Tory MPs voting for a new leader do not understand what “deep s***” Boris Johnson has left the party in, a former major Conservative donor has warned.
Hedge fund billionaire John Armitage blasted all of the contenders to succeed Mr Johnson as “slick and superficial” apart from Kemi Badenoch, who he said was “really top class”.
But he said he would wait to see how any new leader performed as prime minister before deciding whether to resume donations, which have totalled around £3m in recent years, including £500,000 under Mr Johnson.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World at One, he warned that voters would not accept a new leader continuing with Mr Johnson’s “boosterism” in which attractive policies were launched but “nothing happens”.
And he denounced the focus of the Tory leadership hopefuls – with the exception of Rishi Sunak – on offering tax cuts.
“I profoundly disagree with the idea that it’s Thatcherite to cut taxes when there’s a massive deficit and when our debt’s never been higher,” said Mr Armitage. “I really don’t think that’s what Mrs Thatcher would have done.”
Mr Armitage ceased donations to the Tories in February, complaining of a “lack of honour” in the party, and has since donated to shadow cabinet member Wes Streeting. He today described Sir Keir Starmer as “a very good person and very sensible”.
In order for him to switch back to funding Tories, he said he would need to see a new leader “address any of the fundamental problems of the country in a coherent, serious way”.
He told World at One: “In the Westminster bubble most MPs and most commentators don’t really realise what deep s*** the Conservatives are in.
“I think people in the country are fed up with a regime that tolerated a dishonourable and bad prime minister for a long time.
“Brexit has actually happened and the debate has moved on to doing something about it and making it good. I think most people are fed up with what I would call boosterism, or you could call it policy by press release, where nothing happens.”
Asked if any of the candidates could turn voters’ views around, he replied: “If the Conservatives get a leader who will actually do something, and isn’t guided by opinion polls above all, yes, it might make a difference.”
But he signalled his dissatisfaction with almost all of the candidates on offer.
In a swipe at foreign secretary Liz Truss, he said: “I don’t like having foreign ministers who go in furs in tanks astride the world stage, looking like Mrs Thatcher.”
On Sunak, he said: “It would worry me having a leader whose wife has been a non-dom ... The danger is that anytime Rishi Sunak takes a hard economic decision, or any time his chancellor does, what will get flung back at him is, ‘It’s all very well for you’.”
Penny Mordaunt’s credo had been delivered in a book co-written with a PR agent, he said, adding: “PR executives are very good people. But they are all about presentation ... And I feel that that removes an element of genuineness.”
On Tom Tugendhat, Mr Armitage said: “I don’t like having MPs who say that we should have enforced a no-fly zone over Ukraine and put ourselves into conflict with Russia, which is Tom Tugendhat.”
The only candidate he rated was Ms Badenoch, saying: “I think she’s fresh, she’s different, she’s not associated with the old regime.
“There’s something very slick and superficial about the campaigns of many of these aspirant PMs. Kemi Badenoch gives me the impression that she is genuine.”
Responding to Mr Armitage’s comments, former Tory chair Brandon Lewis said: “Different donors will always support different leaders. One of the jobs a leader that serves the party has to do is ensure that they can deliver the policies that work for the country in a way we encourage our donors to support us as well.
“If you look back, David Cameron’s big donors were different from Boris’s and different from Theresa [May]’s. I’m sure the next leader will get that support from different donors and some of the same donors as well.”
