‘Natural Tory’ Nick Candy suggests he’ll vote Labour
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Nick Candy has suggested that he will support Labour at the next election.
Mr Candy, a billionaire property tycoon who donated to the Conservatives under Boris Johnson, said it was “probably time for a change”.
He described himself as “naturally a Tory” but criticised the party’s recent infighting and said he considered Sir Keir Starmer “a decent man with good values and good morals”.
His remarks came just days after Mr Candy was seen with his wife Holly Valance, the former Neighbours star, at the launch of the Popular Conservatives.
Ms Valance claimed in an interview at the event, which featured speakers from the Right of the party, that “everyone starts off as a Leftie” before realising the ideas are “c--p”.
But asked on Bloomberg’s In the City podcast whether Labour would do a better job of governing and whether it was time for a change, Mr Candy said: “I’m naturally a Tory. I voted for Tony Blair when he came into power. I think it’s probably time for a change.”
He then referred to claims of plotting within the Tory party to replace Rishi Sunak with Kemi Badenoch, adding that some in Whitehall “think they can just pick and choose who’s going to be next leader of the Conservative Party under their remit”.
He added: “I think it’s wrong, and based on that yes, maybe it’s time for some change. But we still don’t know the Labour policies, but do I think Keir Starmer is a decent man with good values and good morals? 100 per cent.”
Mr Candy, 51, who donated £270,000 to the Conservative Party between 2020 and May 2022, said he was ready to leave the country if Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir’s predecessor, had come to power.
He added: “I wired all my money out of the UK ready to leave just in case he did come in, and thank goodness he didn’t because it wouldn’t have been very successful. I think people are less worried this time because Keir Starmer is not Jeremy Corbyn.”
He praised Sir Keir’s team for appearing to engage with business but expressed concern about Labour’s policy of VAT on private school fees, saying: “I went to a private school, but my parents often couldn’t afford to pay for me to go to private school so my grandma paid the school fees.
“An extra 20 per cent on the VAT would have been a lot for my grandma and probably not affordable.”
Last month, Richard Walker, the Iceland supermarket boss, announced that he had switched his allegiance to Labour and said Sir Keir was “the “right choice” for businesses.
