‘The Tories know they are going to lose – however we should nonetheless ensure that it occurs’
Tory white flag danger
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps acknowledging the Conservatives will lose the General Election to Labour is, perversely, a danger to Keir Starmer. Shapps might be right but this battle isn’t over until every vote is cast and counted after polling booths close at 10pm on July 4.
People who think the result is a foregone conclusion might not bother to vote. That is a threat to Starmer and a gift to Rishi Sunak. So everybody who wants change, and to see the back of the Tories, must vote, whether by post or in person. The other danger to the country is Reform UK. Its anti-migrant, fantasy-finance manifesto is as risible as its leader Nigel Farage. But the privately educated City slicker-turned professional politician will fight dirty, as he showed yesterday by trying to exploit the deprivation of the South Wales valleys.
Give Wes a go
Frazzled GPs are another poison pill the incompetent Conservatives would leave an incoming Labour Government. Stressed doctors are voting on whether to take industrial action over a new pay contract blamed for shutting hundreds of surgeries. Combined with the ongoing junior doctors strikes, this is a legacy of mismanagement.
Health Secretary-in-waiting Wes Streeting would, if he gets the crucial job after July 4’s General Election, have his hands full. But his constructive approach and bedside manner would give him a much better chance of resolving these conflicts than Tory ministers, who long ago lost medics’ confidence. GPs on the NHS front line, caring for us, deserved to be cared for too. Showing them respect and understanding wouldn’t be the full answer but it would be a decent start.
Rein supreme
Top-hat-and-tails Ascot, with its strict dress code and Royal procession, is as much a glitzy occasion as a breathtaking five-day horse racing festival. No wonder they call it the sport of kings.
