We've made it to the final WTWN before the big day! As expected, Gamblegate continues to dominate the final stretch of the election campaign, and it's looking like Labour have been unsuccessful in escaping a grilling.... Read all about it in this week's Who's Top, Who's Not.
Top: Karl Turner
We're in the final sprint of the 2024 general election, but the campaign stories keep rolling in! With the focus moving towards getting out the vote, Labour's Karl Turner, standing for Hull East, takes the spotlight this week for securing a (slightly unorthodox?) vote in East Yorkshire.
In an interview with The Guardian, Turner recounted a recent conversation with a man who said he wouldn’t vote Labour because he heard they were taxing condoms. After some back-and-forth, Turner clarified they were actually taxing non-doms. The man, relieved, turned to his wife and said, "Margaret, they’re taxing non-doms, not condoms." Crisis averted!
While this is a win for Turner, the larger Labour worry is turnout. With Labour riding high in the polls, there is a fear in HQ that Labour voters may think they don’t need to actually vote and instead choose to stay home. In the final home stretch, can Turner and other Labour candidates pull out all the stops to motivate disengaged voters? Only time will tell…
Middle: Carla Denyer
Carla Denyer, the fresh face of the Green Party and Bristol Central’s candidate, has had a fairly good campaign so far with some MRP polls predicting that she could beat Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire in her constituency.
But the Green’s co-leader has faced some hurdles this week, as she was criticised for a post in which she praised the Windrush generation alongside a selfie showing only white people. The backlash she faced led her to delete the post within 2 hours of uploading it…yikes! Adding fuel to the fire, it was revealed that despite the Greens' push for heat pumps, Denyer herself has a gas boiler. Not a great look for a party aiming for net zero.
And if that wasn’t enough, the Greens’ latest campaign stunt backfired spectacularly. They put up posters mimicking Labour’s style, asking, "Thinking of voting Labour?". Labour supporters gleefully added, "Absolutely" and "Yes we are!" in marker pen. Talk about a self-own!
Despite these blunders, polls putting Labour on course for a large majority could play a significant role in swaying wavering Labour supporters to turn Green. But will it be enough to take down the stonking 62% vote share Thangam enjoyed in 2019? Certainly one to watch!
Not: Gamblegate
The nightmare rages on as election betting scandals rock both Labour and Tory camps. The ‘gamblegate’ saga just got more intense, threatening to overshadow the final stretch of the General Election campaign.
While the Gambling Commission leads the probe into alleged ‘cheating’, Scotland Yard detectives are diving into potential crimes like misconduct in public office. The Met disclosed that seven of its officers are under investigation for placing bets on the election date, including a close protection officer for Rishi Sunak.
But Labour shouldn't pop the champagne just yet. The scandal has tainted them too, with a candidate suspended this week for betting on their own loss. This is a real facepalm moment for Starmer, who has spent the week blasting the Tories over the scandal.