As general election antics unfold, our UK Public Affairs team will be analysing the major parties’ campaign strategies in our Who’s Top Who’s Not series. In this week's manifesto madness, we're here to give you our take on the parties' commitments and the latest rather unconventional campaigning style adopted by Johnny Mercer and his family...to be honest...we're here for it!
Top: Felicity Mercer
General election campaigns are fundamentally about articulating your vision, communicating your key messaging to your target voters and then convincing them to vote for you.
New communication channels are constantly being developed and, in this election, we’ve seen the parties trying to embrace TikTok (with mixed success) and memes (with greater success) but whilst it is fine to lampoon your rivals it is vital to treat the voters with the utmost respect.
So, kudos to Felicity Mercer, wife of Tory candidate for Plymouth Moor View Jonny Mercer, who threw that traditional thinking out of the window this week in a hilarious campaign video released on X.
WTWN is not sure we’ve ever before seen the wife of a parliamentary candidate greet the voters with “Wassup mother*#*#ers” and then disparage her husband with “who cares” when he earnestly tries to talk about the positive reaction on the doorstop, but we’re here for it.
Middle: Keir Starmer
The theme of ‘change’ features prominently throughout both Labour’s campaign and its manifesto that was launched this week. The message to the electorate is clear and Labour is determined to embody ‘change’ in comparison to the Tories and their ‘stick to the plan’.
Structurally, Labour is continuing with its ‘missions’ for government. Not only is this a device for grouping its polices, but it is also going to be key to Labour’s approach to governing and a shake-up of Whitehall to reflect that is likely. Anyone hoping to influence the next Labour government needs to frame their political engagement around how they can help the party achieve these missions.
Whilst there are few surprises, there are several firm commitments. Labour has previously been criticized for not being ambitious enough but the creation of GB Energy, rail nationalization, greater use of weekend working to clear the NHS backlog and free breakfast clubs for children could be a genuinely transformative policy programme.
The manifesto document sees Labour set itself some clear targets which will not only form the basis of its legislative programme but will also be a yardstick around which the public can judge a Labour government in the future.
Not: Craig Williams
A real marmalade-dropper came out of Montgomeryshire this week where Tory Candidate and parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the prime minister, Craig Williams, was caught up in a shocking gambling scandal.
Williams has been placed under investigation by the gambling commission for placing a £100 bet on the date of the general election before it was called. As PPS, Williams is a close political aide to the PM.
Williams has apologised for his error of judgement, but it remains to be seen what the voters of Montgomeryshire make of the revelation and whether they are willing to overlook the investigation to return him to Westminster.