Floods, fascism and fish and chips: week 2 on the campaign trail | thearticle

Are you suffering from “Brexhaustion”? Arron Banks is, according to fellow Bad Boy, Nigel Farage. But if Google Trends is anything to go by, not even the impeachment of a US President can

distract Britain’s attention from the general election campaign. And what of Week Two? It was always going to be hard to top the firecracker opening that we had last week, but this week has

certainly packed a punch. The SNP joined the Lib Dems in taking legal action against ITV, and the chances are that both Jo Swinson and Nigel Farage can be found in a boxing gym near you.

Meanwhile, former Conservative minister, David Gauke, announced that he is standing as an Independent and publicly urged Conservative voters to vote Lib Dem. The gloves are off. Of course,

this week also saw what could prove to be the defining moment of the election: Nigel Farage’s announcement that the Brexit Party would not field candidates in any of the 317 Conservative

seats. This is already being referred to as the “Johnson-Farage Pact” – perhaps in reference to the 1939 non-aggression pact between Hitler and Stalin, also referred to by historians as the

“devil’s alliance”. While the Brexit Party will still contest 300 or so seats, last night saw a further setback for Farage with two of his candidates withdrawing and backing the Tories.

Moreover, a YouGov poll shows that the Tories are currently the most popular party among both middle-class and working-class voters (and have a lead of twenty points over Labour with the

latter). Then again, this came in the same week that Boris was criticised on social media for not knowing how to make a cup of tea. Indeed, the Tories’ “sudden pretence” towards the North

does not wash with former winner of _The Apprentice_, Michelle Dewberry, who has been revealed as the Brexit Party’s candidate in Kingston upon Hull West & Hessle. However, Boris has won

the support of _Apprentice_ host, Lord Sugar, who wrote on Twitter: “as much as it pains me, due to (the) destruction by the millionaire hypocrite @jeremycorbyn of the once great Labour

Party who I supported for years. If I could vote I would have to vote for Boris this time.” For his part, Jeremy Corbyn used the recent floods in the North of England to his political

advantage, sending a letter to Boris urging him to “take personal charge” of the situation. Perhaps sensing an opportunity to double down on his fish and chips strategy, Boris called

Corbyn’s bluff and visited the flood-affected areas in Yorkshire, having just announced in the Tories’ first campaign video that he prefers fish and chips to roast dinner. The context for

this is a study released this week, which found that the more chippies a constituency has, the higher its share of Brexit voters – and the North has plenty of both. But neither Boris’s

culinary tastes nor his presence rubbed off that well on the residents of God’s Own County. One local said to him: “I’m not very happy about talking to you, so, if you don’t mind, I’ll just

motor on with what I’m doing.” Corbyn was also heckled several times on the campaign trail while in Scotland, despite his best efforts to appease locals by wearing a tartan scarf. Indeed,

following its strong start last week, Labour has lost momentum with its “fake nurse” fiasco, its unclear immigration policy and for having suffered not just one but two cyber-attacks.

Sources within the party initially claimed that the hacks originated from computers in Brazil and Russia, but a notorious hacking group has since claimed responsibility. Regardless, it’s

true to say that foreign interference in UK elections has not diminished since the EU referendum. While promoting her new book in London this week, Hillary Clinton said that, in light of the

number of MPs stepping down due to abuse, the UK is on “the path (to) fascism”. Perhaps more controversially, the EU Council President, Donald Tusk, encouraged opponents of Brexit not to

“give up”, and warned that Brexit signifies “the end of the British Empire”. Of course, it’s still early days and though Labour might want a four-day week, elections don’t tend to have days

off. More importantly, while the Tories are still far ahead in the polls, news yesterday that hospital performance in England is at its worst level on record will not do the governing party

any favours. After all, a winter NHS crisis is just what anxious Tory MPs warned of prior to the election being called. Our prizefighting politicians would do well to remember the advice of

Mike Tyson: everyone has a plan ’til they get punched in the mouth.