Has Rishi Sunak disappeared from the campaign trail?

In brief…

• From D-Day to the gamblegate scandal rocking the Tory campaign, things appear to keep getting worse for Rishi Sunak this general election.
• While he has been across the country on the Conservative battle bus, some argue he has since disappeared from the campaign trail.
• And has he been as visible as the leaders of other parties? See what the News Agents have to say.

It began outside Downing Street in the pouring rain. Then onto the battle bus for Rishi Sunak.

He started in the North East, later heading down to the East Midlands to launch the Conservative Party manifesto.

But after a series of gaffs, from leaving D-Day early to the gamblegate scandal that has rocked the Tory campaign, has the incumbent Prime Minister deliberately stepped out of the limelight?

Here’s what the News Agents think. 

“Where is he?”, asks Lewis Goodall.

Sunak may have been in Scotland promoting the Scottish Conservatives manifesto on Monday, but Goodall says he has been “quite ghostly” in this campaign.

Meanwhile, “Starmer has been everywhere”, he claims.

Goodall adds: “The Prime Minister by comparison to someone leading a campaign has not exactly been ubiquitous in a way that they normally are. They should take control and he hasn’t done.”

I bet next Thursday, the day voters go to the polls, “cannot come soon enough for him”, says Emily Mailtis.

Goodall agrees, arguing Sunak’s “political incompetence is profound”.

But he may have been gifted a stroke of luck, says Jon Sopel.

Sopel claims he has caught wind of Sunak leaving interviews yet to be broadcast “really angry, really petulant.”

Luckily for Sunak though,Sopel says no one has reported it as the interviews haven’t come out yet.

How does Sunak’s campaign compare with previous Tory leaders?

Get Brexit Done…remember that? Of course you do.

The slogan of Boris Johnson’s 2019 campaign that remains forever etched in our minds whether we like it or not.

That year, the former Tory leader was seen smashing a bulldozer into a wall, pocketing an ITV journalist’s phone by mistake, and being heckled relentlessly in Yorkshire.

In 2015, David Cameron launched his bid for a second term as Prime Minister warning of chaos under a potential Labour government. Sound familiar?

He made his first visit to the then-Liberal Democrat-held seat of Chippenham in Wiltshire, making a speech to thousands of Tory activists.

Cameron arrived at his final destination of the campaign after a 36-hour drive to Twickenham, south-west London.

How have the party leaders been campaigning this election?

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer unveiled his battle bus with the words “change” written on in Uxbridge.

He has since been seen in at least 16 other locations up and down the country, according to Labour’s website.

To be fair to Sunak, he has traveled far and wide across Britain too, to destinations in all four nations of the United Kingdom.

But the Prime Minister’s campaign may not have been as memorable as Ed Davey’s.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats has been seen getting stuck in, from going down a waterslide in Somerset to paddleboarding (and falling in) to sewage-ridden Lake Windermere.

Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been making waves in Clapton. Although for Farage, sometimes the memorable moments make themselves. The word "milkshake" springs to mind.

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents podcast now.