Former M&S boss Rose to lead campaign to keep Britain in EU

The former boss of Marks and Spencer will head the campaign to keep Britain in the EU.

Lord Rose, who ran Marks & Spencer from 2004 to 2011 and is now chairman of Ocado, is likely to have cross-party appeal.

Arron Banks, the Eurosceptic multimillionaire businessman running the “Leave.EU” campaign, fired a broadside at the organisers of the “Vote Leave” group, which launched on Thursday night.

“He brings unparalleled experience of business and enterprise to our board”, beamed the campaign’s executive director Will Straw, son of the former Labour Foreign Secretary Jack.

It is clear the in campaign believes economic arguments will be persuasive as people make up their minds ahead of the referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.

The announcement came as Cameron met the German chancellor Angela Merkel at the prime minister’s country residence, Chequers, to discuss the UK’s demands to have a looser relationship with the EU.

“But the British are remaining vague, and we’re not making any progress”.

Both are vying to be designated as the official “out” campaign body by the Electoral Commission. “The choice in the coming referendum is between remaining stronger, safer and better-off inside Europe, or taking a leap into the unknown, risking our prosperity, threatening our safety, and diminishing our influence in the world”.

Two years ago the Conservative peer said he had little sympathy with people who complained that jobs were being taken by workers from Bulgaria and Romania who were prepared to work for less money.

Lord Rose said: “I believe that Britain is stronger in Europe”. He also sits as a Conservative member of the unelected House of Lords, appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron previous year.

Whichever group comes out on top will enjoy advantages including higher spending limits, campaign broadcasts and public funding of up to £600,000.

Farage suggested on Friday that while the Vote Leave campaign was focused on Westminster and businesses, the UKIP-backed Leave.European Union campaign would reach real people.