When a soaking wet Rishi Sunak stood in front of Downing Street last month to call a snap 4 July general election, the Conservative Party needed a miracle.
Almost three years had passed since the Tories enjoyed a lead over Labour in the polls, and the prime minister had given them just six weeks to turn it around. No campaign is ever perfect, but Mr Sunak’s needed to be pretty close to stop Sir Keir Starmer walking into Downing Street on 5 July. But since the prime minister kicked off proceedings in the wettest of circumstances, the picture for the Tories has gone from bad to utterly bleak.
With poll after poll predicting an unprecedented wipeout, The Independent takes you behind the scenes on the Conservative Party battle bus to see the veteran campaigner Michael Gove in action.
At 9am yesterday, the Tory-blue bus was parked outside a cafe in the heart of Westminster to pick up a gaggle of broadcasters, print journalists and photographers – as well as Mr Gove. We were heading for Capital Interchange Way, a housing development in Brentford, west London.
Reporters had blocked out four hours for the trip in the hope of being able to grill the housing secretary on Tory policy, the party’s campaign and the rapidly unfolding election betting scandal.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 21, 2024-Ausgabe von The Independent.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 21, 2024-Ausgabe von The Independent.
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Tackling the darker side of England's finest moment
It should have been a night of celebration. As they gathered together at the Dorchester Hotel, Sir Clive Woodward's heroes of 2003 were meant to commemorate a World Cup triumph that still represents the acme of English men’s rugby. But, as Matt Dawson explains, there was a strange atmosphere in the room. As he caught up with his colleagues two decades on from reaching the mountaintop, what became clear was just how many were struggling on the other side.
New generation gather pace amid England inconsistency
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Slot downplays the obvious: Liverpool are Europe's best
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BAH. HUMBUG
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BATTLE OF THE BEIGE
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GCSE English is dying, this is how we bring it back to life
Pearson, one of the three leading exam boards in the UK, has warned that urgent reform at GSCE level is needed. If English (as a subject) is to survive at both A-Level and higher education, it needs to be less pale, male and stale.
The last thing civil servants need is to babysit tech bros
There is a deep irony in a government that has kept making the same sort of mistakes now lecturing its civil servants who have to deal with the consequences) that they should adopt the test-and-learn culture” of the best digital companies and first-class” government projects.
