One hundred and twenty business leaders have confirmed they will support Labour in the general election.
The list, which was published in an open letter to The Times, includes former chief executives of Aston Martin and Heathrow.
As well as offering support for Labour in the letter, the business chiefs fault the Conservatives for their management of the economy, claiming it has been "beset by instability, stagnation and a lack of long-term focus”.The letter reads: “Labour has shown it has changed and wants to work with business to achieve the UK’s full economic potential. We should now give it the chance to change the country and lead Britain into the future.”
Labour routinely solicits corporate support during election campaigns in an attempt to persuade voters of its qualifications to manage the economy.
The Conservatives weren’t impressed.
Tory campaign HQ took to X to say: “Two years of pricey ‘prawn cocktail’ buttering up and they release a letter of mostly former business people with *NO* current CEOs of FTSE 100 companies . . . sad! Keep fishing Keir.”
Two years of pricey “prawn cocktail’ buttering up and they release a letter of mostly former business people with *NO* current CEOs of FTSE 100 companies… sad!
— CCHQ Press (@CCHQPress) May 28, 2024
Keep fishing Keir 🎣🎣🎣 https://t.co/Bjs1V6HFAK
Here is the full list of business leaders backing Labour.
- Tunde Adeniran, Co-founder, Lerno
- Tom Adeyoola, Co-founder, Extend Ventures
- Max Alexander, Former CEO, Secret Cinema
- Joanne Anderson, Director, Innervision
- William Anderson, Director, Barton Legal Limited
- Iain Anderson, Chairman, H/Advisors Cicero
- Amul Batra, Co-Founder & Chief Partnerships Officer, Northcoders Group plc
- George Bevis, CEO, CanDo
- James Bielby, CEO, Federation of Wholesale Distributors
- Karen Blackett, UK President, WPP
- Pete Bowyer, Director Association of International Retail
- David Brindley, President, Bidpath
- Richard Burge, Former CEO, London Chamber and Commonwealth Enterprise Council
- George Burn, Partner, BCLP
- Hugh Campbell, Managing Partner GP Bullhound
- Tony Carney, Managing Director, Huyton Asphalt Civils
- Rachel Carrell, CEO, Koru Kids
- Phil Chambers, CEO Orbex
- Mark Claydon, Director, Trustech Smart Healthcare Ventures Limited
- David Cleevely, Former Chair, Abcam and Rasberry Pi
- Rachel Coldicutt, Executive Director, Careful Trouble
- Paul Corcoran, CEO, Agent
- Lou Cordwell, Founder, Magnetic
- Nick Corston, Co-founder/CEO, STEAM Co. CIC
- Andrew Croft. Director, Social Enterprise UK
- Alasdair Croft, Managing Director, AmpEV Ltd
- Jack Curtis, Founder, Carbon Jacked
- Eleanor Deeley, Joint Managing Director, Deeley Group Ltd
- Alexandra Depledge, CEO, Resi
- Professor Kishan Devani BEM, Director, Dev Yogi Ltd
- Philip Dewing, CEO, Unity Healthcare Recruitment
- Mark Dickinson, CEO, Intrinsic Semiconductor Technologies Ltd
- Anand Doobay, Partner, Boutique Law
- Warren Downey, CEO, Specialist Risk Group
- Sarah Drinkwater, General Partner, Common Magic
- Noel Dunne, Founder & Managing Director, Creative Alliance
- William Eccleshare, Chair, Inspired Thinking Group
- Ben Evans, CEO, IDEA [incorporating London Design Festival, London Design Biennale, Global Design Forum]
- Jane Featherstone, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Sister
- Richard Flint, Investor
- Matthew Freud, Chairman, The Freuds Group
- David George, CEO, Bikmo
- Mark Glover, Executive Chairman, SEC Newgate UK
- Jonathan Goodwin OBE, Co-founder, The Founders Forum Group and J Goodwin&Co
- Neil Goulden, Chairman, Neil Goulden Consulting Ltd
- Ben Govier, Owner, Dylan’s Ice Cream
- Richard Greer, Chair, Asia Strategic Holdings
- Helene Guillaume, Founder and CEO, wild.ai
- Vikash Gupta, CEO, VAR Capital
