Two billionaires have come out in support of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party ahead of the general election. With a net worth of £23bn, chemicals businessman Jim Ratcliffe said:
Everybody in the UK now, you can see that the mood in the UK is ready for a change, they’ve had enough. I’ve met Keir Starmer a couple of times, I like Keir. I think he’ll do a very sensible job.
And former Tory donor John Caudwell, with a net worth of around £2.5bn, said on BBC Newsnight:
What Keir has done as far as I can see is take all the left out of the Labour party. And he’s come out with a brilliant set of values and principles and ways of growing Britain in complete alignment with my views as a commercial capitalist
Replacing left wing candidates with corporate lobbyists
Indeed, Starmer has worked hard to purge many left-wing candidates, including Jeremy Corbyn. That’s in favour of ending any gap between corporate lobbyists and MPs. Now swathes more corporate lobbyists will simply be the MPs themselves.
An example is Gareth Barrett, Labour’s candidate for Brentwood and Ongar. Barrett is an associate director of huge American public relations firm Hill & Knowlton. Its clients include Shell and other oil and gas giants.
Another is Labour’s candidate for Coventry East, Mary Creagh. She is chair of the responsible business practice of lobbying outfit Lexington Communications. Privatised water polluters United Utilities and the Australian investment bank Macquarie, also known as ‘vampire kangaroo’, are some of its clients.
A further example is Naushabah Khan, Labour’s candidate for Gillingham and Rainham. Khan is senior adviser at Dentons Global Advisors. The firm works with gambling companies and outsourcing, privatising giant Serco. At Labour’s 2023 conference, shadow ministers shared platforms with Serco executives.
Starmer: capital over labour
So it’s no wonder billionaires are supporting Starmer. “Commercial capitalist” Caudwell has backed lowering the minimum wage for young people so they are “a much more attractive value proposition” to employers. He said, in 2011, otherwise “a new society of young social scroungers” would arise.
Starmer insists his government would be “pro-business” and “pro-worker”. But Unite the union refused to endorse Labour’s manifesto, highlighting that “Labour’s revisions to promises on workers’ rights” broke its “red lines”.
The Labour leader also dropped his pledge to repeal the Trade Union Act, which makes it harder to take industrial action.
In 2022, Starmer sacked then shadow transport secretary Sam Tarry for showing solidarity with workers on a picket line.
Multibillionaire Ratcliffe, meanwhile, is based in Monaco to avoid tax. He has also been one of the most aggressive lobbyists for fracking in the UK. So, it’s interesting Labour has pledged to ban the industry. Whether with Ratcliffe now supporting the party that remains the case is debatable.
On top of the billionaires, Starmer has welcomed three defecting Tory MPs into Labour. At the same time, he has blocked many left-wing candidates from standing for the party, with one MP saying:
This is the most fundamental attempt to change the DNA of the Labour Party in its entire history.
Starmer has also attacked Labour Party democracy, trying to remove the one member one vote system for party leader.
We must hold him to account.
Featured image via Sky News – YouTube and j – X
