Plenty of big retail names were out for David Cameron’s appearance at the Fashion Retail Academy, but as ever Philip Green stole the show.

Plenty of big retail names were out for David Cameron’s appearance at the Fashion Retail Academy, but as ever Philip Green stole the show. Speaking in front of the ever-eager students of the Academy, Green gave an impassioned speech telling the story of his rise from small shopkeeper to billionaire, and then going on to really lay into the waste he sees in the public sector.

He did inadvertently give Cameron a headache by highlighting the payment of £250 Winter Fuel Allowance to a millionaire friend of his (and a further £250 to his wife) which then enabled a Guardian hack to ask Cameron if he’d take Green’s advice and make it means-tested. The answer was no.

Cam swerved that question and some other tricky ones from the students themselves like a consummate pro. He is a PR man after all - he worked for former Kingfisher boss Gerry Murphy at Carlton - and while I’m instinctively a Tory supporter, that’s part of the problem. He’s just a little too polished, not just in his rather insincere presentation style but also literally - his face positively glows.

That said, he’s got good backing from the industry, and luminaries like Stuart Rose, Charles Dunstone, Simon Wolfson, Terry Green and Richard Caring came out to support him today. Retail’s Tories have come out like never before to play a role in this campaign and helped Cameron and George Osborne - who was there too and looked spectacularly uncomfortable sitting between two of the teenage students - land one of their best blows yet over National Insurance - or ‘the jobs tax’.

The problem is it doesn’t seem to be helping in the campaign yet. I can see why Cameron is bringing Samantha out with him more though - she was there today and has a really nice way about her from what I saw. Maybe she’ll turn out to be his secret weapon after all?

On the subject of politics, can anyone think of any well-known retailers who are supporting Labour or the LibDems?There’s Lord Sainsbury but he’s not involved with the grocer these days - is there anyone running a major business now who’d be up for coming out?

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