"king" has soared up the after taxpayers' money grew his fortune to over £1 billion. Graham King, 58, has climbed 87 places on the fortune list after being ranked at 154 with a net worth of £1.015 billion, up from £750 million the previous year.

King is the founder of Clearsprings Ready Homes which has a government contract to provide asylum seekers with accommodation, food and transport while their . His rise in fortune correlates with a rise in . In the year ending June 2024, net migration was 728,000 while asylum applications rose to record levels, climbing from 91,811 in 2023 to 108,138 last year.

King's organisation has a turnover of £1.7 billion turnover, with the company receiving almost £4.8 million a day of taxpayers' cash every day.

A former caravan park and disco owner, King grew up in Canvey Island, Essex and launched his property empire in 1999.

The firm's contract with runs until 2029 and is estimated to be worth a staggering £7.3 billion.

King is arguably one of the biggest beneficiaries of the UK's woeful handling of the migrant crisis over the last decade, which has seen billions of pounds wasted on temporary accommodation and futile deterrence schemes.

The company, which is run from a nondescript blue office building next to a dual carriageway in Rayleigh, Essex, has seen profits rise 60% since the year ending in January 2024, increasing from £74.4million to £119.4 million.

Clearsprings describes itself as "a business that prides itself on providing value for money, quality and transparency in a package that meets the needs of our customers," but inspectors have criticised the firm's performance.

In 2021, an inspection saw two properties described as filthy, with "decrepit", "impoverished" and "run down" conditions.

In 2023, a protest over the poor conditions of the properties saw 70 people, including children, sleep outside to demonstrate against being squeezed into overcrowded rooms.

Earlier this year, the Home Office ordered Clearsprings to end arrangements with its subcontractor Stay Belvedere Hotels Ltd (SBHL) "due to poor performance and behaviour".

King is joined on the rich list by fellow migrant accommodation provider Alex Langsam, 86, the owner of Britannia Hotels and Pontins holiday parks, who sits at 311 with an estimated worth of £401 million. Britannia has been used to house asylum seekers at multiple locations.

The revelation comes in the week that Keir Starmer vowed to end "," as he vowed to tackle "an immigration system that seems almost designed to permit abuse."

Clearsprings has been approached for comment.