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Conservative Party donor who gave £500,000 to Boris Johnson’s 2019 campaign has announced he will vote for Labor in next month’s general election.
John Caudwell, who founded mobile phone retailer Phones4U, made the announcement on Tuesday night in comments first reported by the Times and the BBC.
This comes after a recent meeting between Cadwell and Keir Starmersaid labor.
Caudwell, 71, said: “For many years now I have been quite disheartened by the performance of the party I have supported for the last 51 years: the Tories. Just five years ago I donated half a million to Conservatives to help avert the disaster that would be Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.
“But since then I have been increasingly critical of the Tories’ failings, particularly Rishi’s mismanagement of the economy during Covid, Boris’s lowering of ethical standards – and of course the related charge that cronies of the Tories have been unfairly advantaged over Covid PPE – and then the Liz Truss debacle.
“When Labor presented its manifesto last Thursday, I was pleased to see that accelerating economic growth was at the center of attention and that the growth forecast was clearly linked to making Britain a clean energy superpower.
“So I can say publicly that I will be voting Labor and I encourage everyone to do the same.”
On his decision to back Labour, Caudwell told BBC Newsnight: “The real deciding issue was on Friday. I was at a business conference they were holding, 50 CEOs of the UK’s biggest companies, representing £4 trillion market capitalization.
“The empathy from Rachel Reeves and other people in the Labor Party and these senior business people was clear. It was about the questions that were being asked and we got excellent answers about what Labor would do about the economy.”
Cadwell added that he agreed with Starmer’s vision of focusing on GDP growth to boost the public purse and climate, science and technology.
Responding to Caudwell’s endorsement, Starmer said: “I am delighted that John, someone with such a successful business background, has today thrown his support behind the changed Labor Party that I lead.
“The message is clear: business supports change and economic stability with Labor and rejects another five years of chaos and decay with the Tories.
“John was not just a Conservative voter, but a significant donor to the Conservative Party in 2019 – so this is not a decision he would take lightly. But it is clear that he shares my plan for growth, which I set out in Labour’s manifesto.
“I’m campaigning non-stop between now and July 4 to win the votes of other people who have supported the Tories in the past but see a change with Labor as the best future for Britain.”
last september Cadwell said he would not support Rishi Sunak after the “madness” of his U-turn on green policies.
He admitted he was “absolutely shocked” by Sunak’s announcement, which included delaying the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035.
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