The British election is becoming an episode of mob justice
A punishment beating is on the cards for the Conservatives
The Conservative Party is deeply unpopular. That is a simple point, but one still often missed. Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, enjoys an approval rating that matches Sir John Major’s at his mid-1990s nadir, when the party was on the cusp of a historic defeat at the hands of Sir Tony Blair. The Conservatives enjoy an average poll rating of 23—about 20 points behind the Labour Party. It is a decent score for a third party; it is a cataclysmically awful one for a party of government. Polls may narrow, say pathologically nervous Labour advisers and desperate Conservative ones. Equally, they may widen.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The politics of punishment”
Britain June 1st 2024
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From the June 1st 2024 edition
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