Five years ago, Britain's Conservatives were flying high, buoyed by the personal popularity of then-leader Boris Johnson. In 2019, he delivered them their biggest electoral win since Margaret Thatcher's 1987 victory. This week, the ruling party enters an election as the underdog.British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to farmers during a campaign event on a farm near Barnstaple in North Devon on June 18.
"There is a strong dislike of the Westminster bubble," Jones told CBC News, referring to the U.K. Parliament in London. "It's far removed from normal day-to-day life." Rishi Sunak, the current prime minister, insists the U.K. has recently turned a corner — that the economic outlook is better now than when the pandemic required the government to increase spending and the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed up energy prices, resulting in sharp rises for Britons' household bills.
"Conservatives have lost support," said Prof. Peter Sloman, a senior lecturer of British politics at the University of Cambridge, suggesting as many as one in two voters have turned away from the party. In northwest London, Jeff Graham, who came out of retirement to return to work as a development consultant, is disillusioned. Pointing to issues such as health care and education, he said, "I really feel that politicians are simply unable to relate to ordinary people."
"People have seen the chaos of government," said Matt Bebb, a teacher in the historically Labour-supporting city of Liverpool in northwest England. For example, he noted there have been 10 education secretaries in the past 14 years. " lost faith in politics."The last straw perhaps was when bookmakers noticed a spike in bets on a July election the week before Sunak stood in the pouring rain outside Number 10 Downing Street and announced his decision.