Yahoo News John Caudwell tells BBC Newsnight 'you can't live in past' after shock Labour switch
Billionaire and former Tory donor John Caudwell admits that his decision to vote for Labour in the general election represents "a hell of a U-turn" - but he's convinced Keir Starmer is the right man to lead the country. The Phones4U founder, who grew up in poverty in Stoke-on-Trent before making his fortune, was quizzed over his decision on last night's episode of Newsnight.
The 71-year-old had announced earlier in the day that the "failures" of the three prime ministers in Government since he gave half a million pounds to the Conservatives in 2019 - alongside Labour's 'transformation' under Mr Starmer - had led him to switch allegiance for the first time in his life.
During Tuesday night's episode of the BBC2 current affairs programme, Mr Caudwell - who lived in Wellesley Street, Shelton, and then Bentilee as a child - explained the reasons for his decision. "Up until the last few months I really didn't have anyone to vote for," he said.
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"The Conservative Party had done such an awful job over the last five or six years. I think to balance that I should say they have had some challenges haven't they with Brexit and then Covid after that. But nonetheless they've made some very poor decisions and the final poor decision of course was Rishi Sunak leaving the D-Day celebrations but that was nothing to do with my decision - it's just an indication of the poor decisions made.
"Over the last two or three months I've looked at the Labour manifesto, looked at what they stand for and gradually, slowly and grudgingly - after 50 years of Conservative support - moved their way. The real clincher was on Friday, I was in a business conference they were holding and there was 50 chief executives of some of the biggest companies in the UK representing £4-trillion worth of market cap.
"The empathy from Rachel Reeves (Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer) and the other people in the Labour Party was clear. It's not just about empathy - questions asked received really excellent answers about what Labour were going to do for the economy."
Presenter Victoria Derbyshire pointed out to Mr Caudwell that he'd been quoted in 2019 saying he would be "terrified" of the Labour Party getting into power, adding: "That's a hell of a U-turn isn't it?" He responded: "It is a hell of a U-turn but we all judge things based on latest information.
"It's no good living in the past. Let's look where we are, the here and now and the future. What Keir has done - as far as I can see - has taken all the left out of the Labour Party and he has come out with a brilliant set of values and principles and way of growing Britain in complete alignment with my views as a commercial capitalist."
Mr Caudwell added: "The real issue here is that Keir is going for growth of GDP - that's the huge thing. Growth of GDP to swell the public purses to be able to look after the poorer people of society. I absolutely fully support that.
"I'm not backing him because he's going to win - I'm backing him because I believe in the policies, and the fact that he is going to win is an added advantage because I really hope that I can influence Labour policy in a positive way for Britain going forward to put the Great back in Britain."
Mr Caudwell's judgment was further questioned given he gave £500,000 to Boris Johnson and previously supported Liz Truss becoming Conservative leader. "Backing the Tories in 2019 when the alternative was Corbyn and McDonnell turned my blood cold," he replied.
"I did believe in the Tories then, I believed in Boris Johnson then. I was wrong to do so but I wasn't wrong in backing them against Labour." Mr Caudwell later added: "Liz Truss was going for GDP growth - she got it all wrong. The only alternative was Liz Truss or Rishi - I chose what I viewed to be the lesser of the two evils and she screwed it up. That's it, that's fact."
