Sir Rod Stewart says Labour ‘deserve a crack’ at running the country

Sir Rod Stewart has branded Boris Johnson a “lying f****** public schoolboy” as he threw his weight behind Labour ahead of the upcoming general election.

The rock legend and long-time Tory voter confirmed a change of tune, in which he said Sir Keir Starmer “deserves a crack” at running the country.

Politics Live: Sir Rod Stewart says Labour ‘deserve a crack’ at power

“Keir Starmer and Labour deserve a crack at it,” he told The Times.

“If there was anyone else we could vote for, maybe, but they should be given a shot. I live here (in the UK) now. I didn’t used to and I see what the Conservatives get up to.”

The Maggie May hitmaker, 79, said that he used to like former prime minister Boris Johnson because he was “a good figurehead”.

“But he turned out to be a lying f****** public schoolboy. He got found out and things haven’t been much better since,” he continued.

“How many prime ministers have we had that haven’t been voted for? What’s all that about?”

A spokesman for Mr Johnson declined to comment.

Sir Rod first aired his disillusionment with the Tories in January last year when he called in to a live Sky News phone-in and offered to donate money for medical scans after hearing stories from people about treatment ordeals on the NHS.

He told us that while he has “been a Tory for a long time” the government should “stand down now and give the Labour Party a go”.

“In all my years in this country I’ve never seen it so bad… change the bloody government,” he said.

Despite the criticism, Sir Rod said he was still a fan of Mr Johnson later that year, telling Sky News in July that he had “wonderful charisma” even after he was found to have lied to MPs over the partygate scandal.

Speaking after the former PM dramatically quit as an MP, Sir Rod said: “You know what you were getting with Boris, you know, so it’s not unusual.

“He’s told a few porkies over the years so I’m not surprised he’s in big trouble now.”

Sir Rod is not the only high profile figure to switch his support as the Tories languish behind Labour in the polls.

Last month, Iceland supermarket boss Richard Walker, a former Tory donor, said Sir Keir Starmer’s party is “the right choice” for his customers as he accused the current government of abandoning “basic Conservatives principles”.

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And last summer, Conservative peer and former minister Lord Zac Goldsmith said he is “very tempted” to support Labour because of the Tories’ record on climate change.

It came after another former minister, Claire Perry O’Neill, who was part of Theresa May‘s cabinet, quit the party and threw her support behind Sir Keir Starmer’s “competent political leadership”, saying the Tories are too “beholden by ideology and self-obsession” to deliver the change the country needs.

Meanwhile, in October 2022, a multimillionaire former donor to the Conservative Party, Gareth Quarry, told Sky News he stopped giving them money and defected to Labour because he felt they were “riven with arrogance and complacency”.