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Farage has put me off and Starmer’s strings are being pulled by powerful ladies, says ‘voice of nation’ from BBC debate
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A VOTER who summed up the mood of the nation has revealed he can’t vote for Reform – despite slamming Rishi and Keir by asking if “you’re really the best we’ve got”.
Lifelong Tory voter Rob Blackstock, 74, told Never Mind The Ballots he had considered Nigel Farage’s party but was “put off” by the leader’s comments on Ukraine.
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The grandfather admitted he was still genuinely undecided after blasting the PM as “mediocre” and said Sir Keir’s advisors were pulling his strings.
Mr Blackstock, from Arnold, Nottinghamshire, told our show: “I was actually seriously thinking about Reform, but unfortunately Mr Farage sort of put me off a little bit by what he said about Putin.
“So to be honest with you, I'm really very, very undecided at the moment.
"I'll probably make my mind up on the way to the polling station.”
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Probed on his reaction to the viral moment by Political Editor Harry Cole, he said: "Well it wasn't really my intention to become a star.
“I'm just an ordinary guy asking what I thought to be an ordinary question that everybody wanted to know the answer to. And all of a sudden, it seems to have gone a bit viral. I don't really know why.”
Asked how he came up with the stinging lines, he said: “I thought it under the circumstances, (Rishi) did quite a good job of being Chancellor because it was a very difficult time for the country and obviously, something that we've never ever been in before.
"When there was no script to run to so I think he probably did quite well there.
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“But since then, he's sort of he's been in charge with the Conservatives who have by their own admission sort of imploded. They pushed the self-destruct button.
"I think all the infighting and I think the fact that they... the way they've got rid of Boris as well, I think, I don't think that was done particularly well.
“He's obviously taken some bad advice regarding leaving the D-Day commemorations, it probably wasn't his decision to come away from that.
“Probably somebody advised him to do that.
“And so that wasn't particularly hasn't gone down particularly well with the voters.”
And pushed on why he believed Sir Keir was having his “strings pulled” by shady figures at the top of the Labour Party, Rob declared: "Well, I think it goes back further than that… it goes to Tony Blair.”
Referencing Angela Rayner, Rachel Reeves and ‘dark arts master’ Peter Mandleson, he added: “In the background there is Mandelson and then there's the two very strong ladies that are the power behind the throne.
“I think that's where he's been told what to say."
Mr Blackstock – known as Bob by pals – was in the crowd at Nottingham Trent University on Wednesday when he launched the tirade on both candidates to be PM.
He asked: “Rishi Sunak, you did a fair job of being Chancellor but you’re a pretty mediocre Prime Minister.
“Keir Starmer, I think your strings are being pulled by very senior members of the Labour party.
“Are you two really the best we’ve got to be the next prime minister of our great country?”
In response, Sir Keir said he was not surprised by the question and blamed 14 years of Tory leadership for the country being “in such a state”.
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He added: “They’ve had loads of promises made in the last election about what will happen which haven’t been delivered on. That does beat the hope out of people.
“So, this is an opportunity to restore that hope. I don’t think we can do that by making sort of grand promises of things that can’t be delivered.”
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