The Conservative Party could not be in a worse position heading into the election on Thursday, George Osborne has suggested.
The former chancellor said the Conservatives were on course for “an absolute drubbing” at the ballot box.
Osborne told his Political Currency podcast, which he co-hosts with former Labour cabinet minister Ed Balls: “It is hard to think that the Tories could have done worse than they’re currently doing.
“I mean, they’re polling 18 per cent, they are heading for an absolute drubbing and their party election broadcast is pleading with people not to put Labour in for the rest of people’s lives. It is hard to imagine a worse situation.”
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Osborne said that he had not met a cabinet minister who did not think an early election was a “really daft idea”, and that there will be discussion about the decision if the Conservative Party loses the election.
The former chancellor claimed that if the Conservatives had changed leader that person would have almost certainly waited till the last possible moment to call an election. he suggested this is a key reason Rishi Sunak’s party is doing so badly.
Osborne said: “If [the Conservative Party] had switched leader, presumably that leader, like a Priti Patel or a Kemi Badenoch, would have run right to the end of the year and would have gone to the polls either in December or January which was the kind of final point before the law forces you to have an election.
“And that is what Sunak should have done in my view and so it is Sunak’s early election that has proved a huge mistake, I think.”
He added: “I have not yet met a member of his Cabinet who thinks this is anything other than a really daft idea.”
The former chancellor’s comments came as the election campaign entered its final day, with party leaders making one last push to win over wavering voters.
Tuesday evening saw a surprise appearance by Boris Johnson at a Conservative campaign event, although the 2019 election winner did not appear on stage with the prime minister.
However, he did claim that his former chancellor had asked him to address Tory activists. “When Rishi asked me to come and help of course I couldn’t say no. We’re all here because we love our country”, he said.
He also urged against traditional Conservative voters from backing Reform, adding: “Don’t let the Putinistas deliver the Corbynistas.”
He warned a Labour super-majority would be “pregnant with horrors”, accusing Keir Starmer of trying to “usher in the most left-wing Labour government since the war”.
Johnson told campaigners: “Don’t let Putin’s pet parrots give this entire country psittacosis — which is a disease you get by the way from cosying up to pet parrots.”
He added: “If you want uncontrolled immigration and mandatory wokery, and pointless kowtowing to Brussels again, then go right ahead, make my day, vote for Starmer.”
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