Former Daily Mirror Editor: I Will Vote Conservative For The First Time In My Life

I have spoken to so many people in the past few months who have said that they are lifelong Labour voters but will be voting for my campaign for change at the next election. They have grown tired of a Labour Party that has lost touch with its roots; taken local people for granted; allowed the gap between rich and poor to grow; and has done nothing for the people of the North East and our economy.

There is a fascinating article in one of today's papers about a lifelong Labour voter and a former editor of the Daily Mirror, who has decided that, at the next election, he will be voting Conservative for the first time in his life. In the article, he reflects on what the Labour Party used to stand for:

I was brought up to believe the Labour Party was the best hope for ordinary people to make a better life.

The men I was taught to revere - Clem Attlee, Stafford Cripps, Ernie Bevin and Herbert Morrison - were people of the finest moral values who put their crusade for a fairer society before personal advancement.

He then points out that the present Labour Party is not part of this crusade for a fairer society:

Today, the hierarchy of New Labour has no such scruples; they shift and slide like desert sands depending on how the wind blows. So I can only hope that my ancestors would understand when I vote Conservative at the next election. It was the hardest decision I have ever made.

He the goes on to say quite how much he has been disappointed by New Labour:

The truth is that Old Labour principles of fairness and equality and support for the working classes seem to have evaporated under this Government. Also, personal integrity among its senior politicians no longer seems to exist... the experiment with New Labour has ended in catastrophe and that this Government has wasted money like no other in history. So I shall vote Conservative for the first time in my life.

He is just one of many people who placed so much faith in New Labour only to be met with crushing disappointment. There will be so many people who have voted Labour all of their lives turning their back on a party that has, for too long, turned its back on them, and voting for change at the general election.