December 9 1999
Michael Ashcroft settles a legal action against The Times which publishes a front-page statement saying: "Mr Ashcroft has told The Times that he recognises the public concern about foreign funding of British politics, and that he intends to reorganise his affairs in order to return to live in Britain. The Times applauds this."
March 3, 2000
Conservatives are told that their nomination of Mr Ashcroft for a peerage has been rejected by the Political Honours Scrutiny Committee for the second time March 23, 2000
After the blocking of his peerage, the Belize-based billionaire, makes a pledge to come back to Britain.
He writes to William Hague, the Conservative leader, making a “solemn and binding undertaking” that he would “take up permanent residence in the UK again before the end of this calendar year”.
April 1, 2000
Lord Ashcroft’s spokesman says the UK residency pledge was simply a personal undertaking and not a formal condition of the peerage. Is that the exact wording of what Lord A's spokesman said?
June 2001
Stood down as Treasurer of the Conservative Party
June 2003
Whitehall departments apologise and pay around £500,000 in costs to Lord Ashcroft after a High Court battle over a secret “dirt file” that was compiled by officials .
December, 2005
Named Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party by David Cameron, recently elected Tory leader
February 2009
It emerges that Lord Ashcroft’s wife has donated a quarter of a million pounds to the Conservatives while the Electoral Commission was carrying out an investigation into Bearwood Corporate Services, the company the peer usually used to make donations.
August 29, 2009
The Times reveals that Lord Ashcroft's wife was the biggest donor to David Cameron's campaign to be Conservative Party leader in 2005, giving £20,000 — twice as much as was officially recorded at the time . The error in the records was jointly made by the Conservatives and the Electoral Commission.
November 29, 2009
Zac Goldsmith, an advisor to Mr Cameron and Conservative candidate for Richmond Park & North Kingston, in southwest London, admits that he has been registered as a "non-dom".
January 29, 2010
Lord Ashcroft comes under pressure to reveal his tax status after the Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, ruled that documents relating to his residency must be made public after a Freedom of Information request by Gordon Prentice, a Labour MP.
March 1, 2010
After long claiming his tax status was a private matter, Lord Ashcroft admits that he is a "non-dom".