- Charles Harman, Former Vice Chairman, JPMorgan Cazenove
- Matt Hastings, Founder and CEO, Ideaonomy
- Brian Hay, CEO, The Cardinal Partnership
- Benny Higgins, Former CEO, Tesco Bank
- Andrew Higginson, Chair, JD Sports Fashion plc
- Tim Hincks, Co-CEO, Expectation
- John Holland-Kaye, Former CEO, Heathrow
- Damian Horton, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Eloy
- Ryan Hudson, Founder & Creative Director, Ministry Creative
- Alan Hughes, Chairman, Unity Trust Bank plc
- Rupert Keeley, Director: NewDay Group; Dubai Financial Services Authority; Unzer GmbH; Team8 Fintech. Adviser: NatWest Group
- Tom Kerridge, Chef, The Hand and Flowers Pub
- Dan Kieran, Co-founder, Unbound
- Ben Kilbey, Founder and CEO, Bold Voodoo
- Stephen Kinsella, Founder, Law For Change
- Jack Kirkland, Chairman, Bowmer + Kirkland
- Stefan Kulik, Managing Director, Royal Mail Health
- Darius Kumana, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Wrisk
- Tony Langham, Founder and Non Executive Chair, Opinium
- Nic Laurens, Managing Director, SEVERN Diamond Ltd
- Paul Lindley, Founder, Ella’s Kitchen
- Piers Linney, Co-founder, Implement AI Ltd
- Sanjay Lobo, CEO, OnHand
- Chris Locke, Chair, Caribou Digital
- John Mahon CBE, Former Director General for Exports; former CEO of UK Infrastructure Bank Department for International Trade
- Kevin McGrath, Chairman, Regional REIT plc
- Kevin McKeever, Founder & Managing Director, Lowick Group
- Frank McKenna, Group chair & Chief Executive, Downtown in Business Lrd
- Zandra Moore, CEO, Panintelligence
- Gill Morris, Executive Chair, Inflect
- Mark Mullen, Chief Executive, Atom Bank plc
- Jamie Murray, Director, PD Investments Ltd
- Paul Naha-Biswas, CEO, Sixley
- Rajay Naik, Chief Executive Officer, Skilled Education
- Sue O’Brien OBE, Chair and Non Executive Director, Right Strategy
- Lukas Oberhuber, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Hiphops.io
- Amanda Owen-Meehan, Director and Founder, Amanda Owen Meehan Consulting Ltd
- Andy Palmer CMG, Former CEO, Aston Martin
- Jonathan Patrick, CEO, Consultant Connect
- Janet Pope, Chair, Charities Aid Foundation Bank
- Charles Randell, Former Chair, Financial Conduct Authority
- Rena Rani, Director, Propel – Education Management
- Ruben Rasalingham, Chief Operating Officer, Behold.aiTechnologies Limited
- Will Read, CEO, Sideways 6
- Xavier Rees, Group CEO, AMV BBDO
- William Reeve, CEO, Goodlord
- Ben Rometsch, Co-Founder and CEO, Flagsmith
- William Sargent, Executive Chair, Framestore
- Asi Sharabi, CEO, Wonderbly
- Chris Simmons, Founder and Managing Director, Simtec Materials Testing Ltd
- Chris Slater, Founder & CEO, Oka, The Carbon Insurance Company
- Giles Slinger, Director, Fledger
- Nick Smallman, CEO, Working Voices
- Stella Smith, Founder & CEO, pirkx
- Mike Soutar, Chairman, Electric Gallery
- Tommy Stadlen, Co-Founder, Giant Ventures
- Alex Stephany, Founder & CEO, BEAM
- Mark Stephenson, Managing Director, Stephenson-Mohl Group
- Colin Stevens, CEO/Chairman/NonExecutive/Trustee, Click Consultancy Ltd
- Jason Stockwood, Founder, 53 Degrees Capital
- Sir Bill Thomas, Chairman, Spirent Communications Plc
- Alexis Toft, CEO and Founder, Toft Ventures Ltd
- Jimmy Wales, Founder, Wikipedia
- Sir Malcolm Walker CBE, Founder, Iceland Foods
- Richard Walker OBE, Executive Chairman, Iceland Foods
- Emily Wallace, Managing Director, Inflect Partners
- Louis Warner, General Partner, G-Force
- Mark Welsby, Managing Director, Hawkstone Interiors
- Becky Willan, CEO, Given Agency
- Sean Williams, CEO, AutogenAI
- Emma Woods, Chair, Ancient+Brave and Tortilla Mexican Grill plc
- Phil Zeidler, Non Executive Director, Admiral Pioneer; Perci Health; Aplyid; Cranfield University; Ride High
