Tory peer slams own party: 'They didn’t deserve to win the election’

“I’ve been embarrassed for the last five years.”
Times Radio presenter and Conservative peer Ed Vaizey was “impressed” by Labour over the weekend and says the party’s announcements since gaining power are “good for the country.”
📻 Listen to Times Radio - www.thetimes.co.uk/radio
📍 Subscribe to our channel - / @listentotimesradio
🗞 Subscribe to The Times www.thetimes.co.uk/subscribe/...
📲 Get the free Times Radio app www.thetimes.co.uk/radio/how-...

[@31Blaize]

"We've been strick by how smooth this all is" - you mean we've all forgotten what actual basic competence looks like.

[@alantheinquirer7658]

They spent more time infighting and jockeying for self-interest that they actually forgot that they were meant to be running a country.

[@clydno]

😊😢😮😊😮

[@johndo7742]

More like first day at school. Everyone on best behaviour

[@LaurenceBoyce]

I love the way that Ed acts like it has nothing to do with him. He voted for every single Rwanda motion that went through the Lords earlier this year.

[@spacechannelfiver]

I'd expect a Cabinet member to either vote with the government on policy or resign the position, that's collective responsibility. He's in the Lords and not even subject to whipping, so should have voted with his conscience. Rwanda was just a red meat boondoggle that nobody beleieved in that cost the country 100s of millions to shore up the Tory base.

[@Jamietheroadrunner]

Proud of u U.K. and France 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 Pray for us in the USA

[@tawektawek3838]

Jamie, I am doing just that. I don't know who will be best to beat Trump, but if there's a new democrat candidate, I hope they will consider choosing a moderate Republican as their running mate. The USA really needs a team to bring the country back together.

[@jcanyiam8309]

I must admit I woke up on Friday with a SKIP & a JUMP- My High Street looked and felt very ALIVE!!! THANK GOD THE NIGHTMARE OF THE LAST 14 years are OVER. Good RIDDANCE Tory Farty

[@catherinemartin6258]

I hope they never come back

[@esseker6320]

Me too.

[@KoffieMoffie]

I smile to myself every time I think about the fact that the Tories cannot even fill all the seats on a small airbus. Watching them fight over the leadership is going to be as edifying as taking a holiday flight to Benidorm with a bunch of ill behaved passengers.

[@joepublic8473]

I smile to myself every time I think about the fact the labour party can't fill a modest sized car ferry. About as relevant as an analogy.

[@scottbarrie1303]

@@joepublic8473 Nah. You cry about it. You're doing that now. :)

[@clairduffy60]

​@@joepublic8473 This is how real politics works. Accept it.

[@PassiveAgressive319]

⁠@@joepublic8473I smile to myself when someone tries to write poor satire

[@swanvictor887]

@@joepublic8473 sadly...no mate, Your analogy doesn't work: even a small Ferry could hold ALL Parliament. Its all about scales and ratios....awww, never mind, go back to weeping for your loss, bless....

[@ScratchcardsWithScotty]

I’d have more respect for him if he’d said this before polli😢day not after ..,

[@acooper8910]

Asking a Tory politician to put a tenner bet on a political outcome? Tsk.

[@patrikfloding7985]

They need to look back over 14 years, at least. Not 3 or 4 years. No matter if they could have done a bit better, with fewer scandals, they just don’t understand what the nation needs. All they do is flail in the anti-foreigner wind.

[@stephfoxwell4620]

Gay marriage was the tipping point.

[@patrikfloding7985]

@@stephfoxwell4620 Lol! No it wasn't. For you perhaps. You worry about things that matter somewhat to very few, not at all to almost everyone. and a lot to a vanishingly small minority.

[@paulinetipper1351]

Are they capable of self examination?

[@CaptainFearless1]

no they are still party survival first and Country second or third

[@redlightmax]

About as capable as Narcissus was.

[@tomcooper-hayes6579]

Depends which bit of themselves they are examining……..

[@suburbanview]

Time to establish new anti corruption laws

[@KevinMole-cj3kl]

Very impressed with the chancellor were not used to politicians trying the tories did sweet fa all day

[@user-bu9nb8wr6e]

Sunak needs to be criminally investigated for changing government policy to suit his family business interests.

[@TheBigGoonerAJ]

calling tories "centre left" is delulu AF

[@thetragicyouth]

Calling Labour 'centre left' is equally delusional. Labour is centre-right now, no different to Cameron's 'huh a hoodie' era.

[@TheBigGoonerAJ]

@@thetragicyouth Owen Jones tell you that? 🤣 you clearly dont remember the Cameron years if you think that

[@l33jcm]

What we need is at least a decade of boring, competent and predictable Government! Stability is change!

[@whowherewhatwhywen]

They should take a look at what the right party is doing in the United States right now. Social conservatism is off the rails.

