“A letter of support for the Conservatives from 5,000 small business owners has begun to unravel after it emerged it was orchestrated by the party’s central office, contained dozens of duplicate names and one person who said they had never signed it.
The letter, which was promoted by Tory small business ambassador Karren Brady, has been criticised after it emerged the document originated from Conservative party headquarters. This was discovered because the author of the document is listed in the metadata as “CCHQ-Admin”.
The Guardian has also established that at least 45 of the small business owners who signed the letter are in fact duplicate names – including one man who signed it four times and several who signed it three times.
For example, a Michael Withers is listed at number 2944 for Microse, 3925 for Sefton Meadows, 4611 for Tradewinds Europe and 4618 for Trans‐Continental Group. Company checks show this is one man with four small businesses.
Another person, Arun Ahluwalia, even appears to have signed it twice for the same company, Opera Opticians, at 3240 and 3241.
Another of those who signed twice is a Conservative councillor, Mark Hook, who listed himself under both ELJ Furnishings and Gosport Borough Football Club. ….”
When asked about the duplicates, the Conservatives claimed they had only ever billed it as “representatives of over 5,000 businesses”, although the Telegraph list suggests they are all separate owners of small businesses.
Meanwhile, one company executive has had to be taken off the letter, after Aurum Solutions, a technology company, tweeted on Monday morning that its sales director did not sign it and wanted to be removed.
One of the small business signatories was also found to have been Stanley Ward Conservative Club, a member of the Association of Conservative Clubs.
Later, Diverse Cymru, a registered charity, issued a statement saying that it “categorically” is not affiliated to the Conservative party, after its chairman, Keith Dewhurst, signed the letter in its name.
The statement said: “Diverse Cymru’s name should not and should never appear on any list of political endorsements such as the one published today in the Telegraph of entrepreneurs of small businesses, neither of which terms apply to Diverse Cymru. We believe we were included in error and have contacted the Conservative party to remove our name from this list immediately, and are also working to ensure that Diverse Cymru is not similarly cited in future.”
The signatories included 32 business leaders who have donated more than £9m to the Conservatives ……
East Devon Watch 