UK
Ex-Telegraph editor Max Hastings is voting Labour over ‘dreadful’ Tories led by ‘loser’Adam Forrest
Thu, October 12, 2023
The former editor of Daily Telegraph Max Hastings has said he will be voting for Labour as he attacked the “dreadful” Rishi Sunak government and described the prime minister as a “loser”.
In the latest sign senior Conservative backers are giving up on Mr Sunak’s party and switching focus to a likely Labour government, Mr Hastings said he would back Sir Keir’s Starmer’s party.
The influential Mail columnist revealed his utter dismay with the Tory push to the right – calling the Tory membership a bunch of “Flat Earthers” who are “almost without exception fantasists”.
Mr Hastings described home secretary Suella Braverman’s policies are “grotesque”, attacked the “malign” influence of both Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage on the party and called Brexit a “disaster”.
“I think Sunak’s fate at the back end of this dreadful government is deeply unenviable, but there he is. And, of course, he’s always going to be remembered as the tail ender – the loser,” he said in an interview with the New European.
Mr Hastings said Mr Sunak was a “decent person”, before adding: “But is he a leader? I’m afraid not. I’ve always been sceptical whether people who are school head boys are likely to be good leaders.”
Mr Johnson’s former boss at the Telegraph said the man kicked out by his party last year was responsible for dragging the country into a “madly reckless and irresponsible mood” over Brexit.
The former editor said Mr Johnson was “the most selfish and irresponsible human being I think I’ve ever met” who had helped leave the Tory party as a group of “factions of the right”.
Attacking the membership, he said: “These people thought Liz Truss was the answer to the nation’s problems. As long as these 200,000 Flat Earthers around the country have a decisive voice, then I’m very gloomy about the Conservative Party’s prospects.”
Hastings ‘gloomy’ about Tories after push to right under recent PMs (Getty)
Mr Hastings went on to say that “fear of Farage, who now threatens to rejoin the Tories, has made cowards of much of the party’s leadership”.
It comes as former Tory business minister Anna Soubry, who left the party to help form the anti-Brexit centrists in Change UK, announced she would be voting Labour at the next election.
“With Keir Starmer as leader they have the values and competence to deliver the change our country desperately needs,” she tweeted.
A major coup at this week’s Labour conference in Liverpool saw former Bank of England governor Mark Carney endorse the party in a video played for shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves speech.
The respected Canadian economist, in charge at the Bank from 2013 to 2020, said it was “beyond time we put her energy and ideas into action”.
A series of top Tory donors have denounced the party and pulled financial support, with some major backers even defecting to Labour as Sir Keir and Ms Reeves continue to “woo” big business.
Gareth Quarry, a former Conservative donor who defected to Labour, previously told The Independent that “dozens” of leading business figures – including Tory backers – had approached him asking how they could help to put Sir Keir Starmer in No 10.
John Caudwell, the Phones4U founder, told The Independent that he will not back Mr Sunak after his U-turn on net zero pledges – and revealed he was thinking of giving to Labour instead.
Iceland boss Richard Walker quit the Conservative party over Mr Sunak’s “flip-flopping” on net zero and HS2, and said he was “open to persuasion” on who to back at the next election.
Sir Rocco Forte – who gave £100,000 to the party to help fund the last general election – accused the party of reaping what it had sowed, claiming that “incompetence” had driven donors away.
‘A clear choice’: Independent readers give their verdict on Labour and the Tories following party conferences
Lauren MacDougall
Thu, October 12, 2023
As party conference season comes to a close, Independent readers have been discussing how the proposals set forth by the Tories and Labour have changed the currrent political landscape.
We asked you what you thought of party conferences. Were you more impressed by Rishi Sunak’s promise to ban smoking for future generations or Sir Keir Starmer’s calm reaction to being glitterbombed by a protester?
And do these events even make a difference to the general electorate?
Starmer vowed to “heal” Britain after 13 years of Conservative rule - which he told the Labour Party conference in Liverpool has “ruined” the country.
And last week, not one but two former Tory prime ministers attacked the plans the Prime Minister unveiled in Manchester, ditching the northern leg of HS2 and banning young people from ever being able to buy cigarettes.
The events of the last two weeks have sparked debate among our registered community.
Independent readers were largely impressed by Starmer’s Labour party but not everyone agreed, with others saying they felt totally apathetic to both parties following the conferences.
Here’s what our readers had to say:
‘Roll on next year!’
I am 75 years old, and cannot remember a worse UK Government than this one, roll on next year!
MickB
‘Blairite boom and bust’
Nothing new from the Labour Party wanting another 13 years of Blairite boom and bust policy which ended BUST. Then having to have 13 years of austerity to try and get the country to have less debt than GDP.
