3 June 2024

By Tim Koch

Tim Koch avoids jokes about selling voters down the river.

Since announcing that the UK General Election will be held on 4 July, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been busy visiting all parts of the UK. Today, he went to Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames with the local Conservative candidates where he was photographed washing a double scull and having coffee on the Leander deck with some female members of the club. As he was being photographed doing this, he was “photobombed” by a motor launch carrying placards wielding Liberal Democrat Party members passing on the river behind him. 

This was all a little strange. On the Leander side, while it would be legitimate for Mr Sunak to visit the place as Prime Minister, using the club for party political purposes is questionable. How high did approval go?

On the Conservative Party side, it may be thought that Mr Sunak would be better campaigning in constituencies apparently less likely to return a Tory MP. An unbroken succession of Conservatives have won Henley since 1910 and Wokingham since 1885. However, a report in the Henley Standard last January quotes a poll suggesting that the Conservative will lose both in the forthcoming election. 

The current Conservative Member of Parliament for Henley is not standing in the upcoming election. Double Olympic Rowing Gold Medalist, James Cracknell, wanted to be the new candidate but was unsuccessful and will now stand in Colchester in Essex where the Tories currently hold a 9,000 majority ahead of Labour. Usually, this would be a safe seat for the Light Blue rower, Dark Blue politician but with the polls predicting a large swing away from the Tories, it is possible that James will still not have a proper job after 4 July.

The Henley Standard’s online report is here.