Carol Volderman on Keir Starmer, quotes:
“I think they’re so privileged and so detached and they have been so cosetted by a right wing media that they cannot comprehend the visceral emotion that the public feel towards them”
…describing Keir Starmer she said: “He does give me hope.”
“Labour. I hope he is ruthless.”
“I think his moral compass comes from a much better place…
"I think he understands [people from] normal backgrounds far more than the rest of them.”
Carol wouldn’t say how she’ll vote, but she was positive about Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.
June – July 2024: The Sales Pitch
Leads the StopTheTories.vote campaign, serving as the high-profile PR architect for the Labour landslide. She sells the public on a “moral” alternative that she will disown in less than 100 days.
4 July 2024: The Victory Lap
Appears on Channel 4’s live election coverage to celebrate the win, shouting “Let’s get the party started!” to millions of viewers. The architect toasts her own creation.
August 2024: The Final Endorsement
Appears on LBC to award Keir Starmer a “Grade B,” specifically praising his “strong leadership” just weeks before rebranding him as a failure to suit her new narrative.
10 September 2024: The Tactical U-Turn
Suddenly turns on Starmer over Winter Fuel Payments, performatively rebranding herself as a “disappointed” critic the moment her commercial promotional window opens.
12 September 2024: Monetising the Outrage
Launches her book, Now What?: On a Mission to Fix Broken Britain, only 48 hours after her first major public attack on the government. The “outrage” wasn’t a principle; it was a press release.
About the book, Now What?: On a Mission to Fix Broken Britain, Carol said:
“Written simply it’s bang up to date with the election results, the behind the scenes stories since I started commenting about the Tories (oops!) 20 months ago, and thoughts on how we have to fix our politics.
“It’s a book for people who don’t normally think about politics, for those who know in their gut that something very bad has been happening for 14 years and that it can very easily happen again unless we change the system.”
Sept 2024 – Feb 2026: The 18-Month Pinned Grift
For 515 consecutive days, while Starmer’s ratings hit a record-low -62, the link never moved. Vorderman kept her book promotion surgically pinned to the top of her X profile, ensuring every “outrage” post served as a sales funnel for her £22 hardback. Activism? No, it’s a business model.
Late 2025: The Shocked Defence
Claims she was “shocked” by Starmer, despite having been his most aggressive cheerleader. Media critics widely mock the move as a transparent branding exercise to pivot away from a sinking ship.
The Ghosting of the Electorate: On 6 May 2025, as public anger over the Starmer administration intensified and her own political influence started to wane, Vorderman’s X profile went surgically silent. She effectively ghosted the 900,000+ followers she had spent a year radicalising, abandoning the conversation the moment it became a commercial liability.
FirstPlus Secured Loans (1997–2007)
The Nature of the Shill: Fronted a decade-long TV campaign for high-interest consolidation loans secured against people’s homes.
The Payday: Reported to have banked over £10 million (earning £1 million per year).
The Moral Controversy: Debt charity Credit Action accused her of doing a “grave disservice” to the public. Martin Lewis famously noted that because she was “trusted for her mathematical knowledge,” her recommendation of these “loans of last resort” was particularly dangerous.
SunLife Equity Release
The Nature of the Shill: Marketed financial products to pensioners, encouraging them to unlock cash from their houses to fund their retirement.
The Payday: Part of a multi-million pound long-term partnership with SunLife.
The Moral Controversy: Critics slammed the ads for simplifying complex financial risks that can wipe out family inheritance—a sharp contrast to her current branding as a pensioner’s champion.
“Now What?” Book (2024–2026)
The Nature of the Shill: Leveraged her massive social media following to sell her mission to “fix” Britain.
The Payday: £22 per copy plus a significant publishing advance.
The Moral Controversy: Positioned herself as an anti-poverty activist while pinning the buy link to her X profile for 18 consecutive months, effectively monetising the political outrage she helped stoke during the election.
“A lot of people loaned their votes to Labour, but when everything was bad we had a prime minister with a net favourability rating lower than any for years, yet it was the lowest turnout since 1928. It showed how disconnected people still feel from this Westminster bubble.”
“I just know I have the devil in me. And if I’d listened to anybody else and done what they said I should do, I’d have a different, much smaller life.”
Record Disapproval: As of February 2026, Ipsos records Keir Starmer’s net satisfaction at -62—worst satisfaction ratings for a sitting Prime Minister since records began.
The Third Party Crisis: Recent polls from Survation and Statista show Labour has collapsed to 17-18%, often trailing both Reform UK and the Conservatives. This matches 40-year lows for the party.
Chancellor Record Lows: Rachel Reeves now holds the worst satisfaction scores Ipsos has ever recorded for a Chancellor, including those who presided over “Black Wednesday.”
Historic Seat Loss: Labour is projected to win as few as 30 to 41 seats. This would mean losing approximately 370 to 380 MPs from their 2024 total of 411—the largest collapse of a governing majority in British political history.
“My mama always said
You can’t cheat an honest man (Can’t con a con)
It’s not a lie, my love, if they believe you (It’s not a lie, it could be true)
So tell them anything, dear (Tell them what they want to hear)
And wrap them ‘round your finger
And take them for what they’ve got before they leave you
Well, I used to be a gambler
But, the odds were never good (Not in my favor)
My lucky stars were never my best feature (I rely upon my charm)
So, I cut it out with cards (And dice and betting at the races)
I was working much too hard
I was born to live the life of leisure
Let’s take this sleepy town by storm
And when the sheep have all been shorn
We’ll be gone just like the gentle breeze of yesterday
With your skills and my good looks
Those fish’ll be begging for the hook
Reeled in by our seductive serenade”