In the last day of campaigning Guido has been looking back at the personalities of the campaign. Who have the parties trusted to go on the ever-important morning round, and who have they kept well away?
It’s been joked for some time that Mel Stride has a sleeping bag set up over in the Today Programme’s studio. He is by far the most rolled-out Tory with a whopping seven appearances over the thirty weekday morning rounds. Only three others were trusted to do more than one round. Almost a quarter of all of them were performed by Stride…
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting reigned supreme over his Labour colleagues with six total morning round appearances. Coming second was frequent face National Campaign Co-ordinator Pat McFadden. Both parties fielded only a single woman for more than one morning round. Deputy Leader Angela Rayner had only one lonely outing…
Labour went for four double morning rounds, in which two shadow ministers appeared on multiple broadcasters. The Tories only had one, in the last days of the campaign. Keeping exposure minimal…
Commiserations to the frontbenchers who were kept off our morning airwaves throughout. Some of Labour’s high-profile no-shows include:
- Ed Miliband
- Yvette Cooper
- David Lammy
- Thangam Debbonaire
- Emily Thornberry
- Lisa Nandy
The Tories shoved out a larger proportion of its frontbench at least once. The cabinet ministers who didn’t make it include:
- Oliver Dowden
- Penny Mordaunt
- Victoria Atkins
- Richard Holden
These results indicate those who the party trusts to stick to their lines and not cause any major drama. Like when David Lammy said men could grow a cervix…
Laurence Fox has written to his Reclaim Party supporters urging them to vote Reform. Fox founded the Reclaim Party in 2020, the main pledges including leaving the ECHR, repealing the Human Rights Act, and reforming the Equality Act. Last month, Tory MPs Andrea Jenkyns, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Karl McCartney and Marco Longhi, promised to uphold Reclaim’s “four commitments to culture”. Now Fox has declared his support for Farage tomorrow:
“I was keen to write to you and say that I believe Reclaim’s interests are being unequivocally furthered by Nigel in this election. As a result, I am delighted to tell you I am an enthusiastic voter for Reform on Thursday.”
Reformed Reclaimer…
Read the full letter below:
Continue reading “Reclaim Party’s Laurence Fox Backs Reform”
Nigel Farage and the Reform Party have set social media ablaze this election season. Since the campaign kicked off, Reform racked up over 2.8 million reactions on Facebook, according to data by Hootsuite. Meanwhile, Labour and the Conservatives pages combined Facebook engagements are at just 60% of Reform’s. On his own, Farage’s official Facebook page has pulled in a staggering 2.1 million reactions and shares. Rishi Sunak’s page is small fry compared, managing just 270,000 engagements and Starmer only 300,000. Singing along to Eminem clearly captivates the hearts of Gen Z…
Farage also reigns supreme on X, with 13.9 million likes and retweets, his videos amassing a whopping 39.4 billion views during the election. Meanwhile Starmer gathered a measly 1,95 billion views, and Sunak 5.34 billion. ‘Something’s happen out there’ on social media…
Nick Ferrari asked Labour’s National Campaign Co-ordinator Pat McFadden a simple question on LBC: “Where would a trans woman go to use the bathroom in a restaurant that’s just got a man and a woman’s facility”? Rather than answer it he reacted with faux-exasperation: “You’ve enjoyed asking this question I think in recent days, Nick.” Is Labour getting impatient for polling day?
Ferrari hit back: “Because [Starmer] keeps changing his position.” This comes after Starmer said this week that biological males with gender recognition certificates do not have the right to enter women-only spaces, itself following Bridget Phillipson’s refusal eight times to answer the same question. Even after the Cass Report they can barely bring themselves to say it…
McFadden continued:
“Look, we want to protect women only spaces in the end this is for the premises and I think with this uh issue you know, asking politicians this one day after another in some kind of game… it’s right to protect women only spaces uh so I’m not sure the Equality Act needs to be changed… let’s act with a bit of kindness to people uh rather than using them as some kind of gotcha question in an interview.“
Which says precisely nothing…
Suella Braverman has penned a blistering op-ed for The Telegraph, doing the Tories no favours as they make a last-ditch effort before tomorrow’s polls. Declaring the election “over,” Braverman argued the real fight is to save the Tories from extinction, lauding Reform UK and its leader, Nigel Farage:
“Today the grandees – who, remember, bear no responsibility for the fate of the party they have led – lash out at Nigel Farage and Reform. I don’t agree with Mr Farage on everything, but we Tories need to reflect honestly and with humility to ask ourselves how a start-up party, with very little infrastructure, has galvanised the electorate and lured so many of our lifelong supporters?
The Reform phenomenon was predictable, avoidable and is entirely our own fault. This simple fact seems to be lost on my colleagues who have driven our party’s bus off the side of the cliff, while angrily blaming those of us who kept pointing at the obvious signs saying: “Cliff Edge Dead Ahead, Bad for Buses”.
Throughout the campaign, Braverman has suggested the Tories find a way to work with Farage, though that olive branch was quickly rebuffed by the Reform leader, who promised “all marriages were off.” Braverman has been rumoured to have her eyes set on a leadership bid, with her website, suella4leader.co.uk, last updated in June. Is this a not so subtle sign she might defect?
UPDATE: Farage says he backs Braverman’s admission that the Tories deserve to lose votes: “All she’s saying is what we have been saying throughout the campaign. The only logical conclusion you can take from her evisceration of her own party is that if you want to see people in the Commons fighting for the policies she espouses and standing up to Starmer, you need to vote for Reform UK.“
Boris Johnson has stormed back onto the campaign trail with a bang, less than two days before the nation heads to the polls. In a rousing appearance, the former Prime Minister took centre stage in central London, introducing Rishi Sunak to a crowd of Tory supporters. He delivered stark warnings of the potential “disaster” of a Labour victory in one last push to rally the troops. That’ll please the 2019 voters…
Read Boris’ full speech below:
Continue reading “Boris Makes Election Campaign Speech at Tory Rally”
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
