Good morning. Boris Johnson returns. My report below.
Then, Will has written a fascinating investigation about the high number of lobbyists standing to become MPs.
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Rishi Sunak chose the Royal Army Museum in Chelsea to make his last stand. In a campaign finale, opposite an 1878 painting of Gurkhas using trees for cover and beneath a suspended helicopter that, cartoonist Morten Morland observed, made the Tories look as if they were fleeing Saigon, his lieutenants gathered for one final push. From the balcony, Greg Hands got a sympathetic applause. James Cleverly grinned at activists. “David” – presumably Cameron, not Davis – loitered unseen at the back. Tory HQ, I’m told, decided to host the event one night early in order to give broadcasters, who are banned from talking politics on election day, time to cover what was to unfold.
Michael Gove, an indefatigable campaigner throughout these six weeks, kicked off proceedings. He channelled his inner Gordon Brown by reeling off the unsung achievements from the past 14 years: the best schools in Europe, the 2012 Olympics, the vaccine roll-out, etc, etc. The Prime Minister, Gove told this throng of party members, had a “moral core that is unbreakable”. In a presumably inadvertent reference to Monty Python, Gove went on to ask: “What has Keir Starmer ever done for us?”
The surprise was Boris Johnson. He has returned from his European sojourn to help save a party from a poison he administered. Looking like unset papier-mâché, Johnson joked his way through a pantomime routine. He attacked Labour as “cocky, complacent, smug… Corbynistas” and Reform as “Putinistas”. He complained about being kept away from the cameras. “I feel deprived of your company,” he pleaded. But his performance was little more than light relief for the Tory troops on the front line.
Johnson did not remain on stage to welcome his successor as prime minister, and mentioned him only once in his speech. “Isn’t it great to have our Conservative family united, my friends?” Sunak, the man whose resignation was the death warrant for Johnson’s premiership, asked the crowd. It was a little late for unity. The backstabbing between these three – Johnson, Gove and Sunak – is one reason why the Tories’ decimation could define their legacies. In any case, it didn’t last long. Within hours, Suella Braverman was condemning the party’s high immigration and high taxes in the Telegraph, blaming them for Reform’s success.
Sunak looked determined, serious, angry and concerned, unaware that he was surrounded by relics. Johnson’s jokes got sympathetic laughs tinged with sadness, like those in a eulogy. Gove was emphatic but ineffective. With this cast of characters, even if it wasn’t the intention, Sunak reminded voters about the past 14 years not the next 14.
Investigation: the dark side of the revolving door
Hello, Will here. A couple of weeks ago I put together a spreadsheet of the nearly 1,200 new candidates (as in, not an MP in the previous parliament) standing for the three main parties in this week’s general election. With the help of some long-suffering colleagues, I began a line-by-line look at what they all do for a living. There’s a reasonable number of doctors (31) and teachers (25), and as usual there is a concerning lack of engineers and scientists. One group, however, really stands out: as I explain in today’s investigation, at least 103 professional lobbyists are standing to become MPs.
Lobbyists are part of Westminster life, and some advocate for things that many MPs would be advocating for anyway – some work for charities and unions, although most work for businesses or lobbying firms that represent a wide range of clients. You could argue that a track record of arguing well for things in Westminster is a good qualification for being an MP. But you could also argue that Westminster needs more diversity of experience and outlook, and it’s hard to see how this is achieved when the average lobbyist is 27 times more likely to stand for parliament than the average teacher.
Some lobbying firms have as many as three current employees standing for parliament, while swathes of the economy are conspicuously absent from Westminster – as the Institute of Mechanical Engineers noted recently, the word “engineering” is used just once (by Labour) in any of the parties’ manifestos. The roles politicians take on after parliament are scrutinised by the appointments regulator, but there are no transparency requirements for the roles people occupy before they become MPs. Read on to find out how we’ve thrown some light on to the dark side of the revolving door.
Freddie’s picks
In his pre-election column, Andrew lays out the opportunities and potential pitfalls facing a Labour government.
Here’s a key question: is Reform taking Labour votes? Ben has done the analysis.
Lee Siegel is back with a welcome corrective to the hysteria plaguing American liberals on this week’s Trump Supreme Court decision.
Bethany Elliott explains why some MPs might actually welcome losing tomorrow.
Rachel and I discuss the problems facing Reform:
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Independent: Rent in Britain hits record high
Washington Post: Obama advises Biden on phone
Guardian: China seizes Taiwanese fishing boat
NYT: What changes would a hard-right government bring to France?
FT: How knife-edge seats may tip Tories from defeat to wipeout
Michael Baharaeen: The American experiment is still worth fighting for
Cressida Leyshon: Sally Rooney on characters who arrive pre-entangled
Laura Miller: Late styles and lean sentences
Kat Rosenfield: Did JK Rowling fail the Lolita test?
And with that…
Let me know what you think about today’s Morning Call by hitting reply. My thanks to Barney and George.
Have a great day,
Freddie — @freddiejh8
I subscribe to the Newstatesman and the only thing I read regularly is your morning call and the articles it points me to. I would have cancelled years ago if it were not for your morning email.
What a pity Johnson didn't apologise for the 30,000 plus, care home residents who died unnecessarily during Covid.
Johnson and his cronies turned Care Homes into Death Camps.
What a nauseating legacy. I