David Garrard (property developer): Difference between revisions
| (2 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
| Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
Before the [[United Kingdom general election, 2005|2005 General Election]] he provided Labour with a loan of £2.3 million on commercial terms, to be repaid on 28 April 2007 <ref>http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/regulatory-issues/labfullloandetails.cfm#loan28</ref>. He was nominated for a [[peerage]] in 2005 but asked for his name to be withdrawn following concerns raised by the [[House of Lords Appointments Commission]]. <ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2087667,00.html Labour donor removes his name from peers list, ''[[The Times]]'', March 16, 2006]</ref> |
Before the [[United Kingdom general election, 2005|2005 General Election]] he provided Labour with a loan of £2.3 million on commercial terms, to be repaid on 28 April 2007 <ref>http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/regulatory-issues/labfullloandetails.cfm#loan28</ref>. He was nominated for a [[peerage]] in 2005 but asked for his name to be withdrawn following concerns raised by the [[House of Lords Appointments Commission]]. <ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2087667,00.html Labour donor removes his name from peers list, ''[[The Times]]'', March 16, 2006]</ref> |
||
Following the so-called [[Cash for Peerages]] revelations in 2006, the Labour Party published a list of 12 individuals who had lent a total of £13.95 million to help fund their general election campaign. Garrard's contribution of £2.3 million was the largest. |
|||
[[John Prescott]] gave the go-ahead to ''Minerva'' to build the [[Park Place (Croydon)|Park Place]] shopping centre in [[Croydon]], which will become one of the country's 10 biggest shopping malls, months after the owners of the company, David Garrard and [[Andrew Rosenfeld]] had given Labour a £3.3 million loan.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FIB5TOZ2UJ2IXQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/03/26/nloans26.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/03/26/ixportaltop.html Deputy PM's £500m deal for Labour's secret lenders, ''[[The Telegraph]]'', [[March 26]], [[2006]]]</ref> |
|||
Garrard has also sponsored the [[Bexley]] Business Academy. |
Garrard has also sponsored the [[Bexley]] Business Academy. |
||
==Allders takeover== |
|||
Garrard was involved in the takeover of the [[Allders]] department store, to be included in Minerva's Park Place shopping centre development, but Minerva's attempts to restructure the Allders company failed and it collapsed, <ref>[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4153/is_20051230/ai_n15982046 The Grizzly Bear, how he helped out Tony, ''[[The Evening Standard]]'', Dec 30 2005]</ref> leaving its "pension fund in tatters" according to ''[[The Sunday Times (UK)|The Sunday Times]]''. <ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2070301,00.html Watchdog warns Blair off ennobling Labour donors, ''[[The Sunday Times (UK)|The Sunday Times]]'', March 5, 2006]</ref> Garrard's own business interests allegedly benefited from the collapse. <ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,630-1581444,00.html Minerva profits from Allders' losses, ''[[The Times]]'', April 23, 2005]</ref> |
|||
==References== |
==References== |
||
Revision as of 09:07, 11 June 2007
Sir David Eardley Garrard (born 1939) is a retired British property developer, who was knighted in the 2003 New Year Honours for his charity work with organizations such as the NSPCC. He founded Minerva PLC, a property investment and development company, whose shares are quoted in the London Stock Exchange FTSE 250 Index, and served as its chairman for many years until his retirement in March 2005.
Founder of the London commercial estate agents Garrard Smith and Partners, Sir David was listed by the Sunday Times Rich List 2005 as the joint 451st richest person in the UK, with a fortune of £102 million. He started as an estate agent and became so successful he bought the property company Land Investors, and recruited the then 23-year-old Andrew Rosenfeld to help run it.
Contributions
Garrard has donated money to both the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. The Conservatives erected a plaque in his honour after he paid £70,000 to install a call centre at Conservative Central Office while William Hague was party leader, and he subsequently donated £200,000 to the Labour Party.
Before the 2005 General Election he provided Labour with a loan of £2.3 million on commercial terms, to be repaid on 28 April 2007 [1]. He was nominated for a peerage in 2005 but asked for his name to be withdrawn following concerns raised by the House of Lords Appointments Commission. [2]
Garrard has also sponsored the Bexley Business Academy.
References
 | This United Kingdom business-related biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |