Welcome to the Sunak and Starmer show, and welcome to the next four, five, six, seven months of your life.
Even if you pay even the slightest attention to developments in British politics, you’ve probably noticed that you’ve been seeing a lot more of the Prime Minister and Labor leader, Sir Keir Starmer.
This could start to feel, and perhaps already feels, like a very long general election campaign.
The big picture sees classic mechanics being tested on the road on both sides.
Know the devil and be careful what you wish for a long-incumbent political party.
It’s time for a change, say opponents.
Rishi Sunak, the most amazing man of all time, aged 44 yesterday and 20 years younger than Keir Starmer, is about to embody the future.
“More things will change in the next five years than in the last 30 years,” he argues.
“I am confident that the next few years will be the most dangerous and transformative times our country has ever seen.”
His pitch is that, as one great man told me, he’s a “future industry expert.”
They are thinking about artificial intelligence, and a few weeks ago they also pledged to spend 2.5% of national income on defense by 2030, beating Labor on this topic.
But the challenge he faces is, to put it plainly, that whatever people think of Labor, there is mounting evidence that many voters are fed up with the Conservative Party.
Those around Sir Keir say the confusion and division within the Conservative Party is illustrated by the fact that former immigration minister Robert Jenrick was also speaking on the same day as the prime minister’s speech.
Many see this as part of the fledgling leadership’s efforts to replace Mr Sunak after his expected defeat in the general election.
He intends to return to a central criticism of nearly a decade and a half of Conservative government: the lack of sustained economic growth.
Labor is pushing for what they call “place politics” and an “active state” approach, including strengthening the powers of directly elected mayors, to drive better and more even economic growth across the country. We want to emphasize our role.
Probably easier said than done.
And they will return to what they think is the most powerful view of the Conservative Party. The idea is that on the eve of the upcoming general election, people are, on average, poorer than they were immediately after the last general election in 2019.
