Things Can Finally Get Better

Bring it on!

I was on the road for most of today as the speculation built. At about 4pm I plugged my phone into the car stereo to play BBC News so I could listen to the announcement.

As the journalists speculated on the speculation and the confirmations came in from source after source, I got a knot in my stomach. “What if they turn it around?” I thought. “What if they can actually run a good campaign and deny Labour the victory this country so desperately needs?”.

I didn’t have the visual delight of seeing Sunak in the rain live. The Picture above was a screengrab I got from rewatching it. But I could listen to it. My heart was beating and my mind slightly churning from the catastrophising thoughts above as he started.

Then I heard it. “You can walk my path… You can wear my shoes…”

Readers, I almost had to pull the car over I was laughing so hard. Literally moments before the announcement, the BBC journalist filling time was talking about this being Sunak’s ‘archive moment’. One that will be preserved for the records. One that will be played over and over again throughout the campaign and beyond. And there, behind his words - almost drowning them out at times - was the Labour anthem Things Can Only Get Better blasting out. My knots dissolved.

This was so easily avoidable. The rain alone could have been an excuse to move the announcement inside and away from what had already been a noisy protest. Doing it in the morning rather than allowing a day of speculation and plotting from the people who might want to disrupt your moment would have shown a little foresight. It seems, that - to coin a phrase - Rishi Sunak didn’t have a plan.

This doesn’t bode well for their team being able to put together a well thought out campaign. Nor does the fact that even now, journalists are reporting on Tory MPs sounding disgruntled about the timing. Unable to even pull in the same positive direction on the day the election is announced.

This is going to be a long six weeks. Labour members, activists and elected politicians will go to sleep mumbling ‘no complacency’ and wake up with those same words on their lips. Not everything will go as badly for the Tories as this launch. Not everything will go well for Labour. The polls may well tighten. I don’t think the fundamentals will change.

We will campaign until our feet hurt. We will campaign until we drop. We will work hard for every single vote. We will speculate and worry and devour the media as never before. We do not know what the outcome will be. Even at 10pm on the 4th July we will not know for sure.

There will be good days and bad days. We’re all going to have to remember our Kipling and treat these imposters just the same.

Because at some point in the early hours of Friday 5th July (incidentally, my cat’s birthday) we will know. And if the polls are even close to being right (please God let them at least be close to being right) we might finally get the present we all want and need.

I wish every single Labour candidate in this election the very best of luck. I wish every Labour activist the best of luck and weather!

Let’s do this.

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House of Comments Special

Charlotte and I jumped on the podcast for an immediate reaction episode (warning - may contain me singing).