Three of Britain’s most conservative publications are backing Labor in an unprecedented anti-Tory fight: the Financial Times, the Economist and the Sunday Times.
The Financial Times, in an editorial published in today’s newspaper, after clarifying that they are not politically affiliated and that they believe in “liberal democracy, free trade and private enterprise and a United Kingdom open to the outside world”, explains:
A Destructive Generation of Conservatives
This “has often aligned us with the Tories”, but “this generation of ‘Tories’ has destroyed the reputation of being the party of (pro) business”, complains the FT.
“Keir Starmer’s Labor Party is best placed to be the leader the country needs,” the paper continues.
The FT has no fixed political allegiance, but this week the Labour Party will have our support.
This generation of Conservatives has squandered its reputation as the party of business. Sir Keir Starmer is best placed to provide the leadership the country needs https://t.co/XAmWiNffrc pic.twitter.com/ELLpDJzQ0R
-Financial Times (@FT) June 30, 2024
And the article continues: “The FT maintains concerns about the intrusive instincts of the Labor Party and for its zeal for regulation. Its historic sympathy for unions must be balanced with the interests of business and the general public.”
The FT recognizes that 14 years of successive Conservative governments in the UK have had to deal with the financial crisis, the pandemic and the rise in inflation caused by the war in Ukraine.
But they criticise Brexit, the damage caused by Liz Truss’s short-lived government, which derailed markets with a huge budget and no resources to finance it, and before that a prolonged period of austerity which, according to the paper, significantly eroded the country and its glamour abroad.
Although Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took, according to the Financial Times, “the right steps to remedy the situation” and “Jeremy Hunt was a serious Chancellor of the Exchequer”, Sunak was unable to “control a (Conservative) party that is plagued by division and immorality.”
The best choice
And the Economist is urging Britons to vote for Keir Starmer’s Labor Party.
The Labor Party has a better chance of solving the biggest problem facing Britain: a chronic and debilitating lack of economic growth.
That’s largely why we think we should form the next government. https://t.co/RbjXhwfDgS
– The Economist (@TheEconomist) June 29, 2024
“The economic consensus in the UK has moved away from the values of free trade, individual choice and the limits of government intervention,” laments the magazine, which sees Labour as the best choice in the July 4 elections.
Place for Workers
Finally, the Sunday edition of the Times, the Sunday Times newspaper, which belongs to the group of the Australian-American tycoon Rupert Murdoch, assesses in its main article that the Conservatives “have lost the right to govern. Place for the Workers”.