UK Pols Set Off On A 6-Week Election Campaign

Britain’s political party leaders were crisscrossing the country last week, the kickoff of a six-week election campaign in which voters will decide whether to end the governing Conservatives’ 14 years in power or not, Jill Lawless reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gambled on an earlier-than-expected July 4 election, arguing his party can give the country security in turbulent times. I Photo: Simon Dawson, Number 10 Downing Street Facebook

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gambled on an earlier-than-expected July 4 election, arguing his party can give the country security in turbulent times.

The main opposition Labor Party says it will bring much-needed change after years of political and economic turmoil under the Tories. “We will stop the chaos,” said Labor leader Keir Starmer, the current favorite to be Britain’s next prime minister.

He said that if the Conservatives “get another five years, they will feel entitled to carry on exactly as they are. Nothing will change.”

Sunak took many of his own lawmakers by surprise when he called the election Wednesday, in an ill-starred televised announcement outside 10 Downing St. that saw him drenched with rain and drowned out by protesters blasting a Labor campaign song.

Most had expected a fall election after Sunak said repeatedly that the vote would be in the second half of the year. July 4 fits that bill, barely.

Sunak, who plans to visiting England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the next 48 hours, said that the election call showed “I’m prepared to take bold action.” Others called the decision risky at best, foolish, at worst.