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It’s a coup that might additional rock the panorama of British politics.
Reform UK’s chief Nigel Farage has secured the assist of billionaire property tycoon Nick Sweet, who has left the Conservatives to turn into the brand new treasurer of Farage’s social gathering.
Sweet is the most recent high-profile Tory member to defect to Reform UK, after former MP Andrea Jenkyns joined Reform final month to turn into the social gathering’s mayoral candidate for Lincolnshire.
Conservative Residence founder Tim Montgomerie additionally switched final week because the social gathering tasted a surge within the polls following Keir Starmer’s “reset” speech.
Alongside his position as treasurer, Sweet, who’s married to Australian singer and actor Holly Valance, brings heavy monetary backing.
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Talking to The Unbiased, Sweet bullishly claimed he’ll elevate more cash for Reform UK than any political social gathering within the UK has ever raised, including that he believes Farage will win the subsequent common election.
However who’s Nick Sweet, how did he make his cash, and what do we all know in regards to the well-connected businessman? The Unbiased takes a glance.
Who’s Nick Sweet?
Nick Sweet, 51, was born to a Greek Cypriot mom and an English father in London.
He went to unbiased faculty Epsom School and later graduated from the College of Studying with a level in human geography.
In 1995, he and his brother Christian purchased a one-bedroom flat in Earl’s Court docket, London, with the assistance of a £6,000 mortgage from their grandmother. After renovating the property whereas dwelling in it, they offered it at a £50,000 revenue.
It led to the launch of a enterprise enterprise, with the pair shopping for and renovating flats. They later gave up their day jobs in promoting and banking to launch Sweet & Sweet in 1999.
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This was the beginning of a profitable profession for the entrepreneurial brothers, who went on to make tens of millions of kilos by way of their work as luxurious property builders.
How did he make his cash?
As Sweet & Sweet grew, so did the initiatives the pair took on. They noticed a spot available in the market for high-end boltholes, with devices and security measures, aimed on the nervy, super-wealthy worldwide elite shifting to London.
Among the many agency’s large initiatives was the luxurious residential and retail advanced One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, accomplished in 2011, with the penthouse flats reportedly fetching a few of the highest costs on report.
Seven years later, in 2018, Nick Sweet took sole possession of the siblings’ enterprise, which he renamed Sweet Property, and has since diversified his portfolio by way of its funding arm Sweet Ventures, which incorporates investments in mines within the Philippines.
In response to Movie star Internet Price, Sweet is now price round £2bn.
How does he spend his cash?
Apart from shopping for and promoting property, Sweet additionally has quite a few pursuits that he has invested in closely lately.
One in every of these is the Conservative Celebration. As a longstanding member till his defection to Reform, he has poured greater than £270,000 into the social gathering since 2020. Previous to that, he donated £70,000 by way of his firm, in line with The Occasions.
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He has bankrolled Tory campaigns, together with the failed try to switch London mayor Sadiq Khan with Shaun Bailey.
Two years in the past, Sweet made a reported bid of greater than £2bn to purchase Chelsea Soccer Membership, the place he’s a season ticket holder, earlier than it was finally offered to a consortium led by US businessman Todd Boehly.
Away from politics and sport, in 2018 he arrange the Sweet Basis, which gives cash to assist enhance the lives of youngsters dealing with extreme drawback and disabilities.
What will we find out about his private life?
Nick Sweet can be higher identified to some folks because the husband of Australian actress and singer Holly Valance, who first shot to fame taking part in Felicity Scully within the cleaning soap opera Neighbours.
Valance can be a distinguished Reform backer.
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The pair married in Beverly Hills, California, in 2012, and a yr later had their first daughter, Luka Violet Toni. A second daughter, Nova Skye Coco, adopted in 2017.
Three years in the past, the couple reportedly spent £10m on a brand new seven-bedroom mansion in Oxfordshire, after Sweet offered his penthouse in One Hyde Park for £175m.
Sweet is alleged to be good pals with comedians Jimmy Carr and David Walliams. In 2022, he was additionally pictured with Farage and Donald Trump on the then former US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
