“Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future and decide whether it wants to build on the progress we have made or risk going back to square one and no certainty.”
Rishi Sunak
Introduction
As Rishi Sunak walked out of Downing Street’s front door and took to the much rolled-out podium, the heavens opened, and the rain turned his suit jacket into a soggy sponge. His election-calling speech was drowned out by D: Ream’s ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ from a speaker beyond the gates of Downing Street. A public relations disaster that will have many of his party faithful holding their head in their hands. With the Conservative Party trailing the Labour Party by over 20 points in the opinion polls, the writing is drying on the wall.
A party that has a bust flush and has been limping its way through politics for fourteen years. Cameron, May, Johnson and now Sunak. All components of a political elite who don’t understand what makes people tick and the daily hardships we face. Sunak’s election slogan of a brighter future rings hollow to many. A leader on a political service wash where his ideas and policies keep coming out caked in spin with no substance. Flights to Rwanda, a ban on disposable vapes, an overhaul of the tax system and stopping the boats were all thrown into the River Thames until after the next election.
Rishi deserves credit for becoming the first Asian Prime Minister, but that’s about it. He can blame the cost of living and the national debt on the pandemic and war in Ukraine, but frankly, these excuses are way beyond their sell-by date. He can roll up his shirt sleeves and pack nodding dogs in a room, churning out the same well-rehearsed lines and painting a picture of how he loves to go out and walk his dog, but only his followers believe it. A politician who took a political gamble by calling an early general election based on lower inflation results and a Euro 2024 feel-good factor.
The Starmer Effect
“The power of the vote is with you. If you want change, you have to vote for it”.
Sir Keir Starmer
The Labour Party may be riding high in the polls, and as a party member, I want him to win. However, Sir Keir Starmer is still an unknown entity. His flip-flop of some of his key policies does nothing to inspire an electorate who want change as he does but frankly don’t know what he stands for. Yes, he can say that his father was a toolmaker and his mother a nurse, and his family struggled to pay the bills, but it wears thin after a while. He is not working now as so many people are, and if he is to climb this political mountain and win a landslide victory, he will have to put the meat on the bones of his policies.
An election has been called, and the time for attack and smokescreens are over. He has done very well in making the party credible and electable again. We have come a long way since the disastrous Corbyn era, and Starmer has gained many key allies in business and industry. His shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has been accused by opponents of copy and paste, but her years at the treasury shine through.
Corbyn is a distant memory, a man who may be someone of principles and could have a chance of winning his seat in Islington North as an independent if he chooses to stand due to his popularity in the local community. Yet it seems very unlikely he will ever be welcomed back to the Labour Party, and he will have to tear up his membership card if he chooses to stay in politics. Maybe it’s time for him to concentrate on his allotment and jam-making skills instead.
Getting back to Keir, this is an election he is only halfway to winning, and he knows it. His team will be laid bare to a ravenous right-wing press who will be there if they trip up away from the flesh-pounding and baby-kissing. The swing required and the recent boundary change doesn’t bode well for this former Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Israel-Hamas war did dent some of his victories in the local elections. The Angela Rayner scandal still looms in the background, on the back burner for now, but guaranteed to ignite if they win power. Hunt’s spending cuts will also cause a political headache for them in power and constrain their ambitions in the first five years.
My Take
This will be an exciting election not due to the political jibes and backstabbing or the lack of inspired vision. However, it could be historic if Starmer pulls it off with a massive majority. One that some say could be bigger than Tony Blair in 1997. That’s if you believe the polls. Neil Kinnock did, and look what happened to him in 1992. We now live in a volatile political environment, and anything is possible. People want change, but many electorate haven’t yet bought into the Labour message. They have only six weeks to persuade them through round-the-country trips and a long-awaited manifesto that will hopefully flesh out their six steps. Unlike Labour so many times in the past, this will be a united battle, and they will try as much as possible not to deviate from the election strategist script. You will hear the word change repeated repeatedly and the Tories saying that Labour would take Britain backwards and bankrupt the economy.
Yet, in the end, every politician is at the mercy of the ballot box. The electorate will decide on their fate, and for many, it will be a last-minute decision with others choosing to sit on their hands and stay at home with a dose of political apathy.
This is a general election that is all about damage limitation for Sunak. If he clings to a few key seats, he can claim a shred of success before he remains an MP for a few months and then accepts a job in Silicon Valley. Labour could win big, but they will need a pretty stiff drink before they open up the economic books at the treasury and realise the depth of the mess that they have inherited.
