Has it been a shaky start to Rishi Sunak‘s general election campaign? Damn right!”, to use the man himself’s phrase, except he was talking about whether he would win. Has his rival Keir Starmer’s election begun smoothly?
I’d say, “Damn right!” to that too. But both men know there is an awful long way to go before a single vote is cast. They have other things in common too.
Both leaders inspire unusual loyalty among their teams. They are often praised by those who work with them as being warmer than they appear on camera: staffers describe them as decent family men, who take their jobs incredibly seriously and work incredibly hard. It’s also true that in recent weeks, even close allies of the prime minister report his mood has darkened. One minister told me he had been “catty” and “unpleasant” as pressure has taken its toll. They come from different generations. Sir Keir Starmer is 61, and voted in a general election for the first time in 1983, the year Margaret Thatcher won a second term. Rishi Sunak was only three years old then. He cast his first ballot in 2001, when Tony Blair won another term. But neither party leader is a political “lifer”.
They became MPs in the same year – 2015 – after successful careers in other fields.The Labour leader’s first job was clearing stones from fields on a farm, before studying law and reaching the top of that profession.
The Tory leader helped his mum in her pharmacy, but his first paid job was a waiter in a restaurant, before university and then a highflying career in finance.
Unlike many of their predecessors, these party leaders do not come from political families and have not been steeped from an early age in political intrigue and campaigning. You won’t find either of them spinning yarns about drunken shenanigans at long ago party conferences, or carrying grudges about things that happened decades ago in student election campaigns. They both like to think things through, take time over decisions and test the arguments rather than being ruled by flashes of instinct. Having got to the top of their parties, they have both been prepared to be ruthless, and compromise to achieve the power they want.
But neither man is entirely comfortable with the showbiz side of modern politics and the intrusion into their personal lives that comes with the territory. They both genuinely appear to enjoy talking to members of the public – but the morning TV sofa, or the glossy magazine shoot, is not something either of them would choose.
Souirce: BBC
