Guy Hands

The private equity veteran Guy Hands has accused the Conservatives of putting the UK economy “on a path to be the sick man of Europe”, heading for an IMF ...

“A grown-up needs to take over the Conservative leadership and be a prime minister who represents everyone in Britain,” he said. The Conservative party now needs to “move on from fighting its own internal wars and actually focus on what needs to be done in the economy”, he said. The private equity veteran Guy Hands has accused the Conservatives of putting the UK economy “on a path to be the sick man of Europe”, heading for an IMF bailout.

Terra Firma founder says UK is on the path to becoming a 'sick man of Europe'

Mr Hands said the Tory party had to “move on from fighting its own internal wars and focus on what needs to be done in the economy”. “I think if the Tory party can own up to the mistake in how they negotiated Brexit and have somebody leading it that actually has the intellectual capability and the authority to negotiate Brexit, there is a possibility of turning around the economy, but without that the economy is frankly doomed.” Mr Hands said Brexiters had a dream of a low-tax, low-benefit economy, but that this “clearly isn’t something that’s acceptable to the British people”.

Country is 'on a path to be the sick man of Europe', Terra Firma founder says.

Many at the top of the Conservative Party realise that the only way for Britain to compete on the world stage outside of the EU is by becoming the “European ...

There is, however, a positive alternative to the disastrous direction that the Conservative Party has taken Britain and itself in over the last six years. Thus it was right to leave Europe as “now we are outside the EU, we can see how badly they are treating us and we clearly should never have been part of such a terrible organisation” – avoiding any recognition that divorce almost always tends to be bitter and lead to a breakdown of relations. I said Britain would be increasingly seen as an unreliable partner, and the idea that new trade deals with the rest of the world would make up for what we lost by leaving the EU was delusional. Hence its plan to save as many seats as it can, particularly in the south-east, to avoid total annihilation: in short, the presumption in the Conservative Party is that, post-Truss, it has no choice but to balance the books by raising taxes substantially and minimising welfare spending. Truss’s decision to appoint as Kwarteng’s successor Jeremy Hunt, who has done a U-turn on what the Conservative government stood for a few weeks earlier, was effectively an admission that everything Truss had promoted and promised in her campaign to become prime minister had been abandoned. However, the power of democracy dictates that the path to their perceived utopia is never going to be open in a Britain where the majority of voters are either economically left-wing or right-wing paternalists, and only a very small minority support the libertarian right.

Guy Hands says Conservatives are putting country 'on a path to be sick man of Europe'

Hands later withdrew the legal action and agreed to pay Citi’s costs. “Without that, the economy is frankly doomed,” he said. [moved to Guernsey](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/may/10/hands-guernsey-tax-exile) in 2009, enabling him to escape the [new 50% tax rate for high earners](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/22/budget-2009-alistair-darling-taxation), since reduced to 45%. The Companies House website still lists his residence on the Channel island. [expected to become Britain’s next prime minister](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/23/rishi-sunak-surges-ahead-in-tory-leadership-race-as-rivals-struggle-to-gain-support), the third in less than two months, Hands called for a Tory leader with “the intellectual capability and the authority to renegotiate Brexit” and turn around the economy. [Liz Truss](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/liz-truss), had attempted to follow the “dream” of Brexit and a “low-tax, low-benefit economy”, but this “clearly isn’t something which is acceptable to the British people”.

Top investor says says UK faces a 'disastrous economic state' after downfall of Liz Truss.

It clearly isn’t something that’s acceptable to the British people,” Mr Hands told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. [Rishi Sunak](https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/rishi-sunak/) is the overwhelming favourite to become the next leader, with cabinet minister [Penny Mordaunt](https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/penny-mordaunt/) far behind in endorsements from MPs. [the downfall of Prime Minister Liz Truss](https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/10/20/liz-truss-resigns-as-uk-prime-minister/) marked the failure of the dream pursued by some Brexiteers of making Britain a low-tax, Singapore-style economy.