General Election 2019: Boris in the blue corner

With the leaders’ debate taking place this evening at 8pm on ITV much of today was simply a run-up for the debate. Both main parties have made various eye-catching statements today aimed to set the mood and agenda of the debate.

McDonnell led the charge for Labour setting his sights upon the “grotesque levels of inequality in this country” in an interview on BBC Radio 4. Later at a speech in Westminster he pledged Labour would “rewrite the rules of our economy” reemphasising Labour’s commitment to change how companies operate with employee shares, touting an Excessive Pay Levy to close disparities in pay between senior executives and other employees, and plans to rewrite rewriting the Companies Act to enshrine companies having wider social duties in law. In particular, he argued companies had to “pull their weight” to combat climate change.

In a headline grabbing move McDonnell also promised Labour would scrap student fees entirely, and even hinted at waiving all student debt. Labour looks keen to court the youth vote which flocked to them in 2017 but since has been decisively turned off by Labour’s equivocation on Brexit. Indeed, Labour’s digital advertising seems to be heavily targeting young voters with ads on Snapchat promising a second referendum on Brexit.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives seem to be banking on projecting a tough image focusing on crime. In an interview Justice Secretary Robert Buckland promised life in prison for child murderers. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson pledged a further crackdown on knife crime with faster charging of offenders and by expanding stop and search powers. The latter seems calculated to put Labour in an awkward position. Tough on crime stances are popular and polling shows the general public generally unbothered by stop and search. However, many in the Labour party, not least Shadow Home Secretary Dianne Abbott, are vocal opponents of the policy.

Johnson has also indulged in his usual penchant for theatrics appearing in a boxing ring in the run-up to the debate. Throwing punches at a trainer in red Johnson pointedly wore blue gloves, which had “Get Brexit Done” printed across them just in case the message wasn’t obvious enough. The move prompted some grumbling on the part of Nigel Farage who accused Johnson of copying him, having engaged in his own boxing stunts before. However, the tradition has a longer pedigree with Canada’s Justin Trudeau using a 2012 boxing match against a Senator from the rival Conservatives to catapult himself to political prominence.

Things seemed to stray off script a little for the Conservatives though as the Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack, seemed to soften Johnson’s unqualified commitment to block a second referendum on Scottish independence no matter what.

Still unless more comes from this it is likely that the statement will be lost in all the furore surrounding the upcoming debate. Smaller parties in particular are struggling to attract attention after the High Court turned down the SNP and Liberal Democrats legal challenge to their exclusion from the debate tonight.

While the Liberal Democrats promised to add a penny to the basic rate of income tax to fund the NHS, and underlined this with a hospital visit by Jo Swinson, the main story about them seems to be a bizarre piece of fake news. Claims that Swinson had tortured squirrels circulated online among various Brexit groups despite the original story having been quickly taken down.

Meanwhile, one feels almost – almost – sorry for the Greens who chose today of all days to announce their manifesto. Their headline pledge was an extra £100 billion as part of the UK’s “Green New Deal” to tackle climate change and reach net-zero emissions by 2030. A promise to implement a Universal Basic Income of £89 a week might also stir some interest, even if both policies have no chance of implementation.

Indeed, if anything was the theme of today it was that little looks set to change. In conditions this polarised few expect the Leader’s debate to do much beyond confirm voters’ choices. Meanwhile, expectations of Tory victory seem to growing as a new poll by Kantar gave the Conservatives an 18 point lead, at 45% to Labour’s 27%.