City tycoon Cruddas to land long-awaited House of Lords seat
The CMC Markets founder is to be included on a list of new peers drawn up by Boris Johnson, Sky News learns.
Tuesday 22 December 2020 14:41, UK
Peter Cruddas, one of the City's best-known entrepreneurs, is to be handed a long-awaited seat in the House of Lords as Boris Johnson swells the ranks of Conservative donors in the upper chamber.
Sky News can reveal that Mr Cruddas's name is expected to appear on a list of nominees that could be unveiled as soon as Tuesday afternoon.
The ennobling of Mr Cruddas, who founded the FTSE-250 financial services company CMC Markets with a £10,000 investment, will come just over four months after he was unexpectedly omitted from a list of more than 35 new peers.
Sources in Westminster said the new list drawn up by Downing Street would be smaller than the one published in July, but is nevertheless likely to spark renewed criticism about the ongoing enlargement of the Lords.
The identities of other new peers on the list was unclear on Tuesday, while one insider said there was a chance the new list could yet be delayed.
A prolific donor who has given more than £3.5m to the Tories, Mr Cruddas was one of the founders of Vote Leave and gave the campaign group £1.5m ahead of the 2016 Brexit referendum.
The announcement of his nomination for a peerage would come just days before the UK faces the possible end of the Brexit transition period without an EU trade deal, although the Westminster rumour mill suggested on Tuesday that an agreement could be struck before Christmas.
Mr Cruddas, who set up CMC in 1989, has built the company into one of the City's biggest success stories.
He still owns a controlling stake in the financial spread-betting business, which now has a market value of £1.13bn.
The CMC chief was also among the substantial donors to Mr Johnson's leadership campaign last year, telling one interviewer: "I'm going to give him some money and back him.
"I think we need a Brexiteer as our next prime minister.
"The country voted to leave the European Union and I think we should have someone that delivered that, and it should be someone like Boris Johnson."
Mr Cruddas served as Tory treasurer until 2012, when his term was brought to an abrupt end by a cash-for-access story in The Sunday Times.
The businessman successfully sued the newspaper for libel, although his financial award was later reduced on appeal.
A Court of Appeal judgement found that while aspects of his conduct had been "unacceptable and wrong", it upheld the ruling of libel and malicious falsehood in his favour.
The tycoon was also exonerated by the Electoral Commission.
Since floating CMC on the London Stock Exchange in 2016, Mr Cruddas has seen the value of his 60.2% stake in the company fluctuate amid various threats of regulatory restrictions against the sector.
It has been a big beneficiary of the coronavirus pandemic, however, with revenues and profits surging in recent months, and has seen its shares soar by 170% in the last 12 months.
Mr Cruddas has built a reputation as a major philanthropist and has pledged to donate £100m to charity through his personal foundation.
As a big donor to Vote Leave, Mr Cruddas became an integral - albeit behind-the-scenes - figure in the campaign for Britain to leave the EU.
His omission from July's list was a surprise, with fellow City tycoon Michael Spencer and the former England cricket hero Sir Ian Botham both included on the list of new peers.
Downing Street did not respond to a request for comment, while Mr Cruddas could not be reached for comment.