Dear John,

With only 5 days to go until election day, we are officially on the home straight. Just think, next time you find yourself reading Weekend Wire, morning coffee in hand, the Sunaks could be half way across the globe on their private jet, and No 10 could have brand new tenants.

And on that happy thought, shall we get on with the week’s events?

Wouldn’t bet on it

We are in the campaign equivalent of the silly season. With all big announcements and pledges made, if something newsworthy happens, it sticks. Unfortunately for Sunak, this meant the papers were once again filled to the brim with tales of Conservative politicians placing dodgy bets on things they really shouldn’t have. 

This week it surfaced that a fifth Conservative politician is being investigated by the Gambling Commission. And to make matters worse, the BBC also revealed that Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, a member of Sunak’s Cabinet, had also placed bets on the date of the Election. He has thus far denied any wrongdoing. We will just have to wait and see on that one.

Labour were also dragged into the mess, after it emerged that their PPC in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich had placed a bet on himself to lose his seat. Something that apparently is surprisingly common as a way of having small comfort in defeat. Hardly on a par with the Tory’s alleged insider trading, but either way, Starmer was having none of it, and quickly moved to suspend him. In doing so, he drew a clear line between himself and Sunak who dithered for days over the suspension of Craig Williams and Laura Saunder despite repeatedly claiming he was absolutely ‘furious’....so furious, it seems, he was temporarily reduced to total inaction.

A telling choice

Campaigning took a brief pause to welcome the Emperor and Empress of Japan. During the pair’s three day visit to the UK they were treated, among other delights, to a state banquet hosted by the King at Buckingham Palace. Starmer was strategically seated next to the King’s Principal Private Secretary - AKA his right hand man -  while Sunak found himself next to a computer scientist from Southampton. 

Given it will be the King asking one of the two party leaders to form the next government in under a week’s time, it was an interesting and rather telling choice of seating plan.

Putin’s parrot

In a rare mid-campaign moment of consensus, both Starmer and Sunak came together to condemn Nigel Farage’s egregious suggestion that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was provoked by NATO and the EU. 

The situation wasn’t helped when days later Julian Malins, Reform candidate for Salisbury (as in the Salisbury poisonings), told local voters that Putin “seemed very good”. 

The Trumpian remarks have unsurprisingly gone down badly with the public, leading to the first dent in Reform’s ratings. Unlikely to be helped by Channel 4’s undercover expose which shows canvassers in Clacton sharing racist, and homophobic comments.

A tale of two debates

Set to the soundtrack of a nearby protest, Sunak and Starmer went head to head for the last time this week in a BBC debate. By and large we learned nothing we didn’t already know: same questions, same answers, same techy Rishi. This was all encapsulated by the snap YouGov poll which found there wasn’t a winner. 

The same can’t be said across the Atlantic where Biden and Trump faced each other for the first time. In a debate that was supposed to reassure voters that Biden’s age was not an issue, the exact opposite happened. So much so, that Democrats have been sent into a tailspin and are now seriously discussing replacing Biden.

Brexit Corner

A small nod to the massive elephant

In a campaign that has largely ignored Brexit, there was no escaping it this week with the issue of the UK’s trading relationship with the EU front and centre of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) annual conference. Addressing hundreds of suited business leaders, Jonathan Reynolds insisted that Labour “will and can do better” on UK-EU relations. Well it would be hard to do much worse than the current lot!

James Crapnell

It doesn’t seem like James Cracknell has really got the hang of campaigning yet, this week posting a video to Facebook in which he called the Tories a “shower of shit”. 

Just in case you forgot, he is standing to be a Conservative MP in Colchester….

He went on to add, in reference to the betting scandal,  “And if one of my [olympic] teammates got caught for cheating, they’d be dead to me. That abuse of trust is unforgivable.”

A tax on condoms?

A member of the public explained that contrary to usual he would not be voting Labour due to their decision to tax condoms. It turns out he had misunderstood the party’s pledge to tax non-doms. An easy mistake…I guess?

The Exorcist

It was revealed that Beatrice Brandon, who is standing as the Conservative Candidate in Cardiff East, is  a ‘qualified exorcist’. Maybe she can put her skillset to good use and set to work casting out the populism that has infected the current Conservative party? Just food for thought.

Failure to launch

A dental practice recently visited by Rishi Sunak to launch his NHS dentistry “recovery plan” has announced it is dropping NHS patients.

🫣 Cringe Column 😬

Before I leave you to enjoy the rest of your weekend, another small reminder to check out GetVoting.org ahead of polling day.

Until next time!

Martha Harrison 
Press Manager 

🗳️ Follow our new WhatsApp channel for the latest election news & advice 🗳️