Desperate Sunak tries to woo floating voters in Tory seat with 25,000 majority

Desperate PM Rishi Sunak is attempting to shore up support in Tory heartlands by visiting a seat where the Conservative candidate holds a 25,000 majority.

Sunak today tried to engage in some snappy talk with lobster fishermen in north Devon as he hopes to breathe new life into his flagging campaign. The PM met also joined up with Torridge and Tavistock candidate Geoffrey Cox on the beach in Clovelly where they met with local Tory supporters.

Sunak’s visit to the constituency is an unusual move as Cox holds a comfortable majority of 24,992. But with multiple polls predicting the Tories will be sunk on election day, Sunak is looking to shore up support in formerly safe Conservative seats as they face a challenge from the Liberal Democrats in the area.

The PM and Cox later literally found themselves in choppy waters as they joined the fishermen as they went out to catch lobsters. Sunak posed for photos with his catch just hours after a devastating Redfield & Wilton poll skewered the Tories, putting them level with Reform UK on 18 percent.

He later swapped the surf for turf as he joined former PM David Cameron at a farm in north Devon, although fittingly for the Tories’ woeful campaign both struggled with what appeared to be a basic task, in this case feeding sheep. “Come on,” Sunak said as the flock ran to the other side of the pen.

“They don’t want to play ball,” a farmer said as he accompanied Sunak. The PM avoided clear missteps as he discussed his youth growing up in Southampton, unlike when he whined he didn’t have Sky TV when he was younger.

The super-rich PM told farmers during a Q and A session: “Now, I grew up in Southampton, and I didn’t come from a farming background. So it’s been a real privilege to understand the contribution that you make to our society.”

But Liberal Democrat rural affairs spokesperson Tim Farron said Sunak’s courting of farmers was “too little, too late.” He added: “This Devon dash is too little too late for Rishi Sunak. Farmers and rural voters are deserting him in massive numbers.

“Farmers have been utterly taken for granted by the Conservative Party, left to cope with sky-high bills, bungled policies and botched overseas trade deals.

“Liberal Democrats will stand up for people in rural areas and give them the fair deal they badly need through a £1bn rural rescue package. It’s clear that people are moving away from the Conservatives and backing the Liberal Democrats in many seats to kick them out of office.”

Sunak’s decision to campaign in a safe Tory seat could be a reflection of his party’s dire standing in the polls. Multiple surveys have shown the Conservatives trailing Labour by 20 percent on average. More misery has been piled on the PM with Reform UK gobbling up Tory support after Nigel Farage announced his candidacy for Clacton. A YouGov poll last week put Reform UK on 19 percent compared to the Tories on 18.