Why Tory gambling and D-Day are still causing headaches for Rishi Sunak
The former PM is struggling to escape questions about the Tory betting scandal and leaving D-Day early. But why have these stuck in the minds of voters?
Listen to this article
In brief...
- Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party's 2024 election campaign has been significantly damaged by Sunak leaving D-Day celebrations early and a betting scandal involving Conservative staff.
- The "gaffometer" polling shows 85% of voters are aware of the D-Day incident, and 75% know about the betting scandal, highlighting issues of fairness and integrity that resonate with the public.
- With minimal campaign milestones remaining, these scandals are dominating news coverage, overshadowing other election issues and affecting the Conservative Party's image and campaign effectiveness.
What's going on?
Announcing the election in the rain. Getting photobombed by the Lib Dems. Asking Welsh people about the Euros when Wales hadn’t qualified.
Any of those things could have damaged a political campaign, but there are two things that have really stung Rishi Sunak and the Tories in the run-up to the 2024 election: D-Day and the betting scandal.
That’s according to new data shared by More In Common, whose ‘gaffometer’ polling has shown that 85% of voters are aware of Rishi Sunak leaving the D-Day celebrations in Normandy early, while 75% know about Conservative staff placing bets on the election date before Sunak had called it.
What do The News Agents say?
The News Agents agree these incidents have caused serious problems for Sunak, and the Conservatives election campaign, and understand why these are the two issues that have cut through with voters.
“It’s so relatable to so many people. It's quite simply a question of fairness,” says Emily Maitlis.
“It cuts through to people because it is such an ordinary, everyday gesture.”
While Conservative candidate Craig Williams has admitted making a “huge error of judgment” in placing a bet on the date of the General Election, Rishi Sunak has said he doesn’t know the details of the incident, and has said a Conservative investigation will take place alongside one conducted by the Gambling Commission.
“It is the single most toxic thing for the Conservative Party, that sense that there is one rule for them, and rule for the rest of us,” adds Jon Sopel.
“We go down the bookies, and we take our chances whether our horse comes in at 2/1 or 20/1, we've got no idea.
“Whereas it feels like when they go to bet, the tables are in their favour and they know they're going to win.”
Why have these two issues resonated with voters?
Lewis Goodall points out that the timing of the gambling scandal couldn’t be worse for the Conservatives. The election has been called, the manifestos are out and other than one final debate, there are no more milestone moments between now and when the UK goes to the ballot box.
“The consequence of being at this stage of the campaign means there's not that much news, and so something like this will just dominate the news agenda, day after day after day, until it's dealt with,” he says.
Rishi Sunak has apologised for leaving the Normandy D-Day celebrations, and the party has withdrawn support for candidates Craig Williams and Laura Saunders over bets placed, and both are being looked into by the Gambling Commission.
In the More In Common polling, the third incident people were aware of was Rishi speaking about not having Sky TV as a child.
The top Labour gaff was the drama around whether Diane Abbott would be allowed to stand for the party on 4 July.
Emily Maitlis says she believes this would have been a much bigger story if Starmer had been in power.
“The difficulty with all this stuff is people's perception of what is damaging,” she adds.
“People are more ready to think of the Conservative Party as screwing up, making the biggest gaffs, because they have already decided in their minds that that's the narrative of this election.
“Starmer can make gaffs and Starmer can be more easily forgiven because he's not the incumbent here.”
So what will we remember the 2024 General Election for? A potential change in government after 14 years of Tory rule? The rise of Nigel Farage? Or will it be Rishi Sunak’s string of political gaffes?