[@gullygullible9774]

This dog made sure Dissabled children's benefits were cut during the coalition government all because he despised Ivan Cameron poor Ivan just for being Dissabled 😢

[@PaulK-ve1pu]

Angling for a job? get out of town!

[@johntthomson7538]

Good start

[@JustinTimeEnglishClip]

Kier is surrounding himself with good competent people and experts. We have seen what the opposite does - The Tories drove it home to the UK people. They are a bunch of self-serving grifters. Didn't they do well? The corporate media don't quite know what to do. Spend time sympathizing with the fallen, or attacking the aspiring.

[@archvaldor]

"Kier is surrounding himself with good competent people and experts" He's surrounding himself with the same bankers and technocrats the tories did. I think people like you love the idea that tory policies only didn't work because they were poorly executed: the truth is they don't work because they are fundamentally bad ideas., Labour is promising more of the same and will fail just as hard.

[@ajw9533]

​@archvaldor Hi. Can you name these bankers and technocrats you refer to? Thank you.

[@dextercool]

Tories already started releasing prisoners early - why would right wing rags criticise it when Labour does it? 🤔

[@andrewwrench1959]

The prisons being literally full, that's a literal literal, not a media literal, is one of several reasons Sunak had to call the election before the summer. Every few weeks over the summer and longer something will collapse, we'll be reminded of Tory incompetence and corruption, and their defeat would have got worse and worse the later the election was.

[@alantheinquirer7658]

The biggest problem that the Tories had was that they'd been in power for so long, all the MPs rode in on Brexit/Johnson popularity and hadn't experienced any real opposition in elections. Cameron gambled with Brexit to attract hard right elements in his party ... and lost. May tried hard but needed the support of the ERG and DUP to govern. Johnson got in only for his bluster and 'Brexit'; his sense of entitlement in his job meant that he only recruited cronies and those who didn't make him look bad. Truss was, well, Truss. Sunak came in then decided that the party wasn't hard right enough. The further to the extreme he announced, the more he lost in the polls. He ended up as scared of Reform UK poaching members as Cameron was scared of UKIP.

[@ScruffyTubbles]

Yes bringing in Vallance and Timpson is a brilliant move. It's exactly the way I would have started.

[@petermclelland278]

"3 - 4 yrs?" - See! If they'd had another 10yrs on top of that, it would (achievements)have been terrific?

[@ajw9533]

Sunak deserves no praise for apologising. He only did so because he had been battered.

[@johnalbent]

I wonder what Heseltine says about this...

[@GrumpaGladstone1809]

Smart, slick clowns walking in the same direction.

[@unblessedcoffee1457]

Anyone who thinks Jacqui Smith is a good politician for today is delusional. She was a very poor thinker and spent most of her time fiddling her expenses ifI recall correctly.

[@davidhayes4814]

Probably best to move on from “snakes in the grass”…

[@PassiveAgressive319]

I hope Starmer delivers. So far impressed with his actions. Now we need results

[@dextercool]

Victoria Atkins? Charismatic? She has embarrassed herself in public countless times on Question Time and comes across as insincere and dismissive.

[@Clive-js8ej]

Thick as mince but that's what they go for.

[@johntthomson7538]

She is a shocker

[@carolthomas8528]

The true villains are Boris Johnston and Liz Truss - Rishi picked up a bag of spanners .

[@susanparkauntiesuze5447]

This time Labour have not inherited a full treasury; so watch your pockets folks.

[@simonfernandes6809]

The Torys are to blame for any spending problems.

[@kralikkral5560]

I walk on water every day when it is raining. I should get British Premier.

[@woodencreatures]

It's about competence and humility. Does anybody think Cruella or Badenoch have either of those things?

[@malcolmstonebridge7933]

Housing targets - did we move to the USSR? Reeve's spouting on about it's up to local people where they will be built but they must be built - er, no. It has to stop - live within the available land resources.

[@keithd26]

They need to go back further than 3 or 4 years.

[@michaelahern6821]

Hopefully they're gone for good ...they are just rotten to the clore..the way they've treated the British people especially the vulnerable...is just criminal...I'm not very optimistic about the prospect of criminal proceedings against some of the ministers who have transgressed...too many to mention tbh...

[@futonclutch5040]

Ed is just one tory sniping at other tories. He is part of the problem, not the solution.

[@knobfieldfox]

That’s a nice Harrington jacket.

[@jameshodges1496]

Take your coat off, you'll not feel the benefit when you step outside.

[@redlightmax]

3:23 This guy was great in "The IT Crowd."🥁 [crickets] Is this thing on?

[@drdjnorg]

Beautify choreographed change over for the uniparty.

[@susanpettitt713]

EMBARRASSING er cant get health care.. dentist .. broken country to the psychopaths enough

[@heybye77]

The tories lost since they promised conservatism but delivered leftism.

