Comment
TREVOR KAVANAGH
There’s nothing Downing Street can now say or do to prevent Starmer harvesting biggest unearned majority of modern time
Farage will swoop like a vulture on the clapped out Tory carcass
NIGEL FARAGE is not clairvoyant. It IS all over.
A Labour victory has been nailed on since rain-soaked Rishi Sunak stunned the nation and his own party by calling a snap election on July 4.
3
3
This was true even before the hapless PM’s snub to last week’s D-Day anniversary.
For Sunak, who is deeply and unquestionably patriotic, this was a bitterly regrettable blunder.
So it was crass and unworthy of the Reform Party leader and wannabe MP for Clacton-on-Sea to suggest the PM does not “care about our culture”.
But there is nothing Downing Street can now say, do or promise after 14 years of blood-letting chaos to prevent Keir Starmer harvesting the biggest unearned majority of modern times.
READ MORE ELECTION NEWS
An untested and secretive Labour Party will be handed power on a plate, free to do as it pleases.
A weekend Deltapoll suggests a huge 416-seat Labour majority, with the Tories reduced to a 37-seat rump.
Even the PM’s Richmond stronghold in Yorkshire would fall under an anti-Conservative tsunami.
Once-loyal voters know full well a vote for Reform is a vote for Labour.
Most read in The Sun
Yet they are so furious with the Tory lurch to the Left that they are willing to risk letting in the real thing.
If the poll is right, there is nothing to lose anyway.
Viewers convinced Keir Starmer muttered 'p---k' under his breath during heated debate with Rishi Sunak
Labour is heading for a landslide and it is all the Tories’ fault.
So how many will jump ship and vote for Nigel?
From sample conversations over the last 48 hours, I would guess it could be millions.
Anger with this government is beyond appeasing.
Lifelong Conservatives have made up their mind to use July 4 to give the party a kicking, whatever the consequences to themselves.
Swoop like a vulture
This is the change of mood identified by Farage last week as being “out there” — beyond the understanding of the London-based metropolitan elite.
His bombshell decision to ditch plans to join Donald Trump’s re-election bandwagon was a seminal moment in British politics.
The one-time scourge of the EU now looks like a dead cert for the Clacton seat.
We may even be witnessing the moment the Tory Party died after 190 years as the democratic world’s most successful political party.
If so, Farage will swoop like a vulture on its clapped out carcass.
The prospect strikes terror in the heart of the EU-obsessed Remainers who have brought the party to its knees.
Conversely, it arouses joy among Brexit-voting Thatcherites who feel betrayed by Cameron, Theresa May and even Boris Johnson who won a landslide then blew it.
To these stalwarts, young and old, Farage is the authentic voice of a party which has treated core supporters with disdain bordering on contempt.
Watch our daily politics show
Watch The Sun's new DAILY Never Mind the Ballots Election Countdown show on our brand new YouTube channel .
Every weekday Sun Political Editor Harry Cole brings you the latest news and analysis from the election campaign trail.
Remainers will never forgive the ex-Ukip leader for spearheading Brexit.
They sneeringly see him as a raucous fairground barker and snake-oil salesman.
Farage has denounced them as “snobby”, and there is something in that.
Despite his public school education and stockbroker background, he is regarded as “below the salt”.
3
Yet he commands outspoken support from potential leadership candidates such as former Home Secretary Priti Patel and discreetly powerful fellow GB News star Jacob Rees-Mogg.
“I’m a huge admirer of Nigel’s and I think he should hold high office within the Conservative Party,” says Sir Jacob.
“Nigel is a Tory. He’s a charismatic politician.
“He says things that resonate with voters. I think the Tory party has too often been trying to appeal to the liberal and green vote that isn’t coming to us anyway.”
Enemies on all sides
One thing seems certain.
There will be no honeymoon for a revolutionary socialist Starmer regime once in office.
A huge majority is more a headache than an asset for an inexperienced PM with rivals and enemies on all sides.
It is worth remembering that Farage has a long-standing friendship with swashbuckling vote-magnet Boris Johnson.
Johnson may now be just a humble political columnist, but he hasn’t gone away.
The two men did a deal in 2019 when Farage’s Brexit Party stood aside to give BoJo a free run and an 80-seat majority.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Could they wind up doing business again?
You don’t need a crystal ball to answer that.
Doc disappearance
I NEVER met TV doctor Michael Mosley but, having followed his shows and newspaper columns, I felt I knew this genial man like a friend of a friend.
He just looked like a nice guy – a happily married man and father of four.
After the shocking news that he had gone missing on holiday, millions who followed the search and hoped-for rescue over recent days will have shared an almost personal sense of loss at his tragic death.
Topics