LONDON (AP) 鈥 Britain鈥檚 July 4 election is less than a month away. The campaign has already produced drama and disputes, even before the parties unveil their manifestos with detailed lists of promises in the coming days.
This week saw Conservative Prime Minister and his Labour Party rival, spar in their first , and populist firebrand return to dent Conservative hopes of retaining power after 14 years in office.
Here are some things we鈥檝e learned:
FARAGE IS BACK 鈥 AND THE TORIES ARE WORRIED
Populist firebrand Nigel Farage, whose years of invective against the European Union helped push Britain out of the bloc, sent tremors through the campaign when he announced Monday that he would run for Parliament at the helm of the right-wing party Reform U.K.
Days earlier, Farage had said he wouldn鈥檛 be a candidate because it was more important to support his ally Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election in November.
Farage has failed in seven previous attempts to win a House of Commons seat but stands a good chance of ousting the Conservative incumbent in the eastern England coastal town of Clacton-on-Sea.
Reform is unlikely to win many other seats, but Farage鈥檚 return caused gloom in Conservative ranks. In 2019 the Farage-led Brexit Party, precursor to Reform, decided not to run against the Conservatives in hundreds of seats, a move that helped Boris Johnson secure an 80-seat Conservative majority.
Now Reform could siphon votes from the Tories across the country, helping Labour and the centrist Liberal Democrats win more seats.
鈥淭he Farage intervention makes a very bad election for the Conservatives potentially even worse,鈥 said Philip Cowley, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. 鈥淭here will be plenty of seats in which there will be a decent Reform showing. 鈥 (and) they take more votes from the Conservatives than they take from Labour.鈥
TUSSLES OVER TAX
The two men vying to become Britain鈥檚 next prime minister, Sunak and Starmer, debated on live television Tuesday. It was a tetchy, inconclusive event that saw neither land decisive blows.
The most memorable -- and contested -- soundbite was Sunak鈥檚 claim that Labour鈥檚 plans would mean a 2,000 pound ($2,550) tax increase for every British household. Starmer didn鈥檛 rebut the claim until Sunak had said it several times, but then dismissed it as 鈥済arbage.鈥
Labour claims the figure is misleading. For one thing, Sunak didn鈥檛 make clear that 2,000 pounds was the alleged increase over four years, not annually.
It鈥檚 also based on disputed figures about Labour鈥檚 plans drawn up by the Conservative Party and then submitted to the Treasury for analysis. Sunak claimed the figure had been approved by 鈥渋ndependent Treasury officials.鈥
But it turned out that the top civil servant at the Treasury, James Bowler, had written to the Conservatives before the debate to say the figures 鈥渟hould not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service.鈥
Labour then went on the offensive, calling the figure fake news. Starmer said Sunak had 鈥渓ied deliberately鈥 with the tax claim.
PERSISTENT POLLS
The left-of-center Labour Party remains favorite to win the most seats in the 650-seat House of Commons. While major pollsters give varying figures, all show a double-digit Labour lead, with relatively little change since Sunak called the election on May 22.
Pollster Ipsos gave Labour a 20-point lead, supported by 43% of voters to the Conservatives鈥 23%, in a poll released Thursday. The pollster interviewed 1,014 U.K. adults by phone, and the margin of error was three percentage points.
Cowley said that while things can change quickly in politics, 鈥渢his is a government that鈥檚 tremendously unpopular, and people want rid of it."
鈥淥nce people have decided that, it鈥檚 very difficult to turn it around,鈥 he said.
MILKSHAKE MESS
This week also saw the return of as an instrument of political protest.
Farage was doused with a McDonald鈥檚 shake as he left his boisterous campaign launch in Clacton. A 25-year-old local woman, Victoria Thomas Bowen, has been charged with assault.
Milkshakes became an unlikely political weapon during Britain鈥檚 acrimonious disputes over Brexit after the 2016 referendum. Farage was one of several politicians splattered with a sticky beverage in 2019. 鈥淢ilkshaking鈥 鈥 the act of dousing public figures in milkshakes 鈥 was officially recognized by Collins Dictionary the same year.
Farage鈥檚 political opponents stressed that the sticky attack was no laughing matter in a polarized political atmosphere where threats against politicians are growing. Two British lawmakers, Jo Cox and David Amess, have been murdered in the past decade while meeting constituents.
Labour鈥檚 law-and-order spokesperson Yvette Cooper said the dousing was a 鈥渄isgraceful assault on Nigel Farage.鈥
鈥淐ompletely unacceptable and wrong. No one should face intimidation or assault in an election campaign,鈥 she wrote on social network X.
