Wednesday 1 April 2015

Boycott call hits Tory-supporting business chiefs

A foolish stunt by the Daily Telegraph and 103 Tory company leaders has backfired, with business chiefs now facing calls for a boycott of their companies from angry voters.

Marcus Williamson, editor of www.ceoemail.com, a consumer information website, has created a list of the 103 Tory suppoters who signed the Telegraph letter, together with email contact details for many of them. The list can be found here:

http://ceoemail.com/100-tory-april-fools.php

Although the Telegraph claims that these people are supporting the Conservative Party in a personal capacity, they are blurring the lines by using their high profiles in companies to try to add gravitas to their Tory support.

Companies are not able to vote and companies are not affected by the worst of the Tory policies, such as benefits cuts, privatisation of the NHS and running down of local services. In fact, many of these policies - such as NHS privatisation, "workfare", and allowing zero-hours contracts - are there for the advantage of companies, not individual voters.

Williamson says "Business people should stay out of politics" and adds "They should have already learnt lessons from the referendum on Scottish independence. The CBI tried to interfere and got it wrong. These people should realise that it's foolish to mess with the electorate when their business is at stake."

"I am urging people to now boycott these companies to send a message to their directors and owners to say why they are doing so."

ENDS