“We are not doing a running commentary on toilet arrangements.”
This response from Labour when asked how the Treasury might be preparing for the arrival of the UK’s first woman Chancellor, sums up where we are in the 2024 general election campaign. These are the in-between days, when everything appears to be business as usual, but it is not.
Come Friday there will either be a new - small “n” - Labour government under Keir Starmer, or Rishi Sunak will have achieved one of the greatest comebacks in electoral history. (There is another possibility, that every poll is wrong and there is a hung parliament, as in 2010, but that’s a leap of the imagination for another day.) Contrast the quiet around the Commons and at Holyrood (now in recess until September 2), with the hammering and drilling happening behind the scenes in Whitehall and in TV studios.
Some of this is real hammering as broadcasters put the final touches to election night studios. The rest is metaphorical as the Civil Service readies itself for the possible handover to a new government. Beyond that, there is the delicate matter of discreetly moving one family out of 10 Downing Street and settling another in.
The Sunday politics shows reflected the mood of these final few days with sweeping round-ups and final interviews with every party.
Not everyone chose to take part however, starting with Nigel Farage. He was boycotting the BBC after what he says was hostile treatment on last week’s Question Time leaders’ debates. The Reform UK leader was questioned by host Fiona Bruce and the audience on........