However unsavoury it might be, don’t underestimate just how much the Starmer / Savile prosecution comes up in focus groups with swing voters. https://t.co/eZqmeAFx1A

— James Johnson (@jamesjohnson252) July 8, 2023

Yes v possibly. Too hard to know without some proper quant on it

— James Johnson (@jamesjohnson252) July 8, 2023

As we can see with the tweet above Sunak is going to smear Starmer on a issue that Sunak knows is wrong. We know Sunak knows it is wrong because Boris Johnson tried this exact smear in early 2022 and Sunak publicly rebuked his boss for the strategy.

I think Starmer was expecting this kind of strategy from the Tories which is why he got his retaliation in first to nullify these attacks.

But it is rather depressing that as a government with all the levers of power would rather engage in these smears rather than actually take action to protect children.

I expect the next election will be full of nasty smears unlike ever before but like Matthew Holehouse I think it will only have an impact on voters who would never vote for Starmer. Sunak seems to be focussing on these voters rather than swing voters who could be persuaded to back the Tories for more reputable reasons.

These sort of attacks coupled with Robert Jenrick’s antics make the Tory party look like the nasty party again, something which is rather damaging for the Tories

TSE