British stars including musicians Lily Allen and Brian May have expressed relief about a new Labour Government taking power, while TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson said new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will “steal all our money and spend it stupidly”.
A landslide General Election victory saw Labour win 412 seats, while the Tories had the worst result in the Conservative Party’s history as they won 121.
Queen guitarist May was among the famous faces congratulating Sir Keir on a “well-earned victory” after an audience with the King confirmed him as the new prime minister.
“The Nation now looks to you to bring us out of the darkness. No pressure, then,” May said in a post on Instagram.
Allen wrote on X: “Thank f***”, when it was confirmed that Sir Keir was to become the next prime minister.
Responding to a comment which said she would not be happy when taxes are raised, Allen said: “Yes I will. Taxes are a good thing, if community is your thing.”
When asked to pay more taxes, she wrote: “I probably will – let’s see how this gov will spend it.”
“It was a conservative government, any ‘extra money’ certainly wouldn’t having making its way back to communities,” the Smile singer added.
yes i will. taxes are a good thing, if community is your thing. https://t.co/2T61RFBluP
— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) July 5, 2024
Clarkson had differing opinions on the new appointment.
The Clarkson’s Farm star attempted to illustrate how the new government was “pretty inconsequential” in the grand scheme of life, using the Voyager One space probe four billion miles away from Earth to exemplify his point.
Speaking of Sir Keir, Clarkson said in an article in The Sun: “Yes, he will ruin this little rock in the North Atlantic and he will steal all our money and spend it stupidly.
“And he’ll do nothing to try to stop the boats and he will allow such rampant wokery in the workplace that every employer will up sticks and move to somewhere more sensible. Like North Korea. Or Rockall.
“But hey. It’s not like he’s going to be around for long. Five years? Maybe less. Which in geological time isn’t even measurable. Then we can put everything back together again and pretend he never happened.”
In the aftermath of the Tory defeat, former Countdown star Carol Vorderman trumpeted the use of tactical voting, saying it contributed to the defeat of high-profile Conservatives including former prime minister Liz Truss.
She wrote on X: “BREAKING Liz Truss lost her seat due to Tactical voting and YOU.
BREAKING Liz Truss lost her seat due to Tactical voting and YOU
She lost by 630 votesBUT A massive c 4,500 postcodes in South West Norfolk constituency were typed into our website https://t.co/cWTNy7b445 during this GE campaign
7 times more than her vote loss??
I can tell… pic.twitter.com/PCmaWzphar
— Carol Vorderman (@carolvorders) July 5, 2024
“She lost by 630 votes BUT A massive c 4,500 postcodes in South West Norfolk constituency were typed into our website http://stopthetories.vote during this GE campaign.
“7 times more than her vote loss. I can tell you around 1.75 MILLION POSTCODES have been typed into http://stopthetories.vote during the general election campaign.
“Lots of analysis to come. So many seats where this has happened.”
Nigella Lawson also appeared to celebrate Truss’s defeat in her South West Norfolk constituency, where she lost her seat to Labour’s Terry Jermy in one of the biggest shocks of election night.
??♂️???♂️
— Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) July 5, 2024
The celebrity chef tweeted a cartwheel emoji, a lettuce emoji and another cartwheel emoji.
Truss came to be associated with a lettuce after a tabloid newspaper livestreamed footage of the vegetable to see if it would last longer than her tenure in No 10.
Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies appeared particularly pleased by the ousting of veteran Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.
The Brexiteer was defeated by Labour’s Dan Norris in the new North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.
Davies shared the viral photo of Sir Jacob lounging in the front bench of the House Of Commons and wrote: “At last,” adding a celebration emoji.
He added the location of the post as: “New World.”
Filmmaker David Furnish, the husband of Sir Elton John, commented: “Bye Felicia,” on the post.
Former footballer Gary Neville also seemed pleased by Sir Jacob’s defeat, also tweeting the photo of him in repose on the front bench.
He wrote: “Morning,” adding the red rose emoji, which is the symbol of the Labour Party.
Neville also trumpeted the ousting of Ms Truss, writing: “Liz Truss no longer an MP. Fully deserved for the devastating wrecking ball impact on this country!”
Meanwhile, Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway shared a video of herself at a north London count calling down to the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him after he was re-elected as MP for Holborn and St Pancras.
She wrote: “Me ‘Congratulations Prime Minister!’
“@gmb is the first at 2.40am to welcome Sir Keir into his new role. Check out his smile and wave, and the cheer.”
