Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
Sir Keir Starmer will criticise Rishi Sunak’s record and try to bring out his “sensitive” side in the first televised debate since the general election on Tuesday, Labour sources say.
The Labour leader on Monday afternoon rehearsed for Tuesday’s ITV debate, facing off against Labour adviser Tom Webb, a veteran Sunak impersonator who has previously stood in for the Conservative leader during preparations for Prime Minister’s Questions.
But aides claim Sir Keir has been preparing for some time through regular question and answer events with voters during the election campaign, and plans to play the role of prosecutor, evoking his old career, and grill Mr Sunak about the Conservatives’ record in government.
Labour expects the Conservatives to take a personal approach in their attacks on Sir Keir and are preparing for what they call “culture war” topics, such as Monday’s announcement on sex and gender.
But they hope that attacking the Prime Minister’s record will bring out a more “difficult” side of Mr Sunak – he is known to become short-tempered under pressure – and Sir Keir’s aides hope the confrontation will be broadcast on television.
Another Labour source, who was involved in debate preparations under Ed Miliband in the 2015 general election, said Sir Keir would assemble a team to comb through old footage of Sunak’s debates in the 2022 Conservative leadership race against Liz Truss.
“He was pretty reserved the first time around but came on aggressively the second time around – but everyone thought he was a total weirdo,” the source said.
“They will also be looking at his interactions with journalists. He is often very sensitive when putting together clips, so they will try to take advantage of that.”
Senior Conservative leaders refused to respond directly to the comments or reveal Mr Sunak’s debate strategy, joking only that “Starmer has been rather grumpy about Diane Abbott this week.”
With Labour trailing by around 20 points in the opinion polls, many believe Sunak has nothing to lose.
But some believe this is the moment the prime minister must make an impact.
James McGrory, a special adviser to former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who sparked “Cleggmania” during Britain’s first general election televised debate in 2010, said Mr Sunak would be wrong to see it as a “free hit”.
“He needs a moment in this campaign to make some ground and convince some people, because people aren’t convinced.”
“And if Labour doesn’t make a mistake, where is Mr Sunak’s big chance of delivering a major blow to Starmer?
“That’s really hard to do on a day-to-day campaign. These debates, that might be it, and this debate [on Tuesday night] It’s perhaps his biggest opportunity in the first month of the campaign.
“So there’s more pressure on him than on Starmer.”
McGrory warned that making change now would be harder because “no one had done it in 2010” and “one of the reasons for Nick’s success is that it was a new way of engaging with the public”.
“The novelty of the TV debates has worn off and I don’t think we’ll see anything like what happened in 2010 again,” he said.
For example, he said that Clegg had rehearsed looking down at the camera, but “everyone does it now so it wouldn’t be judged.”
“Now, if you’re trying to do something out of the ordinary, it’s probably pretty hard to do it without looking unnatural,” he added.
Giles Kenningham, a former press secretary to former Prime Minister David Cameron, said Mr Sunak needed to show action and showed he was capable of making decisive statements, such as asking Liz Truss whether she regretted voting Remain or joining the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Kenningham added: “The question is whether he can revive the kind of defining statement he made to Ms Truss in the leadership debate.”
James Schneider, Jeremy Corbyn’s former communications director who helped him prepare for the 2017 and 2019 debates, agreed that if you’re trailing, “you need to take every opportunity”.
“We were way behind in both games and wanted to come out with a better result than a score draw,” he said.
“On the other hand, a 0-0 draw would be fine for Theresa May, a draw would be fine for Boris Johnson and I don’t think a 0-0 draw would be fine for Keir either.”
Nonetheless, the two leaders will have to strike a difficult balance.
Labour insiders say Sir Keir faces a strategic dilemma that Sunak does not face: whether he wants to beat him and speak directly to the public, or simply avoid mistakes and settle for a “draw” that won’t change the polls. Sunak’s challenge is clear.
“Every strategy has weaknesses. If you don’t appear to be debating with the other person you will appear standoffish and if you speak directly to the British public you may appear not to be answering their questions. Just trying to avoid mistakes can be a mistake in itself because you’re not speaking or selling yourself well enough.”
Kenningham summed up the leadership challenge: “It’s like a chessboard; there’s a lot to think about. Use case studies, but if you use too many, you sound disingenuous. Emotion trumps reason, but you need logic. Don’t just give us a machine gun of facts, have some facts.”
While leaders debate in the studio, their teams are battling behind the scenes and online.
Mr Schneider said his team of supporters of Corbyn were running a “social media war room” in the run up to the debate to amplify the party leader’s message and counter comments made by his opponent.
“That’s a big part of it, because there’s an audience that watches it and there’s a perception of what it was like,” he added.
“More people hear about what happened than actually witnessed it happen.”
After that, it’s the turn of the political bigwigs to win the spin room battle.
Kenningham said the spin would begin while leaders were still speaking, arguing it would have to be spun in real time “through the big boys in the spin rooms” and “a verdict would be given well before it was over”.
“Labour once had a Mandelson who declared victory before the election was over,” he said.
“The irony is that you would want someone like Boris. [Johnson] There are people there who are great at capturing the moment and have a way with words.”
Mr Sunak is unlikely to be able to call on Mr Johnson but will be hoping for a win on Tuesday.