The Spectator

Portrait of the Week: Sunak’s downpour, national service and the ‘triple lock plus’

issue 01 June 2024

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Parliament was dissolved, leaving no MPs until the general election on 4 July. With hours to go, Diane Abbott had the Labour whip restored to her, and Lucy Allan MP was suspended from the Conservative party for endorsing the Reform UK candidate for Telford. Among bills that were lost was one prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 31 December 2008. Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, had provided an abiding memory by announcing the election standing in heavy rain in Downing Street and making a speech as though it weren’t raining. The Conservatives suddenly said that everyone should do a form of national service at the age of 18. The Tories proposed adding to the triple lock for state pensions a promise that they would never incur income tax.

Sir Keir Starmer made a speech telling the world that his sisters and his uncle lived for many many years in Worthing but he was raised in Oxted, where it was easy to get pocket money ‘clearing stones for the local farmers’.

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