The Peckham Thatcherite who ‘straightened out’ Stormzy

To call Stormzy an unlikely Thatcherite is something of an understatement. But a little over a decade ago, he was praising one of the former Prime Minister's most loyal supporters.

The rapper, who has been vocal in his backing for Jeremy Corbyn, sent a poem to the carpet tycoon Lord Harris of Peckham in 2009 to thank him for his support at school.

"I see the joy," it reads. "The bliss that can only be conjured by that of the fortitude of enlightenment. I feel the spirit which is Harris Academy."

It's a far cry from the lyrics in his number one hit Vossi Bop – "I could never die, I'm Chuck Norris, f--- the government and f--- Boris" – but as far as Lord Harris is concerned, Stormzy's success is grounded in that early experience.

Stormzy, “a clever boy, but naughty” in Lord Harris’ words, attended one of the schools he had set up and sponsored over the years, in South Norwood, south-east London. The peer recalls having a “straightening out talk” with him at one point as he infuriated teachers with his non-stop rap singing.

“I’ve met him quite a few times,” says the 79-year-old long-time Tory donor, who still goes by Phil, although he admits not listening to the artist's songs.

“Of all the pupils, he was the best at English. The good thing is, he comes and talks to the children, who really love him. He says ‘look, I got a lucky break, I should’ve studied harder in school’.”

In 1989, Margaret Thatcher asked Lord Harris to sponsor a failing comprehensive in London, which was the precursor to the modern academy school. Within a year, he helped increase the pass rate from 9pc to 54pc. The Harris Federation now has 52 primary and secondary schools, largely attended by underprivileged children, and it regularly sends pupils to top universities.

“The one thing I can tell you, business, schools, government, is all about people,” he says. “Thatcher taught me that. For some reason she liked to call me Philly.”

While education has been a passion in the second half of his life, selling carpets and retailing have permeated almost every second of his existence.

Lord Harris took over the family market stall and two shops in Peckham aged 15, when his father died of cancer, and turned them into the country’s largest carpet chain.

He shows me the tips of fingers: “We used to have to carry the lino rolls downstairs. You had to balance them as you went down, that’s why I’ve hardly got any fingerprints.”

He didn’t do very well at school before he dropped out because he is dyslexic – he has never read a book and can barely read a speech – but he has always had a good memory and a mathematical ability that served him well over the years.

After growing the family business, Harris Queensway, he eventually lost control of it during a hostile takeover in 1988. Lord Harris started rival Carpetright within months.

“That was a low point,” he says. “They just came in and offered a ridiculous amount of money. I went up, they went up, I didn’t want to sell it.”

He left Carpetright in 2014, thinking he would put his feet up, but only after presiding over a major expansion of the chain that led to a flotation in 1993.

Lord Harris couldn’t resist doing it all again though, this time alongside his son, Martin, who set up Tapi, a rival flooring venture, a year later. Tapi, now with 170 stores, has been blamed for destabilising the family’s former business.

The peer can’t resist a jibe at his competitors. “If they were to go [bust], it would be a lot harder for us because people like having a choice. Weak competition is good.”

He concedes the economic climate is just as tough, if not worse, than the several downturns he has previously witnessed. He expects inflation to peak at about 15pc and pressures on households to last for about three years. He also predicts higher unemployment after Christmas despite the current tight labour market, as smaller firms go bust.

“It’s going to have a big effect on the working class, lower paid people of this country. I’m going to be fighting to help those people," he says.

“The Conservatives have got to do the right things in the next two years to win the next general election otherwise I think there will be a hung parliament with the Liberal and Labour.

“We have to do what people want, and we’ve done some things, [but] we’ve got to help the poor, the under £30,000 a year, otherwise you’re going to get more crime.”

As he turns 80 next month, Lord Harris shows no sign of slowing down. He is sporting a fresh trim, a pink shirt, dove grey trousers and woven, white shoes when we meet at the family office in Orpington, south-east London.

He has a personal trainer every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7am, and he will take up pilates again on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday as he recovers from a broken ankle.

“I’m going to carry on working until I don’t enjoy it,” he says.

“And do the best I can to help children in schools, which is key.”

At Tapi, he has enlisted the help of his grandson Charlie, 26, who is being primed to potentially take over one day and says hello as we’re about to wrap up.

“From a young age, I didn't get involved at all," Charlie says.

"I went to university, I worked in finance for two years, and then my grandfather called me.

“I had to think about it for a bit, and it’s been great, I’ve absolutely loved it. It’s been a steep learning curve, I couldn’t have asked for a better person to learn from.”

The rough and tumble of the business world and the wealth he accumulated over the years meant Lord Harris could be relied upon when the Conservatives called for advice or cash. He became treasurer of the party after John Major won the 1992 election when its finances were in dire straits and left it in good shape.

He has donated millions to Thatcher, Major and David Cameron, and was close with all three prime ministers, injecting between £2,500 and £5,000 at the last election into “50 seats in the country, especially in the North, because we knew we needed to win [there]”.

Lord Harris is unequivocal in his backing of Liz Truss as the next leader of the Tories.

He says: “I hope she’s very good. If she’s half as good as Thatcher, we’ll all be lucky. Nobody realises how good that woman was. A lot of people didn’t like her because she was difficult, but if she said she was going to do something, it would work.”

He thinks Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor and leadership contender, should have preempted the cost-of-living crisis.

“He has been there for two and a half years, so he should have got the thing under control. I think the thing that I asked him to do is borrow like America did at 0.25pc or 0.5pc [interest] for 30, 70 years, which could have got us out of this problem, but we didn’t.”

Boris Johnson, meanwhile, “did a lot of good things, you can’t get away from it. He got us out of Brexit and did a good job with the injections [during Covid], but he hasn’t done anything since, then he did silly things and that’s always been his life.”

Stormzy might disagree about Johnson. But his meteoric success, perhaps, is evidence that Lord Harris is on to something with the politics of aspiration.