Carol Vorderman on voting Tory in 2010 – and regretting it: ‘I hadn’t got a clue what was coming’

Carol Vorderman had one mission in the summer of 2024: reducing the Tory party to rubble.

The Countdown legend turned political pundit spearheaded a prominent tactical voting campaign that proved highly effective – with Labour and the Liberal Democrats sniping the safest of Conservative seats, resulting in the party’s worst defeat in its history. Vorderman cackled with delight live on Channel 4 as the exit poll lay bare the worst nightmares of Conservatives up and down the country.

But for someone so vocally pursuing Tory defeat, it may surprise people to know that Vorderman voted for the party in the past – most recently for David Cameron’s government in 2010, as she reveals exclusively in this week’s Big Issue.

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“There was this murkiness [to Labour in 2010],” she reflects. “We’d had MPs expenses, the honours scandal – do you remember when Tony Blair was interviewed by the police?

“Obviously I hadn’t got a clue what was coming, did I? I mean, I had no idea what David Cameron would be introducing a matter of months later. But that was probably it. It was a bit like a load of people loaned their vote to Labour this time, because half of them were just pissed off at the Tories. So I think it was a similar thing to that.”

Vorderman’s loud support for Labour in recent years hasn’t gone unnoticed, but she’s not eyeing up a place inside government now Keir Starmer has the keys to No 10. “I have spoken to many of them over the years, got actively involved in some of the issues. I have met a number of them, it would be wrong to say anything was offered. 

“I have made it abundantly clear I don’t want to be offered anything. The answer would always be no, because I want to do things from the outside. I want to remain independent, and like having a voice and being able to criticise the current government as well.” 

Despite her determination to challenge the government of the day, Carol Vorderman wishes them well. “I hope Labour do well. I hope to god they do well, because otherwise you’re looking in the potential of hell in five years time. You worry about rights now, and corruption now?

“I don’t want my daughter and eventual grandchildren, or nieces and nephews, or great nieces and great nephews and all that, to live through a terrible time. That’s why 2029 is critically important for all of us. I want mandatory voting for that reason, whether people are homeless, not homeless. Because everyone should vote.”

For Carol Vorderman, it was ex-home secretary Suella Braverman’s description of homelessness as a “lifestyle choice” that set a flame under her that still burns brightly today. “The contempt that the government felt for the public. I still can’t get over it, and I won’t get over it. Because now I’m hugely focused on the next election, which will come in the blink of an eye. I’ll be knocking 70 then, but believe me the energy will still be there.”

Would she ever vote for the Tories again? “I can’t see it in my lifetime,” she says.

Read the full interview with Carol Vorderman in this week’s Big Issue, out now. Find your local vendor to buy a copy, or subscribe to get the Big Issue straight to your door.

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