Sweeping statements

Linda Hall

SIR JAMES DYSON dismissed the British government’s approach to the economy and business as “stupid” and “short­sighted.”

Writing recently in the Daily Telegraph, the Dyson tycoon whose estimated fortune of €23 million was initially based on cordless vacuum cleaners, maintained that growth had become a “dirty word” since Rishi Sunak took over as Britain’s prime minister.

Dyson, who was a committed Brexit supporter, claimed that the government believed in its ability to impose “tax upon tax” on companies under the impression that penalising private industry was one way of winning votes.

“This is as short ­ sighted as it is stupid,” Dyson warned in the Telegraph. “In the global economy, companies will simply choose to transfer jobs and invest elsewhere.”

Sir James also voiced unease at the working­from­home policies introduced when the Covid pandemic was at its height. The government had yet to succeed in convincing employees to return to the workplace after having told them to stay home to prevent infection from spreading and avoid overloading an already