As the Tories continue to falter, all eyes are firmly on Labour
One rule for us, one rule for them.
It’s a narrative which has plagued the Conservative party for decades, and one that has flared up in focus groups across the country ever since the first whispers of party gate began to emerge.
Now, we can add a raft of allegations about campaign insiders sticking bets on the election date.
The whole thing is tawdry, grubby. One has some sympathy with the bookies: alleged misbehaviour by Conservative party staff and MPs has become known as a “gambling scandal,” despite the fact it was the gambling companies’ very monitoring software that caught the anxiety-inducing bets in the first place.
No, this is a Tory scandal, another one, and it will probably knife whatever chance the party had of recovering the country’s trust in time for the 4 July ballot.
It is hardly surprising that eyes have turned to Labour, and what they might be set to do in government. Just because the Conservatives have presented few ideas, that does not mean Labour should be allowed to get away with bad ones.
There are worrying hints that we may soon see changes to capital gains tax that would send a clear ‘closed for business’ sign to the rest of the world and we also run the risk of rushed nationalisations of everything from rail to Thames Water when it meets what seems an inevitable fate.
It will be beholden on the business community, should Labour win, to hold the party to account when it talks of a ‘partnership’ and to ensure that warm words are not just hot air.
Make no mistake: should Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves find making the sums add up a little more difficult than they might expect, squeezing the business community for all its worth would be a most short-term way of thinking.