Carol Vorderman on political campaigning: It’s fine if I lose TV jobs

TV and Radio Wales presenter Carol Vorderman has said that it is “fine” if she loses jobs amid her criticising the Government.

The former Countdown star has been involved in several Twitter arguments with Tory MPs including recently with Conservative chairman Greg Hands, who she is said to have deleted a number of her Tweets about on Thursday.

When asked how she feels about criticism from the Tories, Vorderman told The Times on Saturday: “It doesn’t bother me… I’ll tell you why. I’m knocking on 63. I’ve made my money. I’ve been through it all.

“What’s the worst that can happen? That I’ll lose some jobs? Fine by me. Bring it on. They can sling what they like at me.”

Vorderman has appeared on ITV’s Loose Women, This Morning and Lorraine along with this year being on I’m A Celebrity… South Africa and hosting a BBC Radio Wales show.

Impropriety

Mr Hands had called for the former I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! competitor to apologise for posting “defamatory and damaging” tweets about his involvement in a lifestyle firm being awarded a £25.8 million personal protective equipment (PPE) contract in 2020.

On Twitter, now known as X, Vorderman said she was “happy to accept Mr Hand’s assurance that his role in the process was simply to refer the approach… (and) there was no impropriety on his part”.

Vorderman has been involved in other rows with Tory MPs including in March when she called on the women’s minister, Maria Caulfield, to resign after she could not “be bothered to turn up” to a committee hearing about the menopause.

The MP, who is also minister for women’s health strategy, tweeted that she was “not a punch bag” and said anyone who posted “misleading information” about her would be blocked on the social media platform.

Vorderman also told the newspaper that people of all ages say they “bloody love” what she does when they meet her in public.

She also said: “I think even the people who say the Tories are bloody marvellous know it’s not true.”

VIP lane

Some coronavirus-related contracts were put in a ‘VIP lane’ when the Government was struggling to buy protective equipment during the pandemic.

A Public Accounts Committee found in July that the Government had a “rushed” approach to buying personal protective equipment (PPE) which resembled “panic buying” but was unable to “comprehensively conclude” that emails from Tory peers led to businesses being treated differently.

“They tried to persuade us we weren’t bothered about Partygate, and we were bothered and are not forgetting it,” Vorderman said. “And also the ‘VIP lane’ is massively emotional, as it bloody well should be.”

Johnny Mercer has also had several public arguments with Vorderman.

The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs has described Vorderman as a “deeply unpleasant person” on the social media site, while she has posted a number critical remarks about Mr Mercer’s performance as a minister.

However, Vorderman was announced more than a decade ago by Michael Gove as the head of maths taskforce and appeared before the Women and Equalities Committee to talk about menopause.