Labour Sacks ‘Business Champion’ Backbench MPs – Guido Fawkes

EXC: Labour Sacks ‘Business Champion’ Backbench MPs

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Guido hears Labour’s much-hyped “business champions” were quietly sacked in a low-key meeting at No10 earlier this month. At the start of this year, Starmer’s team rolled out around 40 MPs as “champions” for various sectors with great fanfare, tasked with schmoozing the business world. They’ve been noticeably quiet…

These MPs were unceremoniously told by Starmer’s deputy chief of staff Vidhya Alakeson that their roles were no longer required, saying they’d “done their job” and that business confidence in the government had now been “restored”. They were also told to drop their titles quietly…

One bemused MP told Guido: “It was basically a secret sacking. No announcement, no thank you – just a polite ’please stop mentioning it.’” A Labour Party spokesman insisted: “This was sector-specific business engagement via MPs alongside the government’s work on the industrial strategy. Business groups welcomed this as a “significant step forward”.  That engagement will continue as the government delivers on the strategy.” Note that the statement says the ‘engagement’ with business will continue, not the use of the MPs…

The layoff is probably a relief for some now-former ‘champions’ given Reeves’ upcoming business-bashing budget in Autumn. Safe to say Downing Street has less faith in Labour backbenchers than it did in February…