A major £20million campaign funded by some of the country’s richest entrepreneurs and business people to persuade Britons to leave the European Union will launch in September, the Telegraph newspaper reported.

The organizers of the campaign are already in talks with sports stars and celebrities to act as ambassadors.

Offices are being set up in London this month and staff are being hired to run the campaign, provisionally titled “No Thanks – We’re Going Global".

An agency has been hired to prepare a major PR and advertising blitz to coincide with its launch on September 10. A former British army general is in talks about being the group's leader.

The group, led by Arron Banks, an insurance millionaire and major donor to the UK Independence Party, is adamant that it will have nothing to do with the numerous political campaigns being set up.

There are already at least seven other anti-EU campaign groups, many of which are vying for recognition as the official No campaign because it will allow it to claim millions of pounds of public money.