Former Labour MP Gloria de Piero has issued a warning to the Conservatives after exit polling has predicted a Labour landslide after 14 years of power.
In a turn of events for Reform UK, Nigel Farage’s party are projected to win 13 seats, with the Lib Dems on 61 seats.
Speaking to GB News in the fallout of the exit polls, de Piero noted how “painful” it was for the Labour Party to “rebuild” after finishing second to the Tories in 2010.
Addressing the results, de Piero revealed: “I was elected in 2010, and obviously you think that’s the low point, because you’ve just lost power.
Gloria de Piero has issued a warning to the Conservatives as they are projected to suffer a Labour landslide
PA / GB News
“Now the danger for parties who have just lost is the temptation to look inwards, to have some sort of ideological purity battle.”
De Piero admitted that for the Labour Party, similarly to how the Tories will be feeling following the poll result, it was the “most miserable introspection”.
She told the panel: “We went from bad to worse to absolutely terrible.”
Offering advice to former Defence Minister James Heappey and former Lord High Chancellor Brandon Lewis, de Piero stressed: “I hope to goodness you do not go through that same journey.”
Gloria de Piero said Labour had the ‘most miserable introspection’ following their defeat at the 2010 election
GB News
Weighing in on the exit poll results, former Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon highlighted the “clear difference” between Labour’s reaction to their defeat in 2010, and how the Conservatives may react now.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Hoon told GB News: “There is one crucial difference. As far as I’m concerned, whenever the Labour Party has had to rebuild, it’s always rebuilt towards the centre.
“It’s always rebuilt towards the electorate who are in the centre in this country. They’re reasonable people. They want to see a reasonable government.”
Hitting out at the Tories, he added: “What I don’t see in the Conservative Party is a centre. All of those one nation Tories who were previously prominent people like Ken Clarke, were kicked out by right wing ideologues.
“And that’s where the Conservative Party is today, it’s fighting reform.”
In agreement with de Piero, Heappey expressed concern for the Conservatives and how they will “retreat” following the exit poll result.
He told GB News: “I think Gloria’s analysis is right. The danger is after a defeat like the one we’re experiencing tonight, that we retreat to our ideological hinterland.
But all that we do when we do that is take ourselves further from the centre of the mass.”
