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Rod Stewart: Tories should stand aside and hand over to Labour

Sir Rod Stewart said it was time to ‘change the bloody Government’ - Henry Nicholls/AFP
Sir Rod Stewart said it was time to ‘change the bloody Government’ - Henry Nicholls/AFP

Sir Rod Stewart has called on the Tories to stand aside and hand power to Labour, saying he has “never seen” Britain in such a bad state.

The legendary musician, a long-standing supporter of the Conservatives, said it was time to “change the bloody Government”. He threw his weight behind nurses striking for better pay, saying they were “not asking for a great deal” and telling them: “I’m on your side.”

Sir Rod’s remarks will be a blow to Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, and come three years after the singer congratulated Boris Johnson on his 2019 general election win.

The star, famous for hits including Maggie May, Sailing and Baby Jane, phoned in to a panel show on Sky News. Asked about the nurses strikes, he said: “I personally have been a Tory for a long time but I think this Government should stand down now and give the Labour Party a go at it.

“This is heartbreaking for the nurses, it really is heartbreaking. In all my years of living in this country I’ve never seen it so bad. Go on the nurses, I’m on your side.

“This is a bad time for us in Great Britain, it really is. Change the bloody Government. It’s just terribly sad. I’m so proud to be British, and I can’t stand it being this way.”

Sir Rod Stewart backed nurses striking for better pay - Guy Smallman/Getty Images
Sir Rod Stewart backed nurses striking for better pay - Guy Smallman/Getty Images

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said in response:

Sir Rod, who lives in Essex with Penny Lancaster, his wife, phoned the show after attending his annual check-up at a private clinic. He said he had been worried about running half an hour late to the appointment, only to be told the surgery was not particularly busy.

The 78-year-old offered to pay for 10 or 20 scans for members of the public to help bring down record NHS waiting lists. He said that “hopefully some other people will follow” and that wealthy private individuals could do their bit to reduce the burden on the health service.

He said that in the longer term, the NHS “has to be rebuilt with billions and billions of dollars” because it had been in existence since the late 1940s.

When Mr Johnson won the 2019 election, Sir Rod tweeted: “Well done Boris.” But two years, later he attacked the former prime minister’s Brexit deal in the Spanish press, saying it had been a “disaster” for musicians.