[@wdwcai-wt2ge]

Leftism? by destroying the NHS? .. LOL. Liars and thieves. Grubby, greedy, untrustworthy and lazy.

[@simonfernandes6809]

Hahaha. Delusional thinking.

[@jefflewis6626]

🥇

[@jeanpierreviergever1417]

@listentotimesradio will you do some reflection and penance on your own support for Tory rule and bringing on non-sensical extremists on your programme?

[@markstevens6568]

Starmer’s majority has halved and the party’s vote went down……this tells you everything you need to know……it will be a shambles by Christmas. The vote was “anyone but Labour or Conservative” which in my case was Reform!

[@MrFilimn]

This will tell you everything you need to know, Reform are a destructive racist fantasy party……..

[@JesterEric]

Political prisoners guilty of thought crimes like Sam Melia won't be released

[@Tom_murray89]

I really hope that the tories are out of power for a long time hopefully for ever

[@davidsummer8631]

Ed Vaizey looks like he is working a night club door

[@Midland_Wolf_71]

Fair play to Ed Vaizey, speaking honestly like an adult about the opposing party. We don't see that from many of the rabble thats infested the Tories this past 8 years or so.... Despite living in a VERY multicultural town/city that has received vast numbers of migrants be it Eastern Europeans almost ten years back, Syrians, Iraqis, Kurds and Afghans seemingly continually, when discussing the election and now the results with colleagues and friends, Immigration simply DIDN'T / DOESN'T arise.... (other than one work colleague who is a bit DIM and just spews Daily Mail headlines all day, every day) the overwhelming majority want HOUSING, NHS, POLICE and COST OF LIVING addressed ASAP.... The immigration thing is for my mind largely a media led thing.

[@guitaringjarmin]

"he always wanted to be prime minister" -ReAlLy?!?!?!?? It's almost like he took the job as leader of the Labour party for the pension 😂

[@Monkeh99]

why does a millionaire need a pension?

[@patrikfloding7985]

Well, she probably guessed a bit? But to change things you do have to get in charge.

[@suburbanview]

LOL they should be in prison after bankrupted the country!

[@darshnarach8889]

Why are you still a tory peer? How dumb can anyone be, that you are embarrassed of the party but you stayed with them.

[@user-ol3xe5fz4u]

Labour supporter..but Lammy shud be nowhere near the cabinet!!!!

[@TartanCatholic]

Vaisey or Mr. Wetter than Wet....

[@ScruffyTubbles]

Sunak was conciliatory, it is true. I think he's probably pretty decent.

[@nicks4934]

Immigration , tax. Repeat ad nausea

[@drdjnorg]

We're all Starmeroids now.

[@NotSaying-xl6ve]

Find out who were still members of the wider Conservative party beyond parliament the day before Truss resigned, and FORWARD THEM THE ENTIRE BILL FOR ALL THE DAMAGE THEY CAUSED BY ELECTING HER (having been warned IN ADVANCE by Rishi Sunak himself just how disastrous her policies would be). I would exempt most Tory MPs themselves, because to do them justice, most of them shared the GENERAL PUBLIC's preference for Rishi Sunak over Truss. (The only actual Tory MPs who should be billed personally for all the damage caused, should be Truss herself, her Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the rest of her ministers). Broader party memberships of WHATEVER party, who represent nobody but themselves, HAVE NO BUSINESS interfering with the selection process of a prime minister, which should be the absolutely EXCLUSIVE PRESERVE of the general public's duly elected representatives in the House of Commons. Accordingly, the choice of prime minister should be by SECRET BALLOT of MPs alone, to prevent any improper influence being exerted by broader memberships of ANY party. If the then preference for Rishi Sunak over Truss, of both the general public and of actual Tory MPs themselves, had prevailed over the wishes of reactionary Tory party activists, significantly LESS damage would have been caused. (Though that could have had the unfortunate side effect of the Tories potentially surviving this general election, the deeper moral should still be obvious.) The imposition of Truss on the general public, against both their wishes and those of most Tory MPs by reactionary Tory party activists, was a conspiracy against the general public, for which those Tory party activists should be forced to PAY. AND INCIDENTALLY, IF, PERISH THE THOUGHT, SIR KEIR STARMER WERE EVER TO RESIGN, THE CHOICE OF SUCCESSOR SHOULD RESIDE EXCLUSIVELY WITH ACTUAL LABOUR MPs.

[@clovislyme6195]

The "trans issue" matters to a great many "everyday people in their everyday lives", mostly women, but Ed is not terribly worried for them.

[@zivkovicable]

Women are more likely than men to support greater transgender rights across all issues.

[@patrikfloding7985]

It really doesn’t. No more than ghosts in your wardrobe.