{"id":13166,"date":"2024-05-26T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2024-05-26T09:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166"},"modified":"2024-05-26T12:00:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T09:00:24","slug":"election-2024-rishi-sunak-has-already-lost-control-of-the-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166","title":{"rendered":"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

By Alex Prior, London South Bank University<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced that a general election will take place on Thursday July 4. Over the course of the next six weeks, therefore, he and Labour leader Keir Starmer will pit their parties, themselves, and their stories, against each other.<\/p>\n

But the 2024 general election may prove unprecedented in the relative anonymity of the political leaders. It is being fought by two especially distant political leaders, who have struggled to create, let alone communicate, an engaging personal story.<\/p>\n

Both Sunak and Starmer are often accused of being boring. And even though personality is a central force in governing, Sunak has often criticised \u201cpersonality politics\u201d as petty. He rarely talks about himself unless he absolutely has to.<\/p>\n

For all Sunak\u2019s talk of an election being a choice between who you can and can\u2019t trust, it is telling that Sunak and Starmer\u2019s statements at the calling of the election referred so little to themselves personally.<\/p>\n

A message, drowned out<\/h2>\n

The importance of narrative, and the danger of not having one, was clear even as Sunak announced the date of the election. Standing in the pouring rain, struggling to be heard over the noise of a nearby protester playing Things Can Only Get Better \u2013 a song most readily associated with Tony Blair\u2019s 1997 election win \u2013 Sunak was visibly rattled. The narrative was already a negative one \u2013 wet costume, bad setting and an unwelcome soundtrack.<\/p>\n

Sunak could have improvised, and it\u2019s telling that he didn\u2019t. He could have doubled down on the song\u2019s message and repurposed it to his own ends. He could have acknowledged it and used it to criticise his opposition. This moment may stand as a lasting metaphor for Sunak\u2019s failure to grasp the narrative and the initiative.<\/p>\n

Sunak must now choose an election narrative. His strategy may be to fight this election with self-awareness, using an \u201cunderdog\u201d story (considering his party\u2019s weak position in the polls). It may be to double down on the message that \u201cthe plan is working\u201d. Either way, he urgently needs to counter the narrative of decline that has flourished during his leadership.<\/p>\n

Starmer faces the same choices. It was around this time last year that he finally started making headway in reclaiming his own personal narrative and pushing his working-class credentials to the fore.<\/p>\n

In using terms like \u201cSir Softy\u201d, and branding Starmer as a \u201cnorth London virtue-signaling lawyer\u201d, we have seen signs that Sunak wants to undermine Starmer\u2019s working-class credentials, and turn Starmer\u2019s own personal story against him.<\/p>\n

However, there is arguably less pressure on Starmer to deliver a strong personal story than there is on Sunak. As psephologist John Curtice pointed out on BBC Radio 5 Live: \u201cStarmer\u2019s task is to hang on to the support the party has.\u201d<\/p>\n

Narrative control, narrative chaos<\/h2>\n

However Sunak and Starmer choose to present themselves, the timing of the election is likely to reinforce the air of resignation (figuratively and literally) for the Tories, and for Sunak himself.<\/p>\n

Timing is part of the personal narrative, too, and a surprise announcement of an election in just a few weeks does not fit with Sunak\u2019s aspiration to present himself as a safe pair of hands.<\/p>\n

The Guardian\u2019s snap verdict was that: \u201cSunak made no attempt to explain why he is calling it for 4 July \u2026 There was no real need for an explanation, but it would have been nice to have one.\u201d I agree \u2013 and I think it would have also been \u201cnice\u201d for the Tories to have one. Sunak has missed a chance to seize the narrative by saying exactly why he has made a decision that is so unexpected to so many people.<\/p>\n

At worst, this will actively go against Sunak\u2019s personal story, and with it, his \u201cbrand\u201d. As Sky News chief political correspondent Jon Craig put it: \u201cA prime minister with a reputation for caution and an obsession with spreadsheets is actually a gambler.\u201d This should not be treated as a throwaway comment. Sunak\u2019s persona is one of calm, methodical, informed decision-making. This chimes well with the Tory narrative of sensible, sound planning, especially in economic matters.<\/p>\n

Playing the gambler for one day is a risky strategy for a man who lives by these rules, especially when he is seeking to portray his rival as unpredictable. In his speech calling the election, Sunak said of Starmer:<\/p>\n

\nHe has shown time and time again that he will take the easy way out and do anything to get power. If he was happy to abandon all the promises he made to become leader leader once he got the job, how can you know that he won\u2019t do exactly the same thing if he were to become prime minister?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The current prime minister must be careful that the same logic doesn\u2019t end up being applied to him.<\/p>\n

