I worry that we are turning absolutely justified criticism of Rishi Sunak into a national theatre of cruelty
12 June 2024, 17:46
We are almost exactly halfway through this election campaign, a good moment to take stock.
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Is it unfair to say that so far, Britain simply hasn’t had the grown up conversation we deserve?
It’s been one ho-ho, gotcha moment after another, when the Lib Dems' Ed Davey scoots up in the polls simply by falling into water every day.
And I worry that we are in danger of turning absolutely justified criticism of Rishi Sunak into journalism with more than a tinge of sadism, a national theatre of cruelty where we won’t be happy until he’s torn apart.
I guess I’m as guilty as any other journalist. But this isn’t happening in a vacuum: we have spoken at length on this show about the parties’ lack of candour, even dishonesty, when it comes to tax and spend.
On that I think the public are well ahead of the politicians. They know what’s going on.
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Polling for the national centre for social research shows that 58% of us would almost never trust politicians of any party in Britain to tell the truth when they’re in a tight spot.
This show is based on the hope that many of you are genuinely interested in our political fate and are following every twist and turn of the campaign; but of course, if you don’t trust people to tell you the truth, eventually you stop listening to them.
I’ve noted how many newspapers are trying to get the election campaign off their front pages just now – and they know their readers.
Finally, scepticism about politics may well have a big impact on the eventual election result; around 16% of voters still say they are undecided and of those the vast majority, more than eight in ten, will vote.
As the party in the lead, an anti-politics mood may affect Labour most: the pollster James Kanagasooriam has written that “Labour is building a monumental sandcastle… And when it washes away we will be equally shocked."
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