A former Conservative party donor has explained why he decided to join Labour, describing the Tories as “totally out of touch.”
Tycoon Gareth Quarry recently donated £100,000 to Labour and has joined the party as a member. This is after he had previously given tens of thousands of pounds to the Conservatives under David Cameron and Theresa May.
The 63-year-old told Sky News’ Beth Rigby that he came to the “gradual realisation that inequality in this country has got evermore marked”
The Remain supporter launched a scathing attack on Cameron, saying that the former Prime Minister was “without question” complacent about the seriousness of calling the EU referendum as he thought he could win it.
He said Conservatives were now “jumping to the tune of trying to keep the various factions of the party together,” adding that he “couldn’t just sit by being in a very privileged position.”
In his first TV interview since joining Labour, he said: “At difficult times you have to put the interests of the country first.
“So I had to therefore do a very radical thing, which will no doubt make me a pariah in a number of areas, but you’ve got to do the right thing.”
“I sat in rooms with the top group of donors.
“I’m a boy from Bedford, I felt totally out of it. There were people running enormous great companies. There were people who’ve been born with very silver spoons in their mouths. That’s not who I am.”
Quarry justified his donations to the Conservatives during Cameron’s government by saying he was “concerned in the run-up to Brexit” and wanted to “get in the room” to make the argument for remaining in the EU.
Despite attending lunches and dinners with cabinet ministers and the former PM, he said he didn’t see his donations as “paying for access or influence” and that he believed “in what the party and wing of the party was trying to do”.
He went on to describe Keir Starmer’s Labour as a “left of centre alliance,” whereas the Tories had “veered off to the right.”
And he admitted that he would have made a “fortune” from the prime ministers mini-budget – which he labelled as “farcical” – but said he “did not want that.”
He added: “If I can’t pay more than my fair share as a rich guy then, what hope is there.
“I have to carry a greater burden on my back, because there are people out there who over the last 15 years have not seen any change to their lives, and they are in despair.”
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