Britain decides
Future of UK in Europe and Scotland in the Union hangs in the balance as voters go to the polls
VOTERS will today go to the polls for the second time in three years because of Brexit in what is set to be the most significant election of modern times.
After a five-week campaign which could decide the UK’S relationship with
Europe and Scotland’s place in the Union, party leaders spent their final day hammering home key messages.
With polls pointing to a Tory majority, but a hung parliament still a possibility, there were also appeals from all sides for tactical voting.
After starting the day by appearing to hide in a giant fridge to avoid a live TV camera, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “This could not be more critical, it could not be tighter – the risk is very real that we could tomorrow be going into another hung parliament.”
Jeremy Corbyn, who began the day in Glasgow, said the election was about
Mr Johnson’s trustworthiness. He said: “We are winning this election. The mood is fantastic.”
Nicola Sturgeon, whose hopes of an independence referendum next year rest on a hung parliament, urged voters to lock Mr Johnson out of power.
“This election is Scotland’s chance to stop five years of a Boris Johnson government and all the damage that will do. It’s now or never,” she said.
Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said it was still “absolutely possible” to deny the Tories an overall majority.
TO chants of “Boris! Boris!” the Tory champion entered the Copper Box Arena in London’s Olympic Park, urging the faithful to use every minute before the polls close “to make the final sprint for a golden future for the UK”.
After two Johnson videos and not one, and not two but three warm-up acts, the Prime Minister bounded on to the stage to a wave of cheers, whistles and applause.
“Are you pumped, energised, motivated?” bellowed Bozza, saying: “I seriously hope so because we have a national duty between now and 10pm tomorrow to find every vote we can to save our country from disaster.”
He said a “yawning chasm” lay before the country between two futures: a Labour one of division, despair and deadlock and a Tory one of getting Brexit done to unleash Britain’s potential and take the country forward.
Every time the PM mentioned Jeremy Corbyn there were boos; every time he mentioned Nicola Sturgeon there were louder ones.
Warning of a Corbyn-sturgeon coalition of chaos, he quipped: “We know who would wear the trousers in that relationship.”
Bozza might have been in the Copper Box Arena but his victory in today’s poll is far from copper-bottomed.
A mile away in Hoxton Docks, and not far from his constituency home, Jeremy Corbyn was rallying the troops for one last time.
Warmed in the socialist echochamber, the Labour leader attacked his three key enemies: Boris Johnson; Donald Trump and the pro-tory mediaocracy.
After once again decrying the prospect of a UK-US sweetheart trade deal that would involve selling off the precious NHS, Mr Corbyn launched his fire at the denizens of what used to be Fleet Street.
“The media attacks on us over four and a half years have been relentless,” bemoaned the chief comrade. “But I am not deterred by them. It makes me more determined.”
The self-styled tribune of the many urged his supporters to deliver a clear message to the few.
“Tomorrow, you can shock the Establishment by voting for hope. Hope for yourself. Hope for your family. Hope for your community. Hope for our NHS. Hope for our country.”
Earlier Jo Swinson chose a rather more modest venue for her parting rally: the basement of an LGBTQ bar in Wimbledon, lit, appropriately enough, by tangerine lights.
The faithful huddled together in the small space holding their campaign orange lozenges as their heroine arrived half an hour late. Beaming, she was greeted by colleagues and drag queen Rose Zinfandel, suitably attired in an orange dress and a long orange wig.
To shouts of “Jo, Jo, Jo,” the hooting and hollering crowd greeted their leaderene, who praised the Libdem troops for their tireless work in the “tough campaign”.
Insisting “we can still stop Brexit,” the Scot declared: “What we can do is stop Boris Johnson from getting his majority. We can do this!” Long gone, it seemed, was any idea of Ms S becoming Prime
Minister with 320-plus seats.
She assured the Libdem lozengers that, despite the sinking opinion polls, their party could make some “stunning and amazing gains”. The energetic leader had earlier been in Esher, where the orange peril was looking to unseat no less a figure than Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, whose majority is north of 23,000. Good luck with that one.
“On Thursday night we will all be glued to our TV screens and radios; we may be celebrating with pizza or maybe with a nice cup of tea,” declared the party chief. “And the words you want on the bottom of the screen are: ‘Libdem gains.’”
But there was an interloper. At the end, a bearded chap piped up to warn: “If you vote Libdem, you’ll let the Tories in. You’re a long way behind.” The lozengers booed and barracked the outsider. But Jo had vanished. Along, it seemed, with Rose Zinfandel.
The final day of campaigning is always an adrenalin-filled dash for the party leaders.
Bozza won the prize for the earliest start, taking part in a West Yorkshire milk round, no doubt hoping for the headline “Boris can deliver”.
The stunt involved the nation’s premier delivering a crate of milk and other items to a house in Guiseley. But, oh dear, two bottles were already sitting outside the door. They were quickly removed as Mr J arrived in his Get Brexit Done coat.
Debbie Monaghan, a 40-year-old civil servant, answered the PM’S knock and looked suitably surprised. “Look who’s here,” she called to husband Mark. He later revealed that he was backing Boris – fancy that.
Later, the PM did deliver. Unfortunately for Tory HQ, it was not another Brexit promise but another campaign gaffe.
In Leeds he was fronted up by Good Morning Britain reporter Jonathan Swain, asking for an interview. Robert Oxley, the PM’S press chief, turned round and snapped: “Oh for f***’s sake.”
Unfortunately the incident was live on ITV’S early morning programme whose hosts Piers Morgan and Susannah Reid responded with gasps.
Undeterred, Mr Swain persisted in asking Bozza for an interview, who at one point replied: “I’ll be with you in a second,” but then sidled off into a fridge.
Labour, of course, could not let the cold-shouldering go amiss and branded his behaviour “cowardly, undignified and pathetic”.
In Derby the Tory chief was, after his bulldozing performance in Staffordshire, looking for another suitable photo opportunity and found one at a catering company.
He removed a pie that, Blue Peterstyle, had been pre-cooked for 20 minutes and remarked: “This is the oven-ready pie. This is a perfect metaphor for what we’re going to do in the run-up to Christmas if we can get a working majority. We have a deal, it’s ready to go.”
Earlier Jezza began his final hurrah in Glasgow as dawn broke with a message taken out of the Barack Obama campaign book: vote for hope.
He insisted his party had “never indulged in the politics of personal abuse and never will”.
He went on to jab a metaphorical finger in the eye of the PM, questioning his honesty and saying: “Can you honestly trust a Prime Minister who cannot tell the truth about the talks with the Americans over the privatisation of our National Health Service… about the Brexit negotiations he so failed to deliver on or one who keeps on making promises that turn out to be a mirage the following day?”
Later at a rally in Middlesbrough, Jezza could not resist poking fun at his Tory counterpart’s fridge episode, quipping: “I’ve not come here to deliver milk or to hide in a fridge. I’ve come here with a message of hope.”
Steve Coogan, the actor and comedian, was also on the stump, urging people to vote tactically against Brexit.
He admitted the approach to life of his famous creation, Alan Partridge, would have been heavily influenced by the likes of Bozza. Quelle surprise. “As Max Hastings said,” explained Mr Coogan, “Boris Johnson thinks he is Winston Churchill. But he is more like Alan Partridge.” A-ha.
You can shock the Establishment by voting for hope. Hope for yourself. Hope for your community. Hope for our NHS. Hope for our country
Jeremy Corbyn
We have a national duty ... to find every vote we can to save our country from disaster
Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson thinks he is Winston Churchill. But he is more like Alan Partridge