How the Conservatives orchestrated the letter from business leaders - and got it wrong

Political parties used to make strenuous efforts to pretend that they had little or no involvement when business leaders or any other group capable of reaching out to swing voters endorsed a party.

The Tories followed that rule book when the Daily Telegraph published a letter at the beginning of the “short” election campaign earlier this month signed by 103 business executives endorsing the party. Needless to say, the prime minister’s tennis partner and Tory co-chair, Lord Feldman, played a key role in organising the letter, whose signatories included 32 business leaders who have donated more than £9m to the Conservatives.

The latest letter, orchestrated by entrepreneur Karren Brady and signed by 5,000 business owners, also published by the Daily Telegraph, marks a different approach. Far from keeping their fingerprints off it, the Tories left whopping great paw marks all over the letter , which warns that a change of government would be “far too risky” for business.

The letter has featured for weeks on a members’ section of the Tory website, as Brady sought signatures, and was featured in a Guardian article on 10 April. Eagle-eyed Twitter users also spotted that the author on the letter was CCHQ-Admin – Conservative campaign headquarters.

The link to the letter pdf is here, on the Telegraph site.

We’ve double-checked this and sure enough:

These details appear to be lacking from the Daily Telegraph, whose readers might be forgiven for thinking that Brady is acting alone. Brady, who was ennobled by the prime minister last year, is the Tories’ small business ambassador.

Update

A company executive has now withdrawn from the letter signed by more than 5,000 small business leaders in support of the Conservative party. Aurum Solutions, a technology company, tweeted on Monday morning that its sales director did not sign the letter and wanted to be removed.

Belcher later added:

It comes after three people distanced themselves from a previous letter to the Telegraph signed by 100 company executives and also orchestrated by Conservative party headquarters. Lord Bilimoria, the independent crossbench peer, told the Guardian that he was unhappy that the letter, which first appeared in the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, gave the impression that he was a Conservative party supporter.

The chief executive of the drugs giant AstraZeneca and the newly appointed chief executive of Ladbrokes also distanced their companies from the letter.