A former adviser to Boris Johnson has jumped ship to help boost Labour’s plans for engaging with businesses if it wins the next election, in the latest major coup for the party.
Iain Anderson, who quit the Conservatives in February in protest at the party’s alleged “f*** business” attitude, has been tasked with helping the party give small businesses a stronger voice in a Labour government.
Mr Anderson, who founded communications giant H/Advisors Cicero, was Mr Johnson’s “LGBT business champion”.
But he quit the Tories after 39 years of membership, claiming the Conservative Party was “not the party it used to be”.
In an interview with the Financial Times on Monday, Mr Anderson said small firms feel like they do not have a voice. “This is about everybody getting an ability to make a pitch,” he said.
Mr Anderson revealed he has been asked by Labour to draw up a report in the coming months on how it can deliver on a promise to build greater ties with corporate Britain.
Speaking to business leaders at Labour’s conference in Liverpool, leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “If we do come into government, you will be coming into government with us.”
In his interview with the FT, Mr Anderson launched a stinging attack on Mr Sunak and previous Tory prime ministers, saying firms were tired of the “on-off” relationship with government.
He cited “synthetic photo opportunities”, slamming ministers who call “asking if you have a factory, an office or a production line to visit”.
“There’s a picture and then the cavalcade returns to Whitehall,” he told the FT.
As well as lashing out at the Conservatives’ relations with business, he warned the party against fighting the next election on so-called culture war issues such as gender identity.
Mr Anderson said: “A culture war is not good for this country. I’m just very sad to see that happening.”
His backing is the latest coup for Labour, which has seen business leaders flock to build relations with Sir Keir and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves as the party enjoys a sizeable lead in the polls.
Earlier this year, former CBI president Paul Drechsler said Labour was winning the economic argument against the Tories under Sir Keir.
And high profile donors from the New Labour era such as Lord Sainsbury have returned to the fold, donating millions of pounds to the party since Jeremy Corbyn was replaced as leader.
As well as figures from the financial industry, Labour recently unveiled eminent barrister Marina Wheeler KC, Boris Johnson’s former wife, as Labour’s new “whistleblowing tsar” to advise on reforms.
And, in a sign of discontent among businesses at the Tories’ approach to industry, billionaire donor John Caudwell said last month that there was “no chance whatsoever” he would back Mr Sunak.
The Phones 4U founder was the party’s biggest backer in the run up to the 2019 election but threatened to switch to Labour over the “madness” of Mr Sunak’s U-turn on net zero measures to mitigate against the climate crisis.
Promising to turn around firms’ “on-off” relations with the government under Labour, Mr Anderson said: “In the future, the relationship will always be on.”
