This article was updated at 6:10pm on Thursday 23 May to reflect an error. It originally stated that Rishi Sunak was at a McVitie’s warehouse. However, McVitie’s has informed the Canary, other outlets, and social media users, that it is in fact not their factory but a distribution centre. We would like to profoundly apologise to McVitie’s for associating them with Sunak’s preposterous stunt.
It’s just a day after prime minister Rishi Sunak announced the general election and his campaign has already been exposed as a sham. Sunak took two pre-planted questions from Tory councillors posing as workers from a William West and Sons warehouse.
On top of that, his security escorted Sky News reporter Darren McCaffrey out of a launch event at the ExCel centre.
Lack of real Tory support
On 23 May, media outlets broadcasted footage of a man wearing a hi-vis jacket who said to Sunak:
the biggest issue is going to be immigration over this election campaign… your Rwanda plan is it going to see results and stop the small boats coming?
Neither broadcasters nor Sunak acknowledged that the man is actually Conservative Party Leicestershire County Councillor Ross Hills:
“If I’m re-elected as your prime minister those flights will go to Rwanda, we will get that deterrent up and running”
Rishi Sunak has started his campaign in Derbyshire and answers a question regarding his small boats plan.https://t.co/pZk91T6sKY
📺 Sky 501 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/7JxMLPQjKz
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 23, 2024
Hills confirmed to Byline Times that the Tory leadership had asked him to appear at the event.
And the charade didn’t stop there. Another person wearing a hi-vis jacket at the warehouse said to Sunak:
You’ve talked a lot about the economy, specific to everybody, the cost of living crisis… What’s been done and what sets you apart for the future to benefit that pound in the pocket?
But that turned out to be Erewash Conservative Councillor Ben Hall-Evans.
However, it later emerged that the warehouse in question wasn’t a McVitie’s one, as earlier reported. The company rightly panicked about being associated with this sham, and clarified this on social media:
Hi there, we’d like to confirm that this not a McVitie’s site or a McVitie’s organised event.
— McVitie's (@McVities) May 23, 2024
Hiding from the media?
Sunak’s security also dragged Sky political correspondent Darren McCaffrey out of an election launch event at ExCel:
Hours after announcing the General Election
A Sky News reporter is physically dragged out of Conservative party campaign launch at Excel
Remember when all of the journalists ignored the cancelling of Sangita Myska and Belle Donati? It seems like more journalists are being… pic.twitter.com/g30RGWQnq2
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) May 22, 2024
This raises the question of whether Sunak will continue to run a similar campaign to Theresa May’s in 2017. The Canary reported:
Across the country, from Harrow, to Bristol, to Cornwall, only nodding faithfuls are allowed into May’s events.
Take Harrow, London, where the sitting Prime Minister reportedly refused to take questions from anyone other than handpicked journalists.
Keir Starmer: targeting Tory voters
Keir Starmer, meanwhile, has long been targeting Tory voters with similar rhetoric on immigration and refugees as Sunak and Tory councillor Hills.
Both Starmer and Sunak have denounced the other as offering an “amnesty” to refugees.
In a similar vein, Starmer has welcomed three Tory MPs into the Labour Party after they defected.
The latest to join – Natalie Elphicke – characterised refugees as terrorists. Starmer said he was “delighted” Elphicke now sits on the Labour benches.
Starmer has lost support among many in Labour over his domestic and foreign policy positions. He abandoned all the pledges he made to become Labour leader.
And he has ignored the International Court of Justice ruling that it’s “plausible” Israel is committing genocide against Palestinian people.
Prominent commentators Owen Jones and Grace Blakeley have joined those refusing Labour over its positions. Dozens of Labour councillors have resigned from the party.
It’s important we use this general election to reject the warmongering austerity establishment in both Labour and Tory.
Featured image via Sky News – X
