A scathing millionaire Tory donor has switched his allegiance to Labour - saying the government has turned the UK into a laughing stock and accusing Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng of "GCSE economics".
Gareth Quarry has recently ploughed £100,000 into Labour Party coffers, having previously donated £75,000 to the Conservatives under David Cameron and Theresa May.
Mr Quarry said he was alarmed by "zealots" in the top jobs, instead claiming the opposition front bench are “sensible people who have got their feet on the ground”.
In a blistering interview the 63-year-old accused Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng of embarking on a "maverick" journey and says last month's mini-budget was like a “a game of roulette where they’re just betting everything on one number coming up in the next spin”.
The remarks came before Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng were forced into a humiliating U-turn over their tax cut for top earners following a huge public outcry.
The recruitment tycoon told The Times : “The Tories’ behaviour over several years has made the UK a laughing stock.”
He accused Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng of showing "scant recognition" of what is important to business.
Mr Quarry said he stopped donating to the Tories under Boris Johnson, and has been unimpressed with the start his successor has made.
He said his first donation to Labour is "very much the start of the process" as the opposition tries to woo businesses ahead of the next General Election.
The businessman said he had been left feeling “absolutely groundless in the party that I have supported politically and financially for my entire life”.
Mr Quarry, who sold legal recruitment company QD for £45 million in 2000 and second firm SSQ for around £70 million earlier this year, said: “They’re showing scant recognition of what is important to business.
“As a businessman who has built a number of businesses, it does not matter a jot to my investment decisions whether corporation tax is at 19 per cent or 25 per cent or possibly higher.”
Liz Truss has U-turned and scrapped her most divisive tax cut for the rich after a Tory revolt.
The humiliated Prime Minister dropped her plans to axe the 45p top Income Tax rate just a day after saying she was "absolutely committed" to it on national TV.
As reports emerged of a U-turn in the small hours, one ex-Cabinet minister branded the PM a "dead woman walking" who would be gone by Christmas.
Yesterday, Ms Truss told the BBC : "It is part of an overall package of making our tax system simpler and lower." And Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was due to tell the Tory conference this evening in his keynote speech: "We must stay the course. I am confident our plan is the right one."
But today Mr Kwarteng admitted “we saw people’s reactions” and the 45p tax cut “was drowning out a strong package of intervention".
