After a whirlwind of activity during the first week of campaigning in which all the party leaders took part in at least two events a day – or stunts (delete where necessary) – the second week was a more gentle affair. It was as though everyone had realised if they kept up that pace for the duration they would all be knackered by the end. Plus, there was the law of diminishing returns: many people were already sick of the sight of politicians racing up and down the country making promises of which many were sceptical. So there was a more low-key feel this week. Still, there was time for the first leaders’ debate – a head-to-head between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer – which turned into a fairly bad-tempered affair in which the tetchiness of the prime minister was again to the fore. Wednesday and Thursday were largely set aside for the D-day commemorations. A time to honour the men who didn’t come back and those who did. Unlike many of our politicians, we will remember them.
Gaffe of the week
On Thursday Sunak made the extraordinary decision to fly home early from Normandy and skip the international D-day commemorations. Apart from being a gift to Starmer, who got to look like the real statesman by staying on and being photographed with Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Olaf Scholz, it made the prime minister appear as if he wasn’t really bothered. He had done the bare minimum of showing up for the British commemoration and then rushed back to London to try to save his own political skin. Imagine if the allied soldiers, sailors and airmen had decided 80 years ago that they didn’t really fancy it after all and had turned around midway through the morning of 6 June 1944. Only last week, Sunak was talking about the importance of young people giving something back to society through national service. Maybe he should sign up himself. The reason Sunak had skipped off home turned out to be that he wanted to give an interview to ITV in which he lied about not being a liar. You couldn’t make this stuff up. Star of the week The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey. Having spent much of the previous week promoting British sport, Davey gave an in-depth interview in which he talked movingly about caring for his disabled son, John. He said his greatest worry was what would happen to John after he died. Something that would have resonated with every parent in a similar situation. Davey showed he had that rare gift for a politician of being able to do human. The Lib Dem party political broadcast focusing on caring for both his son and his mother while she had cancer was also a cut above the bog standard effort. How much cut-through this has with voters is another matter, but Davey has come through the first two weeks with his reputation enhanced. U-turn of the week An easy one: Nigel Farage’s decision to stand for Reform in Clacton having given two press conferences the previous week in which he said he wouldn’t. “Changing your mind is sometimes a strength,” he said, though he doesn’t appear that willing to extend the same largesse to the British public and suggest that all those having second thoughts about Brexit should be allowed a second referendum. Maybe he forgot. Nige insisted the reason he was now standing was because he owed it to the little people. More likely he had studied the polls and reckoned he was in with a good shout. Plus, his good mate The Donald was running into legal difficulties in the US. Don’t forget, Nige only ever does what Nige thinks will get him the most attention. He’s a narcissist. And please stop throwing milkshakes at him.
Spat of the week It’s not edifying but it is quite normal for politicians to sling fictitious numbers at one another during an election campaign, so Sunak shouting over and over again that Labour would raise taxes by £2,000 per household – he forgot to mention this was over a four-year period – came as no surprise. But Sunak compounded things by sayingthe figures based on flaky worst-case scenarios had been signed off by Treasury officials. Cue an angry letter from the top civil servant in the Treasury saying he and his team completely disowned the £2,000 figure and he had warned the Conservative party not to drag them into the election in this way. Weirdly, Sunak chose to not just double down but triple down on the figures. He was standing by the numbers and the permanent secretary at the Treasury didn’t know what he was talking about. He even sent cabinet ministers out to trash their reputations by repeating the figures. A bad misjudgment. The more Sunak insists he’s not a liar, the more everyone thinks he is. So much for Mr Integrity. We’re back to the politics of Boris Johnson. Fantasy of the week In a previous life, the deputy leader of the Greens, Zack Polanski, practised as a hypnotherapist. One of his claims was that he could enlarge women’s breasts through the power of the mind. Just close your eyes, concentrate on your breasts growing larger and your dreams could come true. If you are disappointed with your breast size and the failure of the main parties to tackle the climate crisis, Zack is your man. Kill two birds with one stone.