Who got caught out by the PM’s election timing?

Visiting and talking with campaign teams in our target seats, it’s been striking how often it is the local Conservative team which seems to have been caught on the hop by the Prime Minister’s decision to call the general election.

A competent Conservative operation would have planned the timetable in advance and have had the first round of mailshots all ready to go, just waiting for a phone call or WhatsApp message saying, ‘The Prime Minister has just…’. Instead, their operation has been struggling to get up and running properly while the Lib Dem campaigns are already running at full tilt.

In my election trips so far, I’ve stayed firmly away from lakes, bicycles and slides. But the media is praising Ed Davey’s determination to get in holiday fun despite the election:

There is method in his malarkey. Much of the battle for the Lib Dems is persuading the national media to pay them any attention. If he has to play the good-for-a-laugh centrist dad to get himself on TV and in the newspapers, he reckons the pratfalls are a sacrifice worth making …

The manner in which Labour and the Tories have begun their campaigns is encouraging for Sir Ed. Rishi Sunak’s desperate scattergun of promises – a quarter-baked proposal to bring back national service, an unfunded tax lollipop for pensioners and an attack on “Mickey Mouse” degrees – are designed to appeal to rightwing voters of advancing years. The Tory pitch is much less likely to appeal to liberal, centrist folk in relatively affluent seats. Voters there are most animated by issues that the Lib Dems are using as their campaign themes, strongest among them being the dilapidated state of public services and the befoulment of our waterways.

As for Sir Keir, it has been safety first and don’t say anything that might frighten the swing voter from Labour. This suits the Lib Dems just fine. Among the kind of people they are after, 2019 was a disaster for the Lib Dems in part because Jeremy Corbyn scared those voters into the arms of the Conservatives. Sir Ed thinks it a big help to him that Labour’s prospective prime minister isn’t alarming to potential switchers. [Andrew Rawnsley, The Guardian]

Or there is the BBC’s take:

Why is he doing it? His answer, that politicians can take people’s issues seriously without needing to take themselves too seriously, makes sense for a leader who isn’t claiming to have a realistic chance of being the country’s next prime minister …

The Lib Dems hope that if you see their man doing something wacky on social media or your TV, you might take the time to find out a bit more about what he stands for – with policy announcements this week on dentists and mental health, farming and crime.

The contrast between what the stunts achieve and doing serious stunt-free policy launches was shown over the weekend with the much more modest coverage secured for the party’s plans to reverse cuts to the Public Health Grant with £1 billion of investment per year.

It’s a good start though we’ve been here before with a good start not translating into a good result. Which is why help in our target seats is so important:

Meanwhile, congratulations to our three star local parties for recruiting the most members in the last week in England, Scotland and Wales:

• Manchester
• North East and Central Fife
• Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe

Congratulations also to these teams for having contacted the highest proportion of their members and registered supporters in the last week:

• Watford
• Rutherglen and Hamilton West
• Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (again!)

General elections are a great opportunity to recruit more members and to get more members and supporters involved. Alongside helping us win in our target seats, doing this helps leave the whole party in a stronger position for the next set of challenges after this election.

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