This week, a certain segment of the media has got itself in a complete froth over the coffee chain Costa Coffee.

Last year, Costa had a van at Brighton Pride where they commissioned an artist to paint a mural on the side which included, among other elements, a transgender surfer enjoying one of their coffees.

This week, the mural has resurfaced online, leading to the predictable X/Twitter storm in a coffee cup, and demands from the usual suspects for the chain to be boycotted. 

A more interesting response came from John Glen, Salisbury MP and chief secretary to the Treasury, who used an interview with right wing think tank Bright Blue on Monday to tell business to stay out of politics altogether.

He told the think tank: "I’m uncomfortable, instinctively, to see big businesses appropriating the views of their customers to make a political point. It they want to get into politics, then stand for election."

Back in the day, the Conservative party was known as the party of business. That relationship has eroded over the years, summed up by Boris Johnson’s two-word opinion of business, one of which I can’t repeat in a family newspaper.

Comments such as Glen’s suggests their understanding of the business community is yet to be fully restored.

Because once you start thinking about it, how can business stay out of politics?

If running a company is more than just trying to make money, then that involves investing in the community with which you do your business.

As soon as you start doing that, then you’re making decisions that are, inevitably, political in nature. That includes everything from your company’s environmental policy to how much you pay your staff.

Today 7,000 companies have certified B Corp status, firms that have a ‘triple bottom line’ of people, planet and profit.

What about businesses calling out racism? Back in 2020, Yorkshire Tea made headlines when it told Black Lives Matters critics, ‘please don’t buy our tea again’.

They were backed up by PG Tips, who told another Twitter user, ‘If you are boycotting teas that stand against racism, you’re going to have to find two new tea brands now,’ before adding the hashtag #solidaritea.

It was a powerful, effective response but according to Glen’s logic, these companies should have stayed silent.

If business should now stay out of politics, it follows from Glen’s argument that politicians should also stop accepting donations from business (£10 million by companies and ‘unincorporated associations’ in 2022).

After all, in terms of how businesses shape our politics, what has the greater impact – painting a mural on the side of a van, or writing a cheque for hundreds of thousands of pounds?