Alan Sugar is quitting Labour, denouncing the party’s perceived shift to the left in the runup to last week’s general election, as two potential leadership candidates criticised the party and its campaign’s lack of business appeal.

The star of the BBC’s business reality show The Apprentice, who was the government’s official “enterprise champion” during Gordon Brown’s premiership, said party chiefs had accepted his resignation “as they had been aware of my disillusionment for some time”.

Labour was widely seen by business leaders as charting an anti-business course ahead of the election, in which the Conservative party defied opinion poll predictions to win an outright majority. Two potential contenders for the Labour leadership have already called for the party to be more pro-business. Chuka Umunna and Liz Kendall, both seen as Blairites, have also called for the party to reach out to middle England.

The battle for the future of the Labour party after its devastating defeat in the election rumbled on on Monday with Sadiq Khan and Jon Cruddas resigning from the Labour shadow cabinet. Khan is understood to be preparing to fight for the party’s nomination as Labour’s candidate for London mayor, while Cruddas announced he was setting up a review independent of the party leadership into how Labour lost the election.



In a mini shadow cabinet reshuffle, Khan has been replaced by Lord Falconer as shadow justice secretary. Hilary Benn has been promoted to shadow foreign secretary, replacing Douglas Alexander, who lost his seat in the election. Chris Leslie, the shadow chief secretary, has been promoted to the post of shadow chancellor, replacing Ed Balls after his defeat at the ballot box.

The appointments are temporary until a new party leader is elected by the summer or at the autumn party conference. The party national executive is meeting on Wednesday to agree the timetable, and in the interim Harriet Harman is acting as temporary leader.

Announcing he was quitting the party, Lord Sugar said he no longer agreed with many of Labour’s policies after Ed Miliband, the Labour leader who resigned in the wake of defeat, moved the party “back to what old Labour stood for”.

Sugar said he had intended to step down as a Labour peer whatever the outcome of the election but had kept quiet about his plans to avoid harming the party’s chances. He said in a statement on Twitter: “In the past year I found myself losing confidence in the party due to their negative business policies and the general anti-enterprise concepts they were considering if they were to be elected. I expressed this to the most senior figures in the party several times.

I have resigned today from the Labour party. Full statement here... pic.twitter.com/bzpQsmhVXG — Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) May 11, 2015

“I was originally brought into the party by Gordon Brown during an era where true enterprise was being supported by the party. I signed on to New Labour in 1997 but more recently, particularly in relation to business, I sensed a policy shift moving back towards what old Labour stood for. By the start of this year, I had made my decision to resign from the party whatever the outcome of the general election.”

He added: “I have no wish to stick the boot into the party. There are many good people in Labour working hard every day to serve the public, and I wish them all the best of luck. I am grateful for all the experiences being a member of Labour has brought me.

“I intend to continue in the House of Lords, representing the interests of business and enterprise in the UK. I will be making no further comment at this time.”

Sorry @lord_sugar leaving Labour, had hoped he'd stay & help us change it. Hope we can welcome him back before long. — Steve Reed (@SteveReedMP) May 11, 2015

Two Labour MPs have already responded with dismay to Sugar’s surprise announcement. Steve Reed, MP for Croydon North, said in a tweet that he hoped the businessman would stay in the party and “help us change it”.

Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter, used the microblogging site to tell Sugar: “This is the time not to leave but to stay and help us back to sanity.”

