Arron Banks
English businessman
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| May 1 2025 | Ran as the Reform UK candidate in the West of England mayoral election, finishing second with 22% of the votes, behind Labour candidate Helen Godwin. He won the most votes in South Gloucestershire. |
| 2023 | Following Banks' partial success in a legal appeal, Cadwalladr is ordered to pay approximately £1.2 million in legal costs, which she attempts to crowdfund. |
| 2020 | Banks spent six months in Auckland, New Zealand during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, expressing support for Winston Peters of the New Zealand First Party. |
| May 2020 | The Electoral Commission conceded that Banks did not break electoral law during the 2016 EU referendum campaign and reached a settlement with him. |
| April 29 2020 | The Electoral Commission issues a statement that Banks did not commit any criminal offence, which impacts the legal defence in his defamation case against journalist Carole Cadwalladr. |
| 2019 | Arron Banks was portrayed by actor Lee Boardman in the HBO and Channel 4 drama 'Brexit: The Uncivil War', bringing his role in the Brexit campaign to dramatic representation. |
| September 2019 | The National Crime Agency dropped its investigations into Banks and Leave.EU in September 2019, finding no evidence of criminal offences. |
| August 2019 | Banks faced criticism from Labour MPs Tonia Antoniazzi and David Lammy, as well as Tanja Bueltmann, for a controversial tweet about Greta Thunberg's zero-carbon yacht voyage, which implied a potential 'freak yachting accident'. |
| 2018 | Banks claimed Barclays closed his bank accounts, including business accounts, due to his political views. |
| November 2018 | Banks' funding sources for Brexit were referred for criminal investigation, which he denied and welcomed. |
| November 2018 | The National Crime Agency opened an investigation into Banks in November 2018 over concerns about the source of his funding. |
| August 2018 | Applied to join the Conservative Party, encouraging Leave.EU supporters to do the same to influence the party's leadership election. His application was ultimately rejected. |
| July 2018 | Banks acknowledges a fourth meeting with Russian officials when pressed by The New York Times, contradicting his previous statements about Russian contacts. |
| May 2018 | Attended a fundraising event for the Democratic Unionist Party with Nigel Farage, expressing support for Farage potentially seeking a DUP candidacy after his European Parliament tenure. |
| 2017 | Banks viewed the Brexit vote as a 'halfhearted revolution', criticizing Theresa May for potentially betraying Leave voters. |
| November 2017 | The Electoral Commission began investigating potential election rule violations related to £8.4 million in donations to Leave.EU. |
| November 2017 | Banks' estimated wealth increased to £250 million. |
| July 2017 | Eldon Insurance reported significant profit growth, with profits leaping to £16.7m for the first half of the year, compared to a £284,000 profit in 2015 and a loss of £22,500 in 2016. |
| March 2017 | Reported to no longer be a member of UKIP in March 2017. |
| 2016 | Banks commissioned a controversial poll following Jo Cox's murder to assess potential impacts on public voting opinion. |
| 2016 | Banks threatened to sue the official Vote Leave campaign about their candidacy as the official spokesperson for the Brexit referendum vote. |
| 2016 | Banks published his book 'The Bad Boys of Brexit: Tales of Mischief, Mayhem & Guerrilla Warfare in the EU Referendum Campaign', ghostwritten by Isabel Oakeshott. |
| November 12 2016 | Banks meets with president-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower. Upon returning to London, he has lunch with the Russian ambassador and discusses the Trump visit. |
| May 2016 | Banks revealed his Brexit campaign strategy was to 'bore the electorate into submission', hoping a low turnout would favor Brexit. |
| 2015 | Attempted to stand as a UKIP candidate in the Thornbury and Yate constituency for the general election, but was not selected. The party chose Russ Martin instead, who finished third. |
| November 2015 | Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko introduces Banks to a Russian businessman, leading to business proposals involving potential investments in Russian gold or diamond mines, with funding from a Russian state-owned bank. |
| September 2015 | Arron Banks begins having multiple meetings with Russian officials at the Russian embassy in London, accompanied by Andy Wigmore. |
| January 2015 | Banks' estimated wealth was reported at £100 million. |
| 2014 | Banks lived in the village of Tockington near Bristol, owning a house with a large Union flag and another property near Pretoria, South Africa. |
| 2014 | Banks resigned his directorship at Southern Rock Insurance as part of regulatory agreements. |
| 2014 | Banks covered £350,000 in campaign costs for Thesele Maseribane following a military coup in Lesotho. |
| October 2014 | Banks donated £100,000 to UKIP, later increasing his donation to £1 million after comments from William Hague, citing disagreement with the European Union's policies. |
| 2013 | Banks resigned his directorships at Eldon Insurance as part of an agreement with Gibraltarian regulators after they found the business was technically insolvent. |
| January 2013 | Banks paid £65,000 into the private bank account of Thesele Maseribane, who was then the Basotho minister for women's equality. |
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