Alex Prior, Lecturer in Politics with International Relations, London South Bank University<\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced that a general election will take place on Thursday July 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3258,5936,7443,1902,2951,2402,5713,10898,1240,279,10408,5516,2604,2190,1600,2112,988,1957,187,9044,839,10253,3940,450,387,1394,4442,11227,3331,7378,5328,11228,301,5863,1004,3775,1792,10679,623,3522,2065,1958,6928,6397,8056,7558,840,8385,6001,3773,1358,1026,3774,1681,7850,7317,10881,6305],"class_list":["post-13166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-air","tag-article","tag-awareness","tag-bank","tag-bbc","tag-caution","tag-chaos","tag-choice","tag-clear","tag-comment","tag-conversation","tag-danger","tag-decision-making","tag-decline","tag-election","tag-election-timing","tag-fight","tag-general-election","tag-international","tag-international-relations","tag-labour","tag-labour-leader","tag-leaders","tag-london","tag-lost","tag-man","tag-message","tag-narrative-importance","tag-news","tag-parties","tag-party","tag-political-leaders","tag-politics","tag-polls","tag-power","tag-pressure","tag-prime-minister","tag-promises","tag-rain","tag-relations","tag-resignation","tag-rishi-sunak","tag-six","tag-sky-news","tag-snap","tag-speech","tag-starmer","tag-stories","tag-struggling","tag-sunak","tag-support","tag-talks","tag-tories","tag-trust","tag-university","tag-unpredictable","tag-verdict","tag-who"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\nElection 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"election. narrative importance, election timing, political leaders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"election. narrative importance, election timing, political leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ch.jfdi.cc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-26T09:00:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/election-2024-rishi-sunak-has-already-lost-control-of-the-narrative.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cyprus Mail\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cyprus Mail\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cyprus Mail\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8\"},\"headline\":\"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-26T09:00:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166\"},\"wordCount\":859,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/election-2024-rishi-sunak-has-already-lost-control-of-the-narrative.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"air\",\"article\",\"awareness\",\"bank\",\"bbc\",\"caution\",\"chaos\",\"choice\",\"clear\",\"Comment\",\"conversation\",\"danger\",\"decision-making\",\"decline\",\"election\",\"election timing\",\"fight\",\"general election\",\"International\",\"international relations\",\"Labour\",\"Labour leader\",\"leaders\",\"London\",\"lost\",\"man\",\"message\",\"narrative importance\",\"news\",\"parties\",\"party\",\"political leaders\",\"politics\",\"polls\",\"power\",\"pressure\",\"prime minister\",\"promises\",\"rain\",\"relations\",\"resignation\",\"Rishi Sunak\",\"SIX\",\"Sky News\",\"Snap\",\"speech\",\"starmer\",\"stories\",\"struggling\",\"Sunak\",\"support\",\"talks\",\"tories\",\"trust\",\"university\",\"unpredictable\",\"verdict\",\"WHO\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Other\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166\",\"name\":\"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/election-2024-rishi-sunak-has-already-lost-control-of-the-narrative.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-26T09:00:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8\"},\"description\":\"election. narrative importance, election timing, political leaders\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/election-2024-rishi-sunak-has-already-lost-control-of-the-narrative.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/election-2024-rishi-sunak-has-already-lost-control-of-the-narrative.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?p=13166#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/\",\"name\":\"ch.jfdi.cc\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8\",\"name\":\"Cyprus Mail\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cyprus-mail.com\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ch.jfdi.cc\\\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative","description":"election. narrative importance, election timing, political leaders","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative","og_description":"election. narrative importance, election timing, political leaders","og_url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166","og_site_name":"ch.jfdi.cc","article_published_time":"2024-05-26T09:00:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/election-2024-rishi-sunak-has-already-lost-control-of-the-narrative.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cyprus Mail","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cyprus Mail","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166"},"author":{"name":"Cyprus Mail","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#\/schema\/person\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8"},"headline":"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative","datePublished":"2024-05-26T09:00:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166"},"wordCount":859,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/election-2024-rishi-sunak-has-already-lost-control-of-the-narrative.jpg","keywords":["air","article","awareness","bank","bbc","caution","chaos","choice","clear","Comment","conversation","danger","decision-making","decline","election","election timing","fight","general election","International","international relations","Labour","Labour leader","leaders","London","lost","man","message","narrative importance","news","parties","party","political leaders","politics","polls","power","pressure","prime minister","promises","rain","relations","resignation","Rishi Sunak","SIX","Sky News","Snap","speech","starmer","stories","struggling","Sunak","support","talks","tories","trust","university","unpredictable","verdict","WHO"],"articleSection":["Other"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166","url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166","name":"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/election-2024-rishi-sunak-has-already-lost-control-of-the-narrative.jpg","datePublished":"2024-05-26T09:00:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#\/schema\/person\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8"},"description":"election. narrative importance, election timing, political leaders","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/election-2024-rishi-sunak-has-already-lost-control-of-the-narrative.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/election-2024-rishi-sunak-has-already-lost-control-of-the-narrative.jpg","width":1024,"height":576,"caption":"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13166#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Election 2024: Rishi Sunak has already lost control of the, \u00a0narrative"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/","name":"ch.jfdi.cc","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/#\/schema\/person\/606e0fbe40ab1cad97176ec3e4e248f8","name":"Cyprus Mail","sameAs":["https:\/\/cyprus-mail.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}