If Labour win the next election the working people of this country are the people who will be worst off.
bmw
‘A very sorry choice’
Conference seems to be more about members positioning themselves within their party than in offering any positive solutions on issues that matter to voters.
The only effect on my voting has been the realisation that I will be driven more by what I do not want than what I would like to support as a solution.
Which, ultimately, is a very sorry choice to have.
Freedom
‘Divided parties do NOT win elections’
I am biased, I am a Labour voter, and certainly it seems that Labour are on a united front, and Starmer has created stability in his party.
Compare this with the Tories, Rishi Sunak leads a very divided party, and divided parties do NOT win elections.
Just to add, the Tories have moved far right, and British people do NOT vote for the extremes.
Christopher1959
‘Hope at last!’
To my mind, the conferences have widened the gap between the parties as to which would be better forming a government.
The Conservative conference highlighted all their problems: sowing division, lurching further right, Sunak making promises in his closing speech which were overturned the very next day. Starmer, Reeves and Rayner all came over better than they usually do, with specific policies properly explained and mostly costed.
Starmer in particular is just starting to find his mojo! I didn’t think he had one, but he’s now coming over as a stable choice for next PM. Hope at last!
AnotherJK
‘Neither party started strong’
For me, neither party started strong. I’m transgender, and both leaders have had a dig.
However, in an electorial battle, the lack of anti-trans rhetoric from Labour, and the absolute hatred from the Tories; Yeah, not a single Tory will ever get a vote ever again, in this household, for as long as my partner and I live.
DahnyaHD
‘If you think things are bad now, just wait’
I feel completely and utterly disenfranchised. I cannot vote for the Conservatives after what they have done to this country but I also cannot vote for Starmer who is untrustworthy and changes like the wind. I also feel totally alienated from his fellow cohorts - Lammy, Thornbury, Raynor - it’s just appalling.
Is there no other party that represents my view? Why do we always lurch from the same two hopeless prospects? Starmer will bankrupt this country. If you think things are bad now, just wait for what is around the corner.
Cwtych
‘13 years of the rich elite’
Having been born in the mid-50s I was 9 when Harold Wilson’s Labour won the 1964 election. My Dad used to point at him on TV and say ‘That chap could say black was white and people would believe him’.
History hasn’t give Wilson his full due, but to me he is the giant of post-war British politics, as he kept Britain out of America’s Vietnam nightmare.
Tony Blair unfortunately failed to learn that invaluable lesson, and tarnished the legacy of New Labour’s otherwise remarkably successful 13 years in office where they put right a lot of what the Tories had trashed during the Thatcher and Major years - or at least rowed us back towards sanity and a better society.
Gordon Brown should never have become prime minister and had Blair sought a fourth term I think he would have had enough in the tank to have seen off Cameron.
That the Tories with the treacherous support of the Lib Dems were able to turn the tide in 2010 will go down in British history as a very black day for our nation, because had Clegg and his Orange Book fanatics not betrayed the millions who voted Lib Dem precisely to stop the Tories, then austerity and Brexit would not have happened and we would not have had the utter disaster of Johnson and Truss.
As it is we have had 13 years of the rich elite in this country screwing ordinary people and pushing many of us to the edge of or even into poverty.
At last week’s Tory party conference Sunak had nothing to offer people who have seen their living standards trashed, and gave no signal to the 7.2 million of us on NHS waiting lists that he even understands the scale of the health calamity that 13 years of Tory disaster capitalism has created. Housing was not even mentioned.
[In Starmer] you heard from the next Prime Minister and you heard HOPE.
itiswhatitisbutitcouldbedifferent
‘A clear choice’
I live in a Tory-Labour marginal constituency that has changed hands since 2006 in the last few elections. I voted Tory in the last election and previously I have been Lib Dem voter. I have to say I was impressed by Labour including Rachel Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer - he was upbeat and while light on full on policy, it was clear what they were going to do responsibly.
His speech was all I needed. To me it is now a clear choice between a party which was out for itself, caused a mess and has run out of ideas (this is how the Tory conference speeches made me feel) and a party that wants to heal, build and put country before its own interests.
I believe I can trust them to do what is right.
Phantomnerd
Some of the questions and answers have been edited for this article. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article.
Lauren MacDougall
Thu, October 12, 2023
As party conference season comes to a close, Independent readers have been discussing how the proposals set forth by the Tories and Labour have changed the currrent political landscape.
We asked you what you thought of party conferences. Were you more impressed by Rishi Sunak’s promise to ban smoking for future generations or Sir Keir Starmer’s calm reaction to being glitterbombed by a protester?
And do these events even make a difference to the general electorate?
Starmer vowed to “heal” Britain after 13 years of Conservative rule - which he told the Labour Party conference in Liverpool has “ruined” the country.
And last week, not one but two former Tory prime ministers attacked the plans the Prime Minister unveiled in Manchester, ditching the northern leg of HS2 and banning young people from ever being able to buy cigarettes.
