Tony Rudd

Riley Anthony Winton Rudd (24 April 1924 – 29 May 2017) was an English stockbroker who found success in the world of technology start-ups, but came under censure from the Department of Trade and Industry for his business practices. Among his children were the politician Amber Rudd and the public relations executive Roland Rudd.

Early life Tony Rudd was born in Wandsworth, London, on 24 April 1924 to the businessman Frederick Rudd He was educated at Blundell's School before going up to University College, Oxford, to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. His studies were interrupted by the Second World War during which he served as a navigator for a Polish squadron in the Royal Air Force. He flew in Mosquitos and had to bail out over Germany with his pilot after their aircraft was hit by fire from a United States aircraft in a friendly fire incident. His memoirs of his time in the RAF were published in 1990 as One Boy's War. After the war, Rudd returned to Oxford to complete his studies.

Novelist Jeffrey Archer became a client and was inspired to write Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1976). Rudd enjoyed success as the broker to technology companies including Racal Electronics, Rotork and Plessey but the onset of blindness forced him to give up stockbroking in 1981.

Tony Rudd turned to venture capitalism but came under increasing scrutiny from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and in the satirical current affairs magazine Private Eye over his business practices. a history graduate from the University of Oxford. and Christine Fitzgerald (née Bradhurst; daughter of Augustus Maunsell Bradhurst). Among their children were the British home secretary Amber Rudd and the public relations executive Roland Rudd. Rudd and his wife also had two other children, Amanda and Melissa.

Rudd owned a townhouse in Kensington, and Chalcot House near Westbury, Wiltshire, where in later life he and his wife entertained a circle of political and business friends including Peter Walker, Arnold Weinstock, and Alan Clark. When their daughter Amber got the job of "aristocracy co-ordinator" for the film Four Weddings and a Funeral, she hired her parents as extras for £100 per day and Tony Rudd appeared in the wedding scenes; he was required to use his own morning suit to save on production costs.

Death Rudd died on 29 May 2017. Just days after his death, his daughter Amber appeared on British television to represent the Conservative Party in a debate for the United Kingdom General Election of June 2017. Her brother Roland commented, "My parents had a strong view about carrying on. He would have wanted her to do the debate".

Selected publications One boy's war. Quartet, London, 1990.