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Ed Balls red-faced after forgetting name of Labour business supporter Ed Balls red-faced after forgetting name of Labour business supporter
(about 1 hour later)
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has said "it's an age thing" after failing to remember the name of one of Labour's main business supporters.Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has said "it's an age thing" after failing to remember the name of one of Labour's main business supporters.
In an interview with BBC Newsnight, he described Bill Thomas - who helped draw up the party's small business policies - as simply "Bill" and when pressed could not give his surname.In an interview with BBC Newsnight, he described Bill Thomas - who helped draw up the party's small business policies - as simply "Bill" and when pressed could not give his surname.
Labour sources called it "a human error" and a "perfectly human slip up".Labour sources called it "a human error" and a "perfectly human slip up".
Mr Balls tweeted on Tuesday: "It's an age thing!"Mr Balls tweeted on Tuesday: "It's an age thing!"
In the Newsnight interview, Mr Balls was being quizzed about whether Labour was anti-business, following criticism by Boots boss Stefano Pessina.In the Newsnight interview, Mr Balls was being quizzed about whether Labour was anti-business, following criticism by Boots boss Stefano Pessina.
'Big Supporter'
The shadow chancellor said he had just been at a dinner with some of Labour's business supporters including "Bill, the former chief executive of EDS, whom I was talking to just a few moments ago ... he is a big supporter of ours."The shadow chancellor said he had just been at a dinner with some of Labour's business supporters including "Bill, the former chief executive of EDS, whom I was talking to just a few moments ago ... he is a big supporter of ours."
When presenter Emily Maitlis asked what Bill's surname was, he said: "It has just gone from my head, which is a bit annoying at this time of night…"When presenter Emily Maitlis asked what Bill's surname was, he said: "It has just gone from my head, which is a bit annoying at this time of night…"
The Shadow Chancellor later tweeted an explanation for his memory lapse: "I know, I know. Bill Thomas, our Small Business Taskforce Chair, will never forgive me. It's an age thing!"The Shadow Chancellor later tweeted an explanation for his memory lapse: "I know, I know. Bill Thomas, our Small Business Taskforce Chair, will never forgive me. It's an age thing!"
Mr Thomas, a former senior vice president of Electronic Data Systems, part of Hewlett Packard Europe, chaired a small business taskforce for Labour, as part of its policy review.Mr Thomas, a former senior vice president of Electronic Data Systems, part of Hewlett Packard Europe, chaired a small business taskforce for Labour, as part of its policy review.
Labour leader Ed Miliband hailed the "enormous commitment and imagination" Mr Thomas had brought to the job when the taskforce's report was published in 2013.Labour leader Ed Miliband hailed the "enormous commitment and imagination" Mr Thomas had brought to the job when the taskforce's report was published in 2013.
'Fat cats'
Lord Jones, the former CBI chief, who also served as a trade minister in Gordon Brown's government, said Mr Balls's slip was indicative of "a much bigger problem with business" for the Labour party.
"They haven't got the support that New Labour used to have years ago," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The founder of upmarket fast food restaurant chain Yo Sushi! also joined in the criticism.
Simon Woodroffe, a former Labour supporter who has since donated money to the Conservatives, said he believes Ed Miliband is promoting a populist anti-business message: "He's saying 'look at these fat cats making lots of money, it should be for the workers'.
"What I want our leader to say is 'We want enormous profits, and yes we are going to share them out later, but first of all we've got to make them'," he told Newsnight.
'Pro-business party'
But Labour's biggest individual donor, home shopping magnate John Mills, said claims that the party was not on the side of business, had been "blown up beyond all reasonable bounds".
"Some of the comments that have been made over the past few days have been really rather poorly judged because these companies are going to have to work with a Labour government if it gets elected in 2015," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
He added: "No government can work successfully if it doesn't have the business community's interests at heart, and I'm sure Labour will do so when it gets elected."
Mr Balls insisted Labour is "the pro-business party today" following the row with Mr Pessina, who said he feared a 'catastrophe' for business if Labour wins May's general election.
Mr Miliband hit back at the criticism from the Boots boss, a Monaco-dwelling tax exile, saying: "I don't think people in Britain are going to take kindly to being lectured by someone who is avoiding his taxes, on how they should be voting in the UK general election."