Lynton Crosby: People voted for Jeremy Corbyn to ‘shake up the system’, not for a Labour government
2 min read
People voted Labour at the election to “shake up the system” rather than because they wanted Jeremy Corbyn to be Prime Minister, Conservative strategist Sir Lynton Crosby has said.
The Tory adviser also backed Theresa May’s decision to call an early election and warned her critics not to write off the under-pressure Prime Minister yet.
And he said the pro-Corbyn Momentum group had been a “very important influence” in Labour winning seats off the Conservatives.
Reflecting on election at a business lunch in Sydney, Mr Crosby said: “On polling day, over 70% of voters thought the Conservatives were going to win.
“So they thought ‘we’ll reward [Corbyn] for being prepared to talk about interesting things and shake the system up, but we’ll still have the comfort of having Theresa May as prime minister at the end of the day’.”
He name-checked the grassroots campaign group Momentum, saying the rise of such arms-length organisations could have “significant” impact in the future.
“I think that was a very important influence on the campaign,” he said.
“You can have all of the money in the world, and you can have all of the techniques in the world, but at the end of the day… you’ve got to get people out to vote, which means having people out on the ground, knocking on doors.”
Despite reports that the pollster had advised Mrs May against calling the early election, Mr Crosby said Mrs May’s had taken the correct decision.
“I think Theresa May was absolutely right in her judgment that she needed the strongest possible position in order that she could negotiate the democratic will of the British people,” he said.
“Ironically, she got a record vote.
“I’m not in the business of writing anyone off.”
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