Stuart Wheeler

Stuart Kenneth Wheeler was a British financier and political donor. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, he was called to the Bar in 1959 but moved into the City rather than practising law. In 1974 he founded IG Index, later IG Group, originally to allow investors to bet on the gold price.

IG Group grew into one of the world's largest spread-betting and online trading businesses. It floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2000, and Wheeler retired from the board around 2003. In the gambling and financial-trading industries he is remembered as the founder and former chairman of IG Group.

Outside business, Wheeler was a major Conservative Party donor and later a prominent Eurosceptic campaigner. He funded an unsuccessful legal challenge over the Lisbon Treaty, donated £100,000 to UKIP in 2009, and supported the Leave.EU Brexit campaign. He died on 23 July 2020, aged 85.