Lord David Sainsbury has announced that he will no longer provide financial backing to party political causes, forcing Progress, the centrist Labour pressure group, to turn to its members to make up the shortfall
Sainsbury, who has been a major political donor for more than 20 years, has decided to concentrate primarily on charitable causes.
Richard Angell, Progress’s director, has been an outspoken critic of Jeremy Corbyn and his brand of politics. In 2016 Sainsbury donated £260,000 to the thinktank, which is chaired by the Wirral South MP, Alison McGovern. It has been campaigning for a soft Brexit, and against rule changes that would make it easier to elect another leader from the left wing of the party.
Angell said the group had started fundraising since being informed of Sainsbury’s decision before the general election, and has already received pledges worth £60,000, a third of its target; but would be asking members to contribute more.
He insisted Progress’s centrist agenda remained relevant, despite Labour’s better-than-expected performance in the general election on Corbyn’s more leftwing prospectus. “To win the next election we’ve got to win over people who previously voted Tory; the ‘one more heave’ strategy is not going to work – you’ve got to broaden as well as deepen your appeal,” he said.
Corbyn’s allies have sometimes criticised Progress, with the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, referring to it on one occasion as “hard right”.
But the Labour leader addressed its annual conference last year, in a conciliatory gesture to his critics on the right of the party, and this year’s event, to be held in London on Saturday, will welcome the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott.
Sainsbury, who was formerly chair of the supermarket chain, and a minister in the Blair government, emerged as Britain’s largest political donor in 2016, after giving £2m each to Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the run-up to the EU referendum.
Sainsbury said, “I know that there is much still for progressive politics to do. However it’s time for me to hand the baton on to a new generation of donors who can help take that vital work forward. I’ve been proud to support progressive ideas and organisations like Progress and I wish them well for the future.”
Angell said future priorities included “renewing the ideas of the centre-left; stopping a hard-left takeover in constituencies; and training a new generation of talent to take on Labour’s challenges”.
Since Corbyn won the Labour leadership, the party has relied less on donations from business leaders, and more on individual contributions from its membership, which has expanded rapidly over the past two years.
