Campaign cock-up of the week: Jibes at Starmer’s Friday nights off fall flat

In this column, former No 10 advisor Giles Kenningham analyses the worst comms screw-ups of the election campaign. So what took the prize for the worst PR gaffe this week?

When I worked for David Cameron we thought he had derailed the start of the 2015 campaign when he made an off the cuff comment  to the BBC that he wouldn’t seek re-election again if he won. We feared Labour would weaponise the comments and label him a lame duck Prime Minister. But the response from the public was pretty much overwhelmingly positive.

Most people thought 8-9 years at the top of British politics was enough. Similarly most people thought it was quite normal to change jobs after nearly a decade in one role. Others said they didn’t want a PM who went on forever. So when the Conservatives attacked Starmer for saying he clocked off on Friday at 6pm to spend time with his family it was always going to backfire.

Why? Partly because most people can empathise with him wanting to spend time with his family. Partly because people understand the PM needs a break and is better and more effective at the job for taking time off. Partly because Starmer marks the  long-standing Jewish tradition of observing the Sabbath on a Friday night every week. And partly because there’s not an overarching narrative or evidence that Starmer is lazy.

Of course the Conservatives need to throw the kitchen sink at Labour in the final 24 hours as they try to shift what looks like a very stubborn poll lead – but this won’t be the message that resonates.

Turnout will be key – they will hope they can mobilise their base (some of whom will be thinking of staying at home) by hammering the vote Reform get Labour message.

As a final note, I would ban the hundreds of polls we’ve had in the short  election campaign in future. They’ve  driven the media agenda at the expense of scrutiny of the different parties’s policies which can’t be a good thing for democracy.