Why Labour Wants to Make It Personal About Rishi Sunak

Over the Easter weekend, Labour's latest political campaign - an attack ad targeting Rishi Sunak's over paedophiles not being imprisoned - dominated political conversations. Despite public criticism from former Labour big beasts, and reports of internal divisions, Labour is continuing to brief the press on their political "triumph". Members of the Shadow Cabinet are also standing by the adverts, which have now clocked up over six million views on Twitter. A look at the polling might provide some reason as to why they're happy to put up with the criticisms.

Despite Labour Party's strong position in the polls, Keir Starmer is less personally popular. This can be contrasted to the position of Rishi Sunak, who is far more liked than his party. Tying Rishi Sunak to the Conservatives' record - and attaching negative associations to the Prime Minister - could level the playing field.

Labour might also attribute the current situation to previous Conservative attacks. When Lord Ashcroft Polling asked voters what they associated with Keir Starmer, the top responses were "boring" and "unsure" - both of which charges have been deployed by the Conservatives. The inclusion of "hindsight" as a view of Starmer would only add to a perception of the efficacy of personal attacks - with "Captain hindsight" being a favourite Conservative nickname for Starmer.

Taking a look into prevalent views on Sunak could give some guidance for where Labour might take their attacks next. Rishi Sunak is often remembered for his wealth, with voters viewing him as out of touch. Redfield & Wilton recently asked what voters made of the Conservatives under Sunak, with "the rich" and "corruption/greed" receiving the most responses. Labour might want to make sure this view remains intact as an opinion of Rishi Sunak, as well as for his party. Perhaps not unrelated to their next attack, focusing on his wife's non-dom status...

Another potential line could come from responses to Lord Ashcroft that Rishi was a "backstabber" and "smooth". Although charges of betraying Boris may have faded, there could still be mileage in portraying the Prime Minister as a disingenuous operator.

`Going low' might also allow Labour to set the issues agenda. This was highlighted by a senior adviser quoted in The Times today, who said:

"We’ve spent a week not talking about boats, not talking about trans or the other issues the Conservatives want to talk about — we’ve been talking about what we want to talk about."

Immigration is a difficult topic for Labour, who face the challenge of appealing to a voter base more restrictionist than their core support. Although it is questionable whether everyday voters will be giving too much heed to the daily news cycle, getting into more comfortable territory itself is unlikely to hurt the party in itself.

However, negative campaigning is not without its pitfalls. Whilst it may hope to harm Rishi Sunak, it won't help Starmer. Although Labour is polling high, Starmer is inspiring far less enthusiasm than Tony Blair (and even David Cameron) managed as leader of the opposition. Of course, gunning for Rishi Sunak won't help Labour achieve this. Being perceived as a mudslinger would also not help Starmer, who JL Partners have previously found is perceived to be "untrustworthy".

There is further risk that the Conservative Party is also already a tarnished brand - although they may be able to take Rishi down a peg by associating himself with his party - it's hard to say how much more damage there is to do, and the impact this would have on voting intention. One final consideration is that Labour's campaign department might want to take into account: voters care more about the economy than anything else.