Politics

Ex-Telegraph editor absolutely rinses Tories and says he’s voting Labour

The former editor of the Daily Telegraph has slammed the Conservative government and said he will be voting Labour at the next election.

In the latest sign senior Conservative backers are jumping ship, Max Hastings, who now has a column in the Daily Mail, said he will be backing Sir Keir Starmer in a bid to get out ‘loser’ Sunak.

He opened up about 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”.

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.

Hastings said 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.”

He also took aim at Boris Johnson, saying he is responsible for dragging the country into a “madly reckless and irresponsible mood” over Brexit.

The former PM was described as “the most selfish and irresponsible human being I think I’ve ever met” by Hastings, who accused him of leaving 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.”

And he’s certainly not alone!

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Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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