Peter Thornton has warned of looming “disaster” without a shift in strategy at the confectioner he used to chair.

He said Thorntons risked a foreign takeover or even administration if heavy discounting on its products continued.

“Certainly if the current crazy strategy of selling what is perceived to be exclusive and special products in run-down Thorntons retail stores – and they are being discounted even here — and the selling and discounting in supermarkets continues, then disaster is inevitable,” he said. “A new strategy needs to be implemented urgently.”

He added: “I fear that if Thorntons survives at all, it may well finish up as another Cadbury — a tiny part of some huge foreign multinational with employees thrown out of work, factories closed, shops closed and the usual and unseen damage to the locality and the country.

“Alternatively, Thorntons may go into administration to be picked up by some private-equity company and further emasculated.”