The story behind Mr Ashcroft

From doughnuts to The Priory who knows Lord Ashcroft?

Deputy chairman of the Conservative Party Lord Ashcroft has finally admitted he is a "non-dom" as controversy over his tax status threatens to build into a pre-election storm for the Tories.

A peer for ten years already, he has pledged to become "resident and domiciled" in the UK – if David Cameron's party returns to government.

His wealth is estimated at £1.1bn, which placed him joint 37th in last year's Sunday Times rich list.

So who is Lord Ashcroft and how did a boy with an HND from Mid-Essex Technical College become a man whose net worth may be equal to the entire GDP of his homeland Belize?

In his autobiography - Dirty Politics, Dirty Times – Lord Ashcroft describes his first money-making scheme: the buying and selling on of doughnuts. He writes: "I had a reputation among my friends at the age of 12 as a bit of a softy - always the person who was willing to go off alone to get the doughnuts.

"I cheerfully let them remain under this misapprehension because it earned me extra money, even at just a ha'penny profit per doughnut."

This entrepreneurial spirit soon evolved into bigger deals. After studying at a college where he is now chancellor (the later renamed Anglia Ruskin University) he set about building his formidable business empire.

Aged 26, he started his own business, Michael A. Ashcroft Associates. His first acquisition was cleaning firm Uni-Kleen, for one pound, in 1974. Three years later he sold it on, price tag: £1.3m.

He repeated this trick in 1997 when his cleaning and security business ADT was bought by US firm Tyco for a reported £500m.

Running in tandem to this knack for business was Ashcroft's love-affair with Belize, in Central America, where he has spent much of his life. "If home is where the heart is, then Belize is my home," he has said.

Ten years ago, when his tax status last blew into a media storm, Lord Ashcroft said he recognised public concern about foreign funding of political parties and that he intended to "reorganise his affairs to live in Britain".

But he still has business interests in Belize, which has led political opponents to question his UK tax payments.

The Prime Minister of Belize Dean Barrow has said "Ashcroft is an extremely powerful man. His net worth may well be equal to Belize's entire GDP. He is nobody to cross."

Certainly, since his doughnut days his business network has grown far and wide.

BCB Holdings is the parent company of a group of financial services businesses operating in Belize and the Turks and Caicos Islands, of which Lord Ashcroft is executive chairman. The firm’s stated ambition is to be the "banking services provider of choice" in the Caribbean.

Lord Ashcroft also has strong business links elsewhere in the world, outside of the UK. He set up Global Health Partners in 2006, a firm which specialises in, amongst other things, obesity surgery. GHP has operations in Sweden and plans to expand further into Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

It is on this part of Ashcroft's CV that a bizarre line can be drawn to the likes of Susan Boyle and Paul "Gazza" Gascoigne. Along with a host of other celebrities, they have spent time receiving treatment at rehab centre, The Priory.

Lord Ashcroft spent around £44m on a 32.5 per cent stake in The Priory mental healthcare group in 2007, while Global Health Partners bought a 1.2 per cent stake.

It is alleged the peer, whose overall fortune is thought to be worth more than a billion pounds, has avoided paying British tax on his international earnings.

He has frequently used his self-made fortunes to fund political campaigns, both in Britain and Australia, via his company Bearwood Corporate Services. It is estimated the Conservatives have benefited to the tune of £5m, including £280,000 to Tory candidates in 33 marginal seats in the months before the 2005 general election.

Lord Ashcroft is also the single largest individual donor to any Australian political party after giving the country’s Liberals a reported one million dollars in 2004.

In between business and politics, Lord Ashcroft is also something of a military buff. He has assembled what is believed to be the largest private collection of British Special Forces medals in the world.

It is estimated he owns around a tenth of all the Victoria Crosses ever awarded. His collection will go on display at the Imperial War Museum later this year.