Steven Swinford

Politics comes at you fast. Three years ago, Boris Johnson was riding high in the polls thanks to a “vaccine bounce” as Britain emerged from the pandemic with a renewed sense of optimism. The Tories were triumphant in the May local elections, taking control of councils across Red Wall areas in the North East and...

Buckle up. The next seven months are likely to be one of the most expensive, most bitterly contested and longest election campaigns in British history. The state of the polls, with Labour consistently enjoying a 20-point lead, means that the prime minister Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives have little to lose. Vituperative personal attacks from...