Former Newcastle United owner Sir John Hall said he had switched from backing the Conservatives to become a Reform UK donor because he felt his English way of life was “under threat”.
Nigel Farage announced at a rally near Sunderland how the businessman who was behind the success of the MetroCentre had switched his allegiance to Reform UK.
Sir John raised his fists from the balcony as the audience cheered, shouting “come on”.
After the event at Rainton Meadows, Houghton-le-Spring, which was attended by around 1,000 supporters who paid £5 each, Sir John said the Tories had been a failure for the last 14 years.
“English is my way of life, which I feel is under threat,” the 91-year-old told reporters.
“The Reform party are the only ones I feel who are going to speak about saving my English culture.”
Sir John, who grew up in a Northumberland mining family and made his fortune developing Europe’s largest shopping centre on Tyneside, said he was not against immigration.
“But I am against people who are coming, not really to be part of our society, but to bring over their own ways and try and install them, the way they want to live.”
He added: “We have sleepwalked into this battle for hearts and minds and souls of everybody here.
“Nigel Farage is the only one who speaks for what I feel should be my English way of life.”
In a statement released by Reform, Sir John added: “I supported both personally and financially the Conservative Party in the North East for decades but now I see the only party, and the only politician, to have the interests of Great Britain at its heart is Reform UK and Nigel Farage.”
Mr Farage said: “It’s a privilege to welcome Sir John into the Reform UK family. I am a huge admirer of his.”
Reform said Sir John has made a “substantial donation” to the party’s campaign but he did not divulge the amount he had given.
Electoral Commission records show that Sir John has made several donations over the years to the Conservative Party and Conservative politicians, including a 2020 donation to Tees Valley mayor Lord Houchen of High Leven.
Sir John was a long-time supporter of Margaret Thatcher, who visited the MetroCentre when it opened in 1986.
Elsewhere at the rally, Mr Farage used his main stage speech to suggest the impact of the second and third lockdowns during the Covid pandemic could be considered the “biggest mistake” by a British government in peacetime.
He said: “The Tories say we’re in economic trouble because of the pandemic. But hang on, you didn’t need to lock us down for a second and a third time.
“You didn’t need to take away our freedoms in a way that weren’t even done during World War Two, and all of it with Labour support.
“I actually believe the long-term economic and psychological damage from lockdowns two and three perhaps represents the biggest mistake any British government, supported by the opposition, has ever made in peacetime.”