Paddy McGuinness took aim at the Conservative Party’s series of broken pledges while on BBC Question Time’s panel on Thursday night.
The comedian and presenter described himself as a “floating voter”, but ended up defending Labour’s controversial decision to row back on its green pledges earlier this week.
Asked if voters can still believe what the party promises, McGuinness began: “Lucky for me, most people know I’m not here for my great political brain. But that didn’t stop Boris Johnson, so that’s alright.”
Addressing the new deputy chair of the Tory Party, James Daly, the presenter said: “You saying to Wes [Streeting] that Keir Starmer will say anything to get a vote is a bit rich coming from a Tory, let me tell you.”
The audience started to applaud, as McGuinness continued: “We’re still waiting on the £350m a week Boris Johnson promised us [for the NHS].”
As Daly claimed that money is “here”, McGuinness replied: “Where? Where is it?
“Why is the NHS on its knees if it’s here?
“Why are they going on strikes, nurses and doctors, if it’s here?”
Daly said the NHS is delivering “excellent care”, and that more electoral procedures taking place.
Question Time host Fiona Bruce then cut in to say there were record waiting times for cancer treatments, too, but Daly blamed the pandemic and said the strikes had exacerbated the issue.
McGuinness, who described himself as a “floating voter”, said that “politics seems to be led by personality” right now.
Touching on Starmer’s decision to reduce his green investment pledge by £100bn, McGuinness said: “I almost kind of admire him for doing it now, rather than after they get in power because, after having the country decimated for the last 14 years by the Conservatives, I think they’re an absolute shoo-in Labour.
“I’ll be flabbergasted if they don’t get in,” he predicted, adding: “I’d hate for him to say that after he got in power. You feel even more let down.”
But, he did not give Starmer a completely free pass when it came to the climate crisis.
McGuinness claimed that most taxpayers do what they can to help but “at the end of the day” it’s up to governments and big business to intervene with the environment.