John Caudwell: I backed Labour, but they haven’t kept their promises Opinion We should be making it easier for entrepreneurs to invest, employ and expand. Instead we are giving them more reasons to look elsewhere.
John Caudwell and Stuart Rose blast ‘tax creep’ Economics Billionaire political donor John Caudwell and retail bigwig Lord Stuart Rose have hit out at the “creep of taxes” hitting businesses across the country. The influential business veterans have joined a campaign led by entrepreneur group Helm calling on the government to “stop the creep of taxes on wealth creators”. A letter, which has been [...]
Billionaire John Caudwell: Britain needs to stop criticising the wealthy and start celebrating success Property Phones4U founder John Caudwell’s new Riviera development features a £250k statue of himself. Billionares should be proud of their success, he tells Felix Armstrong “If I was trying to purely make money, I would have built student accommodation in Manchester and put another 5,000 Chinese people in there,” billionaire and philanthropist John Caudwell says as [...]
In 23 months Labour has dragged the UK economy to its knees June 4, 2026 Reading our interview with billionaire John Caudwell, in which he says he was “misled” by Labour’s pitch for power, I’m reminded of just how unambiguous Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves were in the run-up to the 2024 election. They promised to be “the most pro-business government this country has ever seen.” Some of us were [...]
Billionaire Labour backer John Caudwell: I was misled by ‘disastrous’ Starmer June 3, 2026 Billionaire John Caudwell has said he was “misled” by Keir Starmer’s Labour Party and revealed that he hopes to once again back the Tories at the next election. The entrepreneur and philanthropist said there is “no chance” of him voting Labour at the next election, which he says the government is bound to lose. Labour [...]
John Caudwell: Mentoring isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s an economic imperative April 29, 2026 Mentoring young people is early-stage investment in human capital , and the results are clear, writes John Caudwell.
John Caudwell: Bring back Saturday jobs to fix youth unemployment March 11, 2026 Spiralling labour costs and regulation have decimated what used to be entry level jobs for teenagers, says John Caudwell I started work young. I grew worms in a box under my mother’s bed to sell to fishermen, traded cigarette packet coupons, knocked on doors selling soap for charity and later ran a small mail-order business [...]
John Caudwell: The business community is running out of goodwill for Labour December 18, 2025 When I started out as an entrepreneur, I asked for only three things from government. I wanted predictability, fair taxation and a system that rewarded hard work, says John Caudwell As someone who built Phones 4u from a one man band into a multi-billion-pound business, I know that every large company begins as a small [...]
John Caudwell: Britain needs more employment, not more employment law November 13, 2025 The Employment Rights Bill shift the balance too far in favour of workers at the expense of bosses, and will strangle job creation as a result, says John Caudwell As an entrepreneur, I built successful businesses that employed many thousands of people. That experience taught me two things. First, Britain’s prosperity depends on successful employers [...]
Britain must rediscover radicalism October 16, 2025 There’s plenty of talk about growth from our politicians, but precious little radical thinking about how we unleash innovation, back risk-takers and rip up the planning system, says John Caudwell As party conference season closes, we’re left again with a familiar chorus of promises – growth, reform, renewal. Politicians across the spectrum have dusted off [...]