The Who’s Pete Townshend found Roger Daltrey’s pro-Brexit stance “very problematic”
The Who guitarist Pete Townshend has opened up about his political differences with frontman Roger Daltrey over Brexit in 2016.
Despite being bandmates for 60 years, the two co-founding members don’t see eye-to-eye on every subject, including politics. As the nation headed to the polling booths in 2016 to vote in a referendum on the United Kingdom’s future with the European Union, Daltrey backed the Leave campaign whereas Townshend supported the Remain camp.
Leave was victorious in the referendum by an extremely thin margin, which caused a societal divide across Britain that still reverberates eight years later.
Explaining his views, Daltrey told The Telegraph in 2018, “I’m not anti-Europe, I’m anti-Brussels, but people don’t get the distinction… That’s why I’m so angry about it. I want someone at least answerable to me that I can say: “F**k off, you’re useless!”
Now, in a new interview, Townshend has reaffirmed his position on the matter, and explained why he voted Remain, as well as reflecting on Daltrey’s view.
The guitarist told The Telegraph: “[That was] very problematic for me. I think he was wrong. But we are a nation divided down the middle.”
However, Townshend also defended Daltrey despite their different stances, adding, “He’s not a fascist Right-winger, he’s a very decent man. But it felt to me that with respect to the arts, and particularly to music, the free flow of life from all of the history of Europe…was going to be denied to our young people.”
While they’ve had their fair share of public spats over the years, Townshend is no longer looking to argue with his bandmate, continuing, “Because we’re both old men, and we’ve been through tumultuous times. We’re at a point now when we both wake up in the morning, and one of the first things that we’ll think is that we’re lucky to be alive – and to still have an audience. A few years ago, we went into Wembley Stadium. And we nearly sold it out!”
In the same interview, Townshend also confirmed that The Who had agreed to a deal with Live Nation to tour America, which puts to bed speculation they were planning to retire.
Roger Daltrey’s criticism of UK budget
Earlier this week, Daltrey once again offered his opinion on British politics, criticising the recent budget due to the rise in National Insurance contributions by employers which he believes could cripple the charitable sector.
“If we can’t raise more money we will have to lay people off. We have specialist nurses that are trained specifically to care for that 13-24 age group, and I don’t like to think about the consequences of this. To lose nurses would be catastrophic,” he told The Telegraph.
Daltrey has been a patron for Teenage Cancer Trust for over 20 years, and curated a number of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall every year for the charity until 2024, but he’s still heavily involved with the vital charitable institution.
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