Week 3 on the campaign trail — it’s an all-out spending war | thearticle

Remember when Boris Johnson compared Jeremy Corbyn to Joseph Stalin? Remember that Keir Starmer campaign ad, or Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Grenfell Fire blunder? There’s no shame if you don’t. Prince

Andrew aside, since then we’ve had floods, manifestos and TV debates. Election campaigns move pretty fast. And what of Round Three? Yet another party leader entered the boxing ring — this

time Boris — who not only threw punches for the camera but actually sparred with the head coach of Jimmy Egan’s Boxing Academy. Later in the week, the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, and

the Shadow Transport Secretary, Andy McDonald, nearly came to blows on Sky News. Things are certainly heating up. Of course, last week saw the release of the all-important party manifestos.

The more eye-catching policies included free broadband for all (Labour), £500 million per year to fund filling potholes (Conservatives), a frequent flyer levy (Lib Dems) and a ban on the

UK’s exportation of waste (Brexit Party). The week that began with the main party leaders pitching their economic credentials to the CBI quickly revealed the election to be an all-out

spending war. Labour’s tax and spending plans, deemed “not credible” by the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, are so eye-wateringly expensive that even the pop singer Lily Allen

shed a tear (ostensibly tears of joy, but has she spoken to her accountant?). And while the Tories’ spending plans are around 27-times less than Labour’s, analysis by the Resolution

Foundation shows that Boris is on track to be the second most spendthrift Conservative prime minister ever. But Week Three wasn’t all about the small print. There were also plenty of popcorn

moments, with two televised debates (if that’s what they should be called) which, combined, attracted an average audience of 5.5 million people. Then again, last week also saw the launch of

the new series of _I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!_, which was watched by an average audience of 10.2 million people. We are a nation in love with attention-grabbers. And what of the

debates? The first was a one-on-one showdown between Johnson and Corbyn which, according to a snap survey, viewers just about agreed Johnson won. But this sparring contest did little to

change public perceptions of the two leaders, with viewers rating Boris as more prime ministerial and Corbyn as more down-to-earth. In fact, it was the questioning style of the host, the

jeering audience and Corbyn’s wonky spectacles which made the headlines. And did you notice that he wore two different pairs? If Boris came out narrowly on top in the first debate, the

second, in which the four main leaders were each grilled by a live _Question Time_ audience, was a bloody affair for all involved. Boris was taken to task for his controversial vocabulary

and his association with austerity, Corbyn for his “neutral stance” on Brexit and his record on anti-Semitism, Jo Swinson for delusions of grandeur, and Sturgeon over Scottish independence.

Indeed, the _Mirror’s_ Jason Beattie said that, at the second debate “the crowd started as icy and then turned down the thermostat”. Boris was booed upon entrance and one audience member

told Corbyn that he doesn’t “buy this ‘nice old grandpa’ image”. But then who does? According to a YouGov poll released last week, almost half of voters think the current party leaders are

worse than any of their predecessors. To be sure, the Tories will be buoyed by polling data released over the weekend, which showed them winning a majority of 48-64 seats. But it is also

worth remembering that more than 300,000 people (including over 200,000 under-35s) registered to vote last Friday — the fourth-largest last-minute surge in UK political history. And while

Dominic Raab might not “give a toss” about social media, young people certainly do — and Labour is reaching larger online audiences than the Tories. So, with 17 days to go, the first

televised punch-ups out of the way and the manifesto ink barely dry, it’s now a question of who will go the distance. In the words of Rocky Balboa: “it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s

about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done”. On to Round Four we go.