Carol Vorderman says Tory ‘gremlins’ in No10 have ‘ransacked the house and tried to nick the lead off the roof’ but gave Starmer ‘words to the wise’

Carol Vorderman warned Sir Keir Starmer to stay grounded after his landslide victory, which came just hours after delivering the worst Conservative defeat in modern history.

The national treasure stayed up until 8am to see-in a new dawn of Labour rule but won’t be fooled into thinking the battered and bruised Tories will be on their knees for long.

The feisty lefty, 63, is well aware many voted tactically to rid the UK of the deeply unpopular party, and not due to a love of Labour.

Carol Vorderman supported Stopthetories.vote, a tactical voting website helping users vote strategically to prevent Tory victories in their constituencies based on current polling.

She cautioned that despite Labour’s huge parliamentary majority of 174, many will expect results almost instantly as the rebuild of the nation begins. Carol told The Mirror of her pride and says it’s power to the people – but is clear that anyone expecting the Tories to take their enormous defeat lying down is in for a shock.

The former Countdown favourite said: “It was a wonderful night. I’ll be totally honest, I’ve slept most of the day – I didn’t go to bed until 8am. This needed to happen, the country desperately needed change and at last we’ve got it. We can look forward at last and build a brighter Tory-free future.

“This is the worst result in their history, but I don’t think this is the end of them. What happens in the next ten years will define what happens to the country. Labour really have to come up with this goods. This wasn’t just a vote of ‘we love you, we want you in power’ – this was a more ‘we’ve had enough of the others’.

“Labour will know that, they’ll be aware that this was, for a lot of people, a vote to get rid of the Tories. You saw that with the amount of people who tapped their postcode into our website. They have to get this right. It’s not a warning, it’s more a word to the wise really. They have to.

“This whole sense of building trust and it costing no money – well, there has not been much kindness for 14 years. The thing that has got me is the power of the people when we work together, nothing can top that. Thanks to some coordinated tactical voting in this election, the unthinkable become possible.”

The TV star turned campaigner has become fixated with the political landscape in recent years and reeled off a list of Tory scandals, including the so-called VIP lane for PPE Covid contracts which enriched Conservatives supporters. Although politically independent, she is certain we’re in a better place.

Sir Keir, who has formally replaced bowed Rishi Sunak after an audience with the King at Buckingham Palace today, has already started to appoint his new cabinet. The moment marked a dramatic turnaround in fortunes for the party, which won just 203 seats under his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn in 2019 – Labour’s worst result, in terms of seats, since 1935.

“I think they’re going to be quite strident,” Carol went on. “Fundamentally we have had Gremlins in No10 who have just ransacked the house and tried to nick the lead off the roof. They’ll be going in and discovering what’s left. They’ve got those issues to deal with, some many of them. In terms of cleaning up politics, they’re crack on. I think we’ll see a lot of changes, well I bloody well hope we do!

“My message to the Mirror’s readers is that ‘you’ve done it, take a breath and let’s see what happens next’. Nothing can beat people coming together. What we’ve seen is the strength of unity, and what will happen after many years of torrid leadership. Let’s hope they hit ground running.”