Randell was later chair of the Financial Conduct Authority when it failed to “effectively supervise and regulate” London Capital and Finance, resulting in huge losses for investors. He later apologised “for the mistakes we made” which resulted in more than 11,000 people losing a total of £237m.
Others with a mixed CV include Rupert Keeley, a director of financial services company NewDay, which was censured by the Financial Ombudsman Service for lending money to problem gamblers and benefit claimants deemed unlikely to meet repayments.
Iceland boss Richard Walker also signed up, who notably switched his support to Labour earlier this year after ditching his ambition to become a Tory MP.
There will be questions asked too about the decision to allow several vocal Brexit opponents into the fold.
That includes Nic Laurens of tool supply company Severn Diamond, who has described Brexit as “a folly for a select rich few” and called Leave supporters “dumb Brexit b——s”, or Frank McKenna, chair of North West networking club Downtown in Business. In the wake of the referendum result, McKenna labelled Brexit “the con of the century’.
A number of Labour lobbyists also appear to have registered. Among them was Benny Higgins, former finance chief of Tesco bank who was hired by Sir Keir’s team last November – to spearhead a campaign aimed at wooing businesses no less.