Ex-Boris Johnson adviser switches sides to boost Labour business plans
Former Tory adviser Iain Anderson has made the move to work with Labour on securing closer relations with business.
Boris Johnson’s former ‘LGBT business champion’, who quit the Conservative Party last year after almost four decades, has now joined forces with Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, the Financial Times reports.
Anderson, who founded PR firm Cicero, now known as H/Advisors Cicero, will work with shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds to give small firms a louder voice compared to major corporations and trade unions.
He told the paper that small companies “don’t feel like they have a voice” and added: “This is about everybody getting an ability to make a pitch.”
It comes after Starmer addressed Labour’s sold-out business summit at their Liverpool conference, telling 200 top executives “you will be coming into government with us”.
While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s business advisory council – which includes 13 FTSE100 CEOs – met for the first time in July for just 45 minutes and is set to convene twice-yearly.
City PM understands Anderson’s report on SMEs is expected ahead of the party’s business conference in February 2024, with CEOs and top executives reportedly paying up to £50,000 to sign up as a headline partner.
Reynolds’ spokesperson said the shadow ministerial team would take Anderson’s report into consideration when setting up fresh structures for business relations.
A Tory source told City PM: “Anderson has spent a career hobnobbing with multinationals, charging his services at thousands per hour, what does he know about SMEs?
“Everything he has done since quitting the Conservative Party to great fanfare has been to promote one brand and one brand only: Iain Anderson’s.”
Anderson was approached for a response but declined to comment.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) have been contacted for comment.