When the Labour Party beat the Conservative Party in the 1997 general election in the United Kingdom, there was a report that Phil Collins had publicly committed to relocate to Switzerland in order to avoid the Labour government’s tax policies on the wealthy. And, whether he supported the Conservatives or not, the musician did depart England following the election, and everyone thought the report was true. One of those who believed the rumour was none other than Oasis’ Noel Gallagher, who decided to publicly criticize Collins during the 2005 general election, saying: “Vote Labour: if you don’t and the Tories win, [Collins] threatens to return from Switzerland, which none of us want.”
This wasn’t Gallagher’s first jab at Phil, but his remarks elicited one of the Genesis frontman’s rare exclusive public answers to Noel. During an interview with the Times in 2008, the ‘In the Air Tonight’ singer explained why Noel’s assumption about him sympathizing with Conservatives troubled him: “I don’t care whether or not he loves my music. I don’t mind if he begins calling me a w***er because of my politics. It’s an opinion based on a misconstrued quote from the past.” Collins”misunderstood remark’ was his public threat to depart the UK if a Labour administration took control of parliament. However, in a later interview with the Independent in 2016, Phil explained that he was not a Conservative, claiming that he had moved to Switzerland in the late 1990s because of a woman he was seeing.
