The chair and CEO of JPMorgan Chase has delivered his verdict on Keir Starmer’s mounting leadership troubles, warning Labour against becoming “hostile to banks again”.
While Jamie Dimon offered his support to the prime minister, who has been facing intensifying pressure to resign, he threatened to pull a billion-dollar project if Labour moved towards the left.
Nearly 100 MPs have called on Sir Keir to resign or issue a timetable to step down amid the fallout, which has also seen four of his government ministers quit after last week’s disastrous local election results.
“I think Keir Starmer’s a very smart guy,” Mr Dimon told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday. “Politics is really tough. They’re in a bind because of debts and deficits — they inherited a lot of that. I think the world of Rachel Reeves… They’ve got to be tough… I think they’ve got to work closer with Europe.”
However, he warned against Labour lurching towards the left in a bid to regain votes and said that he could pull a $3bn investment in a new Canary Wharf skyscraper if it did.
Plans to construct the building were agreed in November last year, when chancellor Rachel Reeves avoided imposing new taxes on the banking sector in her Budget.
JPMorgan Chase, recognised as one of the world’s largest financial institutions, confirmed that the new structure will offer 3 million sq ft of floorspace and accommodate 12,000 employees.
Asked if he would review his plans in light of the upheaval, he said: “Not political instability, but if they become hostile to banks again, yes.”
“I’ve always objected to the fact we didn’t damage the UK in any way, we paid probably $10bn [£7.4bn] in extra taxes by now,” he explained.
“I don’t think that’s right or fair. If that happens too much, we will reconsider.”
Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, former minister for victims and tackling violence against women and girls, MP Alex Davies-Jones, junior minister Miatta Fahnbulleh and health minister Zubir Ahmed have all resigned and implored Sir Keir “to act in the country’s interest and set out a timetable for your departure.”
More than 90 Labour MPs have called for a leadership change, while more than 100 have thrown their support behind the leader.
US president Donald Trump also shared his views on the matter when asked whether the prime minister should stay in office or quit.
“That’s up to him, but I told him from day one, you’re getting killed on energy,” he said. “You’re windmilling your country to death. Open up the North Sea. You have one of the greatest sources of energy in the world.”
Speaking in comments at the White House before flying to China on Tuesday he said that the UK needed to get “tough on immigration”.
