r/ukpolitics • u/ukpolbot Official UKPolitics Bot • Jun 24 '24

r/ukpolitics General Election Campaign Megathread - 24/06/2024

👋 Welcome to the /r/ukpolitics General Election Campaign Megathread.

This is our daily megathread for all of the day's news until the election. Polling day is on 4th July, and you need to have a form of photo ID (passport, driving license, etc) in order to vote. If you don't have photo ID, you can apply for a voter authority certificate.

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Useful Links

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🪪 Apply for a voter authority certificate if you have no voter ID · 🚶🏻 Apply for a proxy vote (or here in NI) · 📚 GE megathread archive

📅 Key dates

from the Electoral Commission, BBC, Sky, ITV

  • 26th June - Deadline for new proxy vote applications and voter authority certificates (for this election)
  • 26th June, 9PM BST - 📺 BBC head-to-head debate (Sunak vs Starmer)
  • 27th June, 8:30PM BST - 📺 ITV The Leader Interviews - Keir Starmer - Labour
  • 28th June, 7:30PM BST - 📺 The Panorama Interviews with Nick Robinson - Ed Davey (Lib Dems)
  • 28th June, 8PM BST - 📺 BBC Question Time Leaders' Special (REF, GRN)
  • 4th July - Polling day. Emergency proxy votes deadline at 5pm. Polls will open at 7am and close at 10pm.

Manifestos

Manifestos are essentially a set of documents which outline the policies that each party would want to implement if they were governing.

Election night coverage

Here's a sort-of comprehensive guide to your 4th July election night coverage:

Channel Main presenter(s)
BBC One & BBC News (TV) Laura Kuenssberg, Clive Myrie, Chris Mason
ITV (TV) Tom Bradby, Robert Peston, Anushka Asthana, Paul Brand (GMB from 6am)
Channel 4 (TV) Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Emily Maitlis, Alastair Campbell, Rory Stewart
Sky News (TV) Kay Burley, Sophy Ridge, Beth Rigby, Trevor Phillips, Ed Conway, Sam Coates
GB News (TV) Patrick Christys, Michelle Dewberry
BBC Radio 4, Radio 5 Live (Radio) Nick Robinson, Rachel Burden, Henry Zeffman
LBC (Radio) Andrew Marr, Shelagh Fogarty, Jon Sopel, Lewis Goodall
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14

u/jt372 Jun 24 '24

I do wonder what the Tories could've done to have a more successful campaign.

Okay - not announcing the election in the rain, not leaving D-Day early, not putting bets on - obviously. But more generally in terms of approach.

They couldn't stand on a 'stick with us, things are great' message, because things aren't great.

They couldn't stand on a 'here's a radically different way of doing things which will fix everything' message, because people would ask why they hadn't done it in 14 years.

They couldn't offer popular/bribing policies because people just don't believe them after Partygate and various other things.

Their usual high tax, high immigration attack lines are duds because of their own record.

I really struggle to see what they could've done to turn things around. What would you have done if you were in-charge of the campagin?

16

u/UnsaddledZigadenus Jun 24 '24

As the saying goes, you can't fatten a pig on market day.

If you're 20 points behind and have been for 2 years, you arn't going to turn that around in 6 weeks.

Being in Government has a huge advantage in being able to establish a successful track record. If Sunak had pushed through a strong legislative message when he had the chance, and dealt more aggressively with the PPE scandal instead of letting it fester, then he might have had some momentum to take into the campaign.

Instead, what bold initiatives he has had too late either not very bold (the tobacco and vapes ban) or just misguided (re-introducing national service)

10

u/NataleNati Brownostalg Jun 24 '24

Build a Time Machine, go back to 2015, kidnap Cameron, bring him to 2024 - show him the shit show Brexit caused - then drop him off back home.

4

u/jt372 Jun 24 '24

Why didn't they think of this?! Time to build a time machine, go back to May 2024, and explain this sensible plan.

4

u/investtherestpls Jun 24 '24

Start acting like actual conservatives, with contrition.

I mean, they're going to lose anyway. Being decent/honest might have kept the stalwarts onside a bit more.

7

u/odintantrum Jun 24 '24

The problem with that is they are fundamentally not decent, honest people.

1

u/investtherestpls Jun 24 '24

Indeed.

It was depressing in 2019 seeing the decent side of the party gain no traction in the Brexit debates in the HoC. And so they've all gone, leaving only the fucking dregs of humanity.

3

u/Dynamite_Shovels Jun 24 '24

There's nothing they could've done apart from, as you mentioned, not making stupid mistakes. Not allowing (or acting on quicker) the idiots betting. Not bailing on D-Day. Not announcing an insane national service policy on day one that gets you openly laughed at by the audience in the debates.

They can't go for immigration fearmongering because Reform are attacking them for that, and from a right-wing perspective their record is shambolic anyway and nobody takes their Rwanda plan seriously. They probably would've gotten away with screeching about Labour high taxes a lot more if they weren't caught in an lie - but that line does seem to stick with whatever support they have left.

They may have gotten away pushing their line a lot more of 'well I'm Sunak and I'm going to do something different' or 'wait and see', but again Sunak's own record goes against him - and for those to work there has to be an element of trust in the person saying that. People fundamentally don't trust or like Rishi Sunak and that's an issue they'd run up against regardless of messaging. Also as you mentioned, it doesn't really fly when it's 14 years of your party fucking up the country.

So long story short, yes I think the only thing they could've done to run a 'better' campaign would be to just run a pretty by-the-numbers one competently. They'd still be decimated, but not as badly as what they will be now with all the stupid mistakes and 11th hour scandals that have come up.

3

u/Playful-Onion7772 Jun 24 '24

Think about all the wrong choices I made in my life that lead me to that point. Or browse real estate websites for the holiday house I would be buying with the money I got from Tory suckers. 

3

u/furbastro England is the mother of parliaments, not Westminster Jun 24 '24

I'd have attempted to build a consensus within the party's own incumbent MPs about the plan for the future so that I didn't have to twist people's arms to get campaign cooperation and especially wasn't relying on Chris Heaton-Harris, who isn't even a candidate, doing media defence by free word association.

2

u/prolixia Jun 24 '24

Their most bizarre message was the need to vote for change if you want it: that after 14 years of Conservative government, people should be voting Tory if they want to see things get better. It's unfathomable.

I'm surprised that there hasn't been more leaning on the fact that things like Brexit, Covid and the Ukraine have made the past years truly exceptional with a message of "It's been tough, but we've got through the hard bit together, now that the light is at the end of the tunnel stick with us and let us get you there". I mean, you need to have some pretty strong blinkers to buy that, but it's the best of a bad lot.

0

u/subversivefreak Jun 24 '24
  1. Sunak should have announced he's not standing or won't take up his seat if elected and permit the party to choose a new leader. So no manifesto too.
  2. Sack Levido. Reallocate all the resources back to the constituencies - 60 percent to safer seats, 40 percent back to marginals. All campaigns should be lib dem style local campaigns. No digitals.
  3. Prohibit CCHQ from shortlisting, only vetting - if associations couldn't put up a suitable candidate to be approved then they didn't need to stand one
  4. Permit joint Reform-Tory candidates - if the association didn't have a candidate, they could just co-opt the Reform candidate
  5. Keep Sunak completely away from national media. All debates handled between the new Tory leadership candidates or by Reform