The events of the last two weeks have sparked debate among our registered community.
Independent readers were largely impressed by Starmer’s Labour party but not everyone agreed, with others saying they felt totally apathetic to both parties following the conferences.
Here’s what our readers had to say:
‘Roll on next year!’
I am 75 years old, and cannot remember a worse UK Government than this one, roll on next year!
MickB
‘Blairite boom and bust’
Nothing new from the Labour Party wanting another 13 years of Blairite boom and bust policy which ended BUST. Then having to have 13 years of austerity to try and get the country to have less debt than GDP.
If Labour win the next election the working people of this country are the people who will be worst off.
bmw
‘A very sorry choice’
Conference seems to be more about members positioning themselves within their party than in offering any positive solutions on issues that matter to voters.
The only effect on my voting has been the realisation that I will be driven more by what I do not want than what I would like to support as a solution.
Which, ultimately, is a very sorry choice to have.
Freedom
‘Divided parties do NOT win elections’
I am biased, I am a Labour voter, and certainly it seems that Labour are on a united front, and Starmer has created stability in his party.
Compare this with the Tories, Rishi Sunak leads a very divided party, and divided parties do NOT win elections.
Just to add, the Tories have moved far right, and British people do NOT vote for the extremes.
Christopher1959
‘Hope at last!’
To my mind, the conferences have widened the gap between the parties as to which would be better forming a government.
The Conservative conference highlighted all their problems: sowing division, lurching further right, Sunak making promises in his closing speech which were overturned the very next day. Starmer, Reeves and Rayner all came over better than they usually do, with specific policies properly explained and mostly costed.
Starmer in particular is just starting to find his mojo! I didn’t think he had one, but he’s now coming over as a stable choice for next PM. Hope at last!
AnotherJK
‘Neither party started strong’
For me, neither party started strong. I’m transgender, and both leaders have had a dig.
However, in an electorial battle, the lack of anti-trans rhetoric from Labour, and the absolute hatred from the Tories; Yeah, not a single Tory will ever get a vote ever again, in this household, for as long as my partner and I live.
DahnyaHD
‘If you think things are bad now, just wait’
I feel completely and utterly disenfranchised. I cannot vote for the Conservatives after what they have done to this country but I also cannot vote for Starmer who is untrustworthy and changes like the wind. I also feel totally alienated from his fellow cohorts - Lammy, Thornbury, Raynor - it’s just appalling.
Is there no other party that represents my view? Why do we always lurch from the same two hopeless prospects? Starmer will bankrupt this country. If you think things are bad now, just wait for what is around the corner.
Cwtych
‘13 years of the rich elite’
Having been born in the mid-50s I was 9 when Harold Wilson’s Labour won the 1964 election. My Dad used to point at him on TV and say ‘That chap could say black was white and people would believe him’.
History hasn’t give Wilson his full due, but to me he is the giant of post-war British politics, as he kept Britain out of America’s Vietnam nightmare.
Tony Blair unfortunately failed to learn that invaluable lesson, and tarnished the legacy of New Labour’s otherwise remarkably successful 13 years in office where they put right a lot of what the Tories had trashed during the Thatcher and Major years - or at least rowed us back towards sanity and a better society.
Gordon Brown should never have become prime minister and had Blair sought a fourth term I think he would have had enough in the tank to have seen off Cameron.
That the Tories with the treacherous support of the Lib Dems were able to turn the tide in 2010 will go down in British history as a very black day for our nation, because had Clegg and his Orange Book fanatics not betrayed the millions who voted Lib Dem precisely to stop the Tories, then austerity and Brexit would not have happened and we would not have had the utter disaster of Johnson and Truss.
As it is we have had 13 years of the rich elite in this country screwing ordinary people and pushing many of us to the edge of or even into poverty.
At last week’s Tory party conference Sunak had nothing to offer people who have seen their living standards trashed, and gave no signal to the 7.2 million of us on NHS waiting lists that he even understands the scale of the health calamity that 13 years of Tory disaster capitalism has created. Housing was not even mentioned.
[In Starmer] you heard from the next Prime Minister and you heard HOPE.
itiswhatitisbutitcouldbedifferent
‘A clear choice’
I live in a Tory-Labour marginal constituency that has changed hands since 2006 in the last few elections. I voted Tory in the last election and previously I have been Lib Dem voter. I have to say I was impressed by Labour including Rachel Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer - he was upbeat and while light on full on policy, it was clear what they were going to do responsibly.
His speech was all I needed. To me it is now a clear choice between a party which was out for itself, caused a mess and has run out of ideas (this is how the Tory conference speeches made me feel) and a party that wants to heal, build and put country before its own interests.
I believe I can trust them to do what is right.
Phantomnerd
Some of the questions and answers have been edited for this article. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article.
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