How will we cope?

A question about this election which doesn’t seem to have occurred to the journalists I’ve heard so far is why has Sunak chosen to go for a six week campaign period? He could have had his election on the 4th July with a three week campaign and so given some of his current legislation time to get on the statute book. At the No. 10 Downing Street level I don’t think things happen by accident (Truss was a disaster, but she wasn’t an accident).  So what might be my explanation for this long election campaign period? I think a key to it is a Tory instinct that the electorate will develop campaign fatigue, with the wall to wall coverage driving them up the wall (consonant metaphors at last!) leaving voters more befuddled by the claims, counter claims and the inevitable ‘they’re all the same’ syndrome. I suspect the Tories would prefer a low turnout—that’s often thought to play to their advantage. So if a general election has to come earlier than expected, why must the campaign period be extended for twice as long as is legally necessary? I think after week three on this occasion people are going to get very bored, not least since neither side has very much to say which is genuinely eye-catching. Instead, I predict we’re going to hear a lot of ‘we have a plan.’ This talk of having a plan will be like a school playground argument that ‘my dad’s bigger than your dad.’
 
I used to enjoy elections—that’s quite important if you are a candidate or an agent. Somehow you have to rise above the feeling that no matter how much you do, it will never be enough. As this campaign gets underway we’ll be told that it is the most historic in a generation, that the future of the nation hangs in the balance, etc., etc. What we need to be convinced of is why that may be true, aside from the well rehearsed, scripted verbiage that will garnish breakfast, lunch and supper over the next six weeks. Six weeks is a long time in politics. Perhaps there will be some gobsmacking thing that really kicks it all off.