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Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar, or Lord Sugar if you prefer, has announced his resignation from the British Labor Party in the wake of its awful defeat at the polls in the U.K. general election last week. The member of the House of Lords cited disillusionment with the Party’s business policies as his reason for leaving.
Baron Sugar, however, intends keep his seat in the House of Lords and says he will use it as a platform from which to promote business interests in the U.K. The Lord stated that he had already made his decision before the elections, but waited until after they were over to announce it because he is a “loyal person.”
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Lord Sugar was raised in a working class Jewish family in East London and is a self-made man.
Here is the full text of the public statement which Lord Sugar released announcing his decision:
“I informed the party on Friday of my decision to resign which they accepted as they had been aware of my disillusionment for some time.
“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 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.
“However, I am a loyal person and rather than use my decision to possibly damage the party’s chances in the election, I decided, as a relatively high profile individual, to keep my intentions quiet for the duration of the campaign.
“In the past few weeks I have declined hundreds of media requests to talk about the proposed policies of the party, particularly in relation to business, and instead opted to remain quiet.
“I have no wish to stick the boot into the party. There are many good people in Labor 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 Labor 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.”
In response a Labor Party spokesman said, “We would like to thank Alan very much for his generous support and service over the years and we wish him well for the future.”
