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 Telegraph newspaper 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

Many commentators pointed out a sizeable number of the signatories had close links to the Conservative Party and included a range of donors and business advisers. A good number had also been given peerages during Cameron's leadership.

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 | Matthew Moulding | 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 Camerons

Charles Dunstone | Mark Esiri | Anya Hindmarch | Matthew Vaughn

Conservative Party fundraising ball attendees

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.