Who are the 120 business leaders backing Labour?
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!
Keep fishing Keir 🎣🎣🎣 https://t.co/Bjs1V6HFAK— CCHQ Press (@CCHQPress) May 28, 2024
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