigues and Alastair. "Top 50 political donors who bankrolled the UK election 2019". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  26. ^ Hart, Carolyn (9 November 2012). "Versatile venison recipes from Daylesford Organic". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  27. ^ "Tory donors' links to offshore firms revealed in leaked Panama Papers". The Guardian. 4 April 2016.
  28. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2019.
Business positions
Preceded by
Joseph Bamford
 Chairman of JCB
1975–present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Lord Palumbo of Southwark
 Gentlemen
Baron Bamford 		Followed by
The Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd
Retrieved from ""