Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green

Robert Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green (14 May 1942 – 17 January 2014) was a British businessman, politician and author who was an advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

McAlpine was descended from the McAlpine baronets who made their fortune in the construction industry.

McAlpine founded his own publishing house in London in the 1960s, and was an art dealer, art collector, zookeeper (in Broome, Western Australia), horticulturist, beekeeper, agriculturist, gardener and passionate traveller.

Though the inner circle of the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson had once considered appointing McAlpine as a fundraiser, McAlpine was entranced by the new Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher at a 1975 dinner party, and she soon appointed him Conservative treasurer, a position he would retain until 1990.

They continued to have a close working relationship throughout her time as prime minister and he led the fundraising efforts for the Conservative's general election campaigns.

He would later describe his relationship with Thatcher in his book The Servant.

Using Machiavelli's The Prince for his analogy, the "Servant" (himself) is an important part of the success of the "Prince" (Thatcher).

The Conservative party had raised £1.5 million the year before McAlpine became treasurer, the figures had increased to £4 million by the 1979 general election, and more than £9 million by the time of Thatcher's departure in 1990.

McAlpine also channelled funds through offshore accounts, and received funds from US and Hong Kong nationals.

McAlpine held a variety of jobs before becoming prominent in British politics in the 1980s as the treasurer and a major fundraiser of the Conservative Party.

A close ally of Thatcher, McAlpine did not support her successor as Prime Minister John Major, and later joined James Goldsmith's Referendum Party.

McAlpine later rejoined the Conservatives but resigned his seat in the House of Lords.

Outside politics McAlpine was prominent in a variety of business developments in Australia as well as being an art collector and memoirist.

McAlpine was born at The Dorchester in Mayfair, London.

His great-grandfather was "Concrete Bob", Robert McAlpine, the first of the McAlpine baronets and the founder of the McAlpine construction firm.

He was the second son of Ella Mary Gardner (Garnett) and Edwin McAlpine, the fifth Baronet, and the brother of William McAlpine, the sixth Baronet.

He described his childhood as "idyllic" but not luxurious.

He went to boarding school at the age of six.

He had dyslexia and left Stowe School at 16 with three O-levels.

He then worked on a McAlpine building site on the South Bank, keeping time and dealing with wage packets.

At the age of 21, McAlpine became a director of the company, at the time named Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons.

He made money in property development in Australia and worked in the building business until he entered politics.

McAlpine was nominated to the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1980, despite protests at a perceived lack of experience in the field and his opposition to public subsidisation of the arts.

In the mid-1980s, for reasons of safety and tax, McAlpine decided to move to Monaco and Venice.

He served on the Council from 1981 to 1982.

Other public bodies on which McAlpine served included the Theatre Investment Fund, of which he was chairman.

He was also a trustee of the Royal Opera House and a director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

McAlpine was created a life peer in the 1984 New Year Honours, taking the title Baron McAlpine of West Green, of West Green in the County of Hampshire.

As party treasurer, McAlpine raised large sums to support the Conservative Party in elections.

Often this was done over lunches with business leaders, by pointing out the problems with Labour candidates.

Money would never be discussed directly at the lunches, McAlpine would later say that "I used to lurk...I lurked all over London where rich people went."

He was on Thatcher's team when the IRA bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1984, but was not injured.

In 1990 the IRA bombed West Green House, a mansion in Hartley Wintney, where he had lived just weeks before, and where in the past Thatcher had been a guest.

One of the funders of the era was Asil Nadir of Northern Cyprus, who was in 2012 convicted of stealing money from the Polly Peck company.

McAlpine said the Conservative party had a "moral duty" to return Nadir's donations, totaling £400,000, to the creditors of Polly Peck.

Other foreign businessmen courted by McAlpine included Li Ka-shing and Mohamed Al-Fayed.

McAlpine also claimed that he worked to help Major raise a large sum from Greek businessman Yiannis Latsis, though Major denied it.

McAlpine was allegedly on a target list of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).

McAlpine's obituary in The Daily Telegraph described him as "...probably the most successful fundraiser the party ever had; yet by nature a dilettante, he did not become a significant political figure" and "...never really "into" politics. At heart he was an 18th-century amateur..."

McAlpine's personal political views were varied and included Euroscepticism, support for electric cars and the decriminalisation of all drugs.