Conservative Business Letter - Telegraph 1 April 2015

The start of the 2015 UK general election campaign saw 103 UK business leaders sign a letter published on the front page of the Telegraphnewspaper praising Conservative policies.

Signatories

Rooney Anand | Surinder Arora | John Ayton | Alex Baldock | Richard Baker | Lord Bamford | Duncan Bannatyne | Robert Bensoussan | Lord Bilimoria | Charlie Bradshaw | Baroness Brady | Graham Chipchase | Zameer Choudrey | Neil Clifford | Steven Cohen | Glenn Cooper | Andrew Coppel CBE | Gerald Corbett | Peter Cullum CBE | Ron Dennis CBE | Julietta Dexter | Annoushka Ducas CBE | Bob Dudley | Sir Charles Dunstone | John Elliott | Mark Esiri | Ralph Findlay | Richard Glynn | Ben Gordon | Julian Granville | Peter Grauer | Philip Green CBE | Michael Gutman OBE | Wendy Hallett MBE | Jenny Halpern Prince | Andy Harrison | Aidan Heavey | Oliver Hemsley | Joe Henderson | Vernon Hill | Anya Hindmarch MBE | Brent Hoberman CBE | Cassie Hutchings | Sir George Iacobescu CBE | Alan Jackson | Peter Jackson | Nick Jenkins | Luke Johnson | Neil Johnson OBE | Richard Joseph | Ray Kelvin CBE | Nadir Lalani | Ben Latham Jones | Nick Leslau | Rhydian Lewis | James Lipscombe | Derek Lovelock | Sir Cameron Mackintosh | Ron Mackintosh | Edward Mellors | Tom Molnar | John Morgan | Matt Moulding | Stephen Murphy | Jonathan Neame | John Neill | Nick Newbury | Jonathan Newhouse | Richard Nichols | Mike Norris | Tim Oliver | Sir Dick Olver | Alan Parker CBE | Tony Pidgley CBE | Thembalath Ramachandran | Nick Robertson OBE | Richard Rose | Lord Rose | Chrissie Rucker MBE | Sir Nigel Rudd | Rakesh Sharma | Baroness Shields OBE | Jasminder Singh OBE | Rob Templeman | Tidjane Thiam | Sarah Thomson | Simon Townsend | Michael Turner | Steve Varley | Moni Varma | Matthew Vaughn | Ollie Vigors | Malcolm Walker CBE | Robert Walker | Paul Walsh | James Wates CBE | George Weston | Mike Wheeler | Nick Wheeler | The Hon. Charles Wigoder | Paul Wilkinson | Will Wyatt | Sir Hossein Yassaie

Criticism

In the days after the publication of the letter, many commentators pointed out many of the signatories were not exactly impartial, and included Conservative donors, advisers and those given peerages by the Tories.

Links to the Conservative Party

Previously signed a letter of support

Surinder Arora | Alex Baldock | Robert Bensoussan | Ralph Findlay | Andy Harrison | Luke Johnson | Mike Norris | Michael Turner | Nick Wheeler

Business Advisory Council

Surinder Arora | Dick Olver | Tidjane Thiam

Donors

Personal

Alex Baldock | Anthony Bamford | Lord Bilimoria | Zameer Choudrey | Neil Clifford | Ron Dennis | Charles Dunstone | John Elliott | Ben Gordon | Julian Granville | Aidan Heavey | Oliver Hemsley | George Iacobescu | Nick Jenkins | Nick Leslau | Cameron Mackintosh | Tim Oliver | Tony Pidgley | Nigel Rudd | Malcolm Walker | Paul Walsh | George Weston | Charles Wigoder

Donors through company

Peter Grauer | Michael Gutman | Cassie Hutchings | Peter Jackson | Michael Turner | Moni Varma | James Wates | Will Wyatt

Leader's Group

Anthony Bamford | Zameer Choudrey | Michael Gutman | James Wates | Charles Wigoder

Government advisory roles

Glenn Cooper | Philip Green | Dick Olver | Baroness Shields | Paul Walsh

Awarded honours whilst Cameron in power

John Ayton | Anthony Bamford | Lord Bilimoria | Baroness Brady | Peter Cullum | Annoushka Ducas | Charles Dunstone | Philip Green | Michael Gutman | Wendy Hallett | Brent Hoberman | George Iacobescu | Ray Kelvin | Dick Olver | Alan Parker | Tony Pidgley | Nick Robertson | Lord Rose | Baroness Shields | James Wates | Hossein Yassaie | James Wates

Friends of the Cameron's

Charles Dunstone | Mark Esiri | Anya Hindmarch | Matthew Vaughn

Party balls

Anya Hindmarch | Matthew Vaughn

Former Labour supporters

Surinder Arora | Duncan Bannatyne | Charles Dunstone | Cameron Mackintosh | Moni Varma

External resources

• Jon Stone, Hazel Sheffield, Matt Dathan, One in five of the businessmen who signed pro-Tory letter were given honours by David Cameron and one third are Tory donors, Independent, 01 April 2015
• Evan Bartlett, We combed through the signatories of this morning's anti-Labour Telegraph letter so you don't have to, Independent i100, 1 April 2015.