The election that could wipe out U.K. conservatives
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 July 2024
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Summary
From Theresa May, who struggled to connect with the public, to Boris Johnson, whose tenure was marred by scandals, to Liz Truss, who served as prime minister for just 45 days, the Conservative Party has had significant challenges with U.K. voters in recent years.
With economic turmoil following Brexit, a pressing need for better health care, and concerns about job security, many British voters are seeking a fresh start.
Tomorrow, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Conservative Party will face voters in the first general election since 2019. Projections for Thursday’s general election show the opposition Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, on the precipice of a parliamentary supermajority win.
Today on “Post Reports,” host Martine Powers speaks with The Washington Post’s London bureau chief Bill Booth about the decline of the Conservative Party and the contenders vying to be the next British prime minister.
Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks also to Trinity Webster-Bass and Ali Bianco.
To learn more about the election, check out our colleague Ishaan Tharoor’s column.
Subscribe to The Washington Post here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future, to decide whether we want to build on the progress we have made or risk going back to square one with no plan and no certainty. |
| 0:16.2 | When British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced in May that he was calling for new elections |
| 0:20.5 | in Britain, it didn't exactly go as planned. |
| 0:24.0 | Earlier today, I spoke with His Majesty the King to request the dissolution of Parliament. |
| 0:29.0 | The King has granted this request and we will have a general election on the 4th of July. |
| 0:35.1 | In British politics, this is a very usual kind of speech, held in the usual place. |
| 0:40.5 | Sunak was standing at a podium outside of 10 Downing Street, except in this case it had started to rain. |
| 0:47.0 | But Sunak carried on with a speech anyway. No umbrella. It ended up with Rishi Sunak standing, not in a little bit of like kind of heroic rain, but like exploring rain. |
| 1:02.0 | Rain soaking his bespoke suit like it had just come out of like the |
| 1:06.9 | he just jumped out of swimming pool. That is William Booth. He is the London Bureau Chief |
| 1:11.5 | for the post. And it was metaphor written on its forehead. |
| 1:15.0 | The British newspaper headline writers |
| 1:18.0 | where their job was done before he'd gotten halfway through his speech, right? |
| 1:24.2 | They were all in on making fun of him that he didn't have the sense to get out of the rain, |
| 1:27.9 | that this was sort of the state of his party, that they just couldn't get your break. |
| 1:33.0 | Now that metaphor is feeling more relevant than ever. |
| 1:37.0 | Sunak and the Conservative Tory Party are widely projected to lose in tomorrow's election. |
| 1:43.4 | This is a big election for Britain, certainly. |
| 1:46.5 | We've had 14 years of a Conservative party, |
| 1:50.3 | Tory party, a rule, five prime ministers who are all conservatives and I think they're |
| 1:55.3 | about to get their headhanded to them in the election this week. It's |
| 1:59.4 | interesting for everybody because Britain is an important country. |
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