Lord Spencer is skeptical of Labour's growth mantra. Photo: Andrew Crowley
Billionaire Tory donor Lord Spencer has given £250,000 to Rishi Sunak's election campaign as the City prepares for battle for Number 10.
Financier Lord Spencer named the most successful treasurer in history The Conservative Party, after raising tens of millions for the Tories from 2006 to 2010, has launched a charm offensive ahead of the July 4 election as city officials prepare for a possible Labor government.
Speaking from his ranch in Kenya, where he breeds endangered black rhinoceroses, the tycoon, who made his fortune founding broker-dealer ICAP, says he has just given the Conservatives £250,000 and now plans to “encourage all his business contacts to stick with given the current government is a better choice than the Labor Party” amid dire opinion polls.
The donation, the largest since 2019, comes as analysis shows no incumbent party voluntarily did not enter into the election campaign with the worst polls.
Despite calling for an election seven months earlier than expected, Sunak is well behind his three predecessors David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson in the polls.
Lord Spencer, who was a major donor to Boris Johnson's successful leadership campaign, backs Sunak as leader and is prepared to lay out his case for why the Conservatives would be better for the economy with his vast network of wealthy contacts.
Firstly , he says, the economy is now showing signs of growth. That shattered consensus for the first three months of the year after GDP expanded 0.6%, ending an official recession.
“The economy is like a supertanker: it takes time to turn around, but it turns around and Rishi deserves some credit for that,” he says as he prepares his presentation for the city.
“I tell friends: “I understand that after 14 years in power there is a lot of disappointment in the Conservative Party and there is a feeling that it is the other side's turn, but [for] those people who are thinking about voting “Labour Party: be careful what you wish for and be very careful what you expect” .
Lord Spencer may be ready to go, but he has some tough public relations work ahead of him. Former Tory adviser Ian Anderson, who switched sides and now advises Labor on how to support corporate Britain, says people “crave stability and economic competence and just want more predictability so they can invest.”
Anderson said as the country prepares for elections, businesses feel hopeful that they can “move on, turn the page – the current regime is exhausted.”
Lord Spencer's intervention comes as Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves courted business leaders and calmed concerns in the financial industry, many of whose bosses are now preparing to set up a Labor government.
Rachel Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer are making a big play for business. Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Instead of focusing on redistribution, equality and an interventionist state, Labor is fighting this election on the economy.
Jamie Dimon, head of the world's largest bank JP Morgan, praised Sir Keir's “business-oriented” commitment to growing the economy . Sir Keir's mantra is “growth, growth, growth.”
But Lord Spencer isn't buying it.
“They may talk about promoting economic growth, but will they actually go this route? I am deeply skeptical,” he says.
He says Sir Keir is “no Tony Blair” and fears this could be the “most left-wing [Labour] administration in this country”. ever was.”
“They have done a very good job of not intimidating the electorate by saying they are very moderate and centrist,” says Lord Spencer.
Jeremy Corbyn is now speaking against the Labor Party as an independent candidate, risking widening the rift between Labor Party leaders and the left wing of the party.
While some business leaders fear being blindsided by the election, many have been frustrated with UK politics for years and hope Labor won't lose at the ballot box.
Tory Winter Ball in Whitehall Former War Office, now opulent Raffles Hotel, has been described by one senior banker as “the last party on the Titanic”.
A Tory donor who attended an event earlier this year admitted he had significantly cut his donations over fears the party was facing defeat.
Among the Tory donors who switched to Labor is Richard Walker, boss of an Icelandic supermarket chain and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney is helping Reeves in her bid to become chancellor.
Labor officials are so confident that last week they emailed business leaders urging them to publicize their support for the party. At the time of writing, leaders speaking to The Telegraph said they had never heard anything like this from the Conservatives.
Lord Spencer acknowledges all the criticism of the party to which he has donated millions, but also believes that The Conservatives have been treated unfairly.
“The Conservative Party has received legitimate criticism for its performance, but bear in mind that they are taking responsibility after the financial crisis, the fallout from Brexit, and also Covid,” he says.
“I believe they could have done a better job, but the Tories have had some very big earthquakes on a global scale in the past period.”
The challenges the country still faces are enormous, and Lord Spencer has a list of problems that, in his opinion, urgently need to be addressed.
Firstly, this is the country's expanding civil service. The government now accounts for about 45% of GDP, and one in six people now works in the public sector.
“What are we going to do to reverse negative public sector productivity? As a starting point, we know that in many departments, civil servants only work in the office two days a week. Is it any wonder that renewing a passport is a nightmare?
“Reform of work practices in the civil service is significant. Do you think Labor will handle this well? I highly doubt it.”
Next on his list is the desperate need for welfare reform.
“Social Security is now the largest portion of our budget, it's huge and growing fast. ” he says.
The number of Britons who are unemployed and not looking for work has risen to 9.25 million since the pandemic, largely due to a sharp rise in long-term illnesses.
p>“A significant number are undoubtedly fit for work. Who has the best chance of making them work? Labor Party? he says.
“Without welfare reform and civil service reform, our economy will be under extreme stress.”
There is also the National Health Service.
“We we all know that the NHS is not the paragon of virtue we would like to believe. It is also desperate for reform,” he says.
“Do we really think Labor will do that, or will Labor do what it has always done in the past, which is just put more money into Do you think that in itself will improve results?
Lord Spencer's mission to promote Sunak comes as a boost for the party at a critical moment: David Cameron became Conservative leader six months after the City tycoon told him about it. a private dinner in 2005, which he supported.
But this time his presentation to friends will not be so easy as Sunak is sent out into the rain.
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