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Former Neighbours star Holly Valance backs Reform UK at next general election

Australian actor and singer previously called for Jacob Rees-Mogg to be next prime minister

Jabed Ahmed
Friday 15 March 2024 14:57 GMT
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Neighbours star Holly Valance raises eyebrows with GB News interview about 'c**p lefties'

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Former Neighbours star Holly Valance has said she will be voting for Reform UK at the next election - just one month after backing Jacob Rees Mogg to be next prime minister.

The Australian actress, 40, known for her role as Felicity ā€œFlickā€ Scully, said she voted Conservative in 2019 but will now change her allegiance to Richard Ticeā€™s party.

Speaking on the GB News Chopperā€™s Political Podcast, she said: ā€œLast time I voted [for the] Conservatives, next time Iā€™ll be voting Reform.ā€

She also revealed she wants former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, who is the honorary president of Reform UK, to lead the party.

When asked about Conservative MP Lee Anderson defecting to the party last week, she said: ā€œYeah.. I support anybody that sticks to what they believe in and isnā€™t a turncoat, and doesnā€™t do a million flip-flops and U-turns.

ā€œSo I have respect for that, even for like nutters on the other side, if you stick to what you believe and you keep reiterating that over years and years, I can always respect that.

ā€œI might not agree with you, but I get that more than the changing of the minds and the flipping around and never having any conviction. I think people are sick of that.ā€

Ms Valance previously backed Rees-Mogg for next prime minister and slammed left-wing ideology
Ms Valance previously backed Rees-Mogg for next prime minister and slammed left-wing ideology (GB News)

Mr Anderson, a former Conservative deputy chairman and MP for Ashfield, had been sitting as an independent after being suspended for suggesting London mayor Sadiq Khan was being controlled by Islamist extremists.

Just last month, Ms Valance attended the launch of Liz Trussā€™s Popular Conservatism movement in London. She also went to Boris and Carrie Johnsonā€™s wedding in the Cotswolds in July 2022 along with her property tycoon husband Nick Candy.

At the ā€˜PopConā€™ event, Ms Valance praised Britainā€™s shortest-serving former prime minister and backed Mr Rees-Mogg as the next prime minister. She told the conference she was ā€œa leftyā€ when she was younger, but her beliefs have since changed.

ā€œI would say that everyone starts off as a leftie and then wakes up at some point after you start either making money, working, trying to run a business, trying to buy a home and thenĀ realise what crap ideas they all are. And then you go to the right,ā€ she added.

Her comments came after her billionaire husband praised Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and said it was ā€œtime for a changeā€. Mr Candy, a Tory donor, praised Sir Keirā€™s business ties and criticised Tory infighting.

Mr Candy told Bloombergā€™s In the City podcast: ā€œI think itā€™s probably time for a change. I think all this infighting in the Tories even now with talk of Kemi Badenoch replacing Rishi by mid-May with people that have nothing to do withā€¦

Nick Candy with wife Holly Valance at Princess Eugenie wedding in 2018
Nick Candy with wife Holly Valance at Princess Eugenie wedding in 2018 (PA Archive)

When asked about reports that Mr Candy will vote Labour at the next general election, Ms Valance said: ā€œIt was just a miscommunication with the way he structured the sentence (on a podcast) in that he said: ā€˜Labour is going to get in and itā€™s time for a change.ā€™

ā€œIt wasnā€™t: ā€˜Labour is getting in and Iā€™m voting for them.ā€™

She added that she would ā€œassumeā€ he would vote for the Conservative Party.

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