Downing Street slapped down Richard Branson after he asked for a loan during lockdown, dismissing him as a “millionaire expat on his private island”. Sir Richard said he feared he would lose his entire business empire during the pandemic as a result of lockdown.

At the time, he asked the Government for a bailout in order to save his company but was widely criticised in the public eye because of his personal wealth.

Sir Richard, who owns a home on a Caribbean island, told the BBC he personally lost around £1.5billion during the pandemic.

The Government refused his request for a reported £500million bailout, with a source inside No 10 saying at the time: “The last person we’d give a bailout to – is the millionaire Richard Branson living as an expat on his private island.”

The multi-millionaire said he found a media backlash “painful” after the Virgin Group asked the UK Government for a loan to save the company, saying the struggles to save his empire left him “a little depressed” for a couple of months.

He added: “I’d never experienced that before in my life.”

Sir Richard explained: “We had 50, 60 planes all on the ground, and the health clubs all closed, the hotels all closed.

“And the worst [case] would have been 60,000 people out on the streets.”

He said the support he had requested was “not gifts from Government, but underwriting loans so the cost to the airline… was not prohibitive.”

Sir Richard eventually struck a private rescue deal, injecting £200million into the empire with an additional £1billion provided by investors and creditors.

The tycoon said: “There was a time when I thought we were going to lose everything.

“We sold shares in companies that were public and that was one way we managed to find money.”

A private rescue deal eventually saw the Virgin Group inject £200million, with an additional £1billion provided by investors and creditors.

“There was a time when I thought we were going to lose everything.

“We sold shares in companies that were public and that was one way we managed to find money.”

In an interview with the BBC, Sir Richard also addressed the issue of succession for his business empire.

Sir Richard, 72, said: “We have serious discussions as a family about how the company can transform hopefully thousands people’s lives in the years to come and hopefully in the centuries to come.”

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