Tycoon who backed Brexit considers move to Australia

One of Britain's richest men, who donated £1m to Brexit campaigns, says he's considering moving permanently to Australia after delivering a damning assessment of a UK “in chaos”.

- ALEX ROSS

Robert Edmiston was ranked 187th on the Sunday Times Rich List this year with an estimated wealth of £855m, after making his fortune through his IM Group empire, which started by importing cars and later expanded into property and finance.

In 2011 he was made a Conservative life peer before he retired from the House of Lords four years later to focus on his evangelical charity, Christian Vision, where his donations make him one of the UK's biggest philanthropic donors.

The devout Christian has also donated £1m to pro-Brexit campaigns, including £850,000 to Vote Leave through his company before the 2016 EU referendum.

But with his son, Andrew, taking a bigger hand in running the West Midlands-based business, Lord Edmiston told The Independent he is spending more time out of the UK, having semiretired to Portugal in 2016 and built a property in Australia.