Stephen Hawking endorses Daniel Zeichner for re-election

Eminent physicist and long-time Labour supporter Hawking has endorsed the candidate, saying: ‘another five years of Conservative government would be a disaster’

Hawking (right) has backed Zeichner for Thursday’s vote

by Anna Menin

This article is 8 years old

Monday June 5 2017, 3:07pm

Renowned Cambridge physicist Professor Stephen Hawking has endorsed Labour candidate Daniel Zeichner’s campaign for re-election.

Following a meeting with Zeichner today, Hawking said: “I’m voting Labour because another five years of Conservative government would be a disaster for the NHS, the police and other public services.”

Hawking has made an appearance on a Facebook meme page supporting Zeichner

Zeichner added: “I was delighted to meet Professor Hawking again and receive his support for my re-election and a Labour government.”

Hawking, a Fellow at Gonville & Caius College, is a long-time Labour supporter, having also endorsed Labour and Daniel Zeichner in the run up to the 2015 general election, but told The Times in March that he regarded Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as a “disaster” for the Party, and called on him to “step down for the sake of the party”.

A Varsity poll recently revealed a huge Labour lead among Cambridge students, with 61.5% of respondents who plan to cast their ballot in Cambridge intending to vote for Zeichner on 8th June. He won the seat by just 599 votes in 2015

Support Varsity

Varsity is the independent newspaper for the University of Cambridge, established in its current form in 1947. In order to maintain our editorial independence, our print newspaper and news website receives no funding from the University of Cambridge or its constituent Colleges.

We are therefore almost entirely reliant on advertising for funding and we expect to have a tough few months and years ahead.

In spite of this situation, we are going to look at inventive ways to look at serving our readership with digital content and of course in print too!

Therefore we are asking our readers, if they wish, to make a donation from as little as £1, to help with our running costs. Many thanks, we hope you can help!