Tory election scandals, own goals and gaffes on 6 November 2019 (Campaign Day 1)
1. Boris Johnson kicked off his election campaign with a Telegraph piece comparing Corbyn and Labour to Stalin's persecution of the kulaks (several million murdered).
1. Boris Johnson kicked off his election campaign with a Telegraph piece comparing Corbyn and Labour to Stalin's persecution of the kulaks (several million murdered).
2. Alun Cairns stands down as Welsh Secretary, 24H after the BBC disclosed he knew about his former aide having sabotaged a rape trial but later denied any such knowledge.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-…
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-…
3. The ASA banned a series of DWP ads for being misleading about the ease and speed of moving onto Universal Credit.
theguardian.com/society/2019/n…
theguardian.com/society/2019/n…
4. James Cleverly claimed repeatedly that the Tory Party only doctored a video interview of Keir Starmer to shorten it, rather than to render it misleading (which is what the edit actually did).
5. Kay Burley empty-chaired James Cleverly for failing to turn up for an interview even though he was "only 15 feet away". She read out to the chair a long list of questions she wanted to ask him about the scandals engulfing the Conservative Party.
6. James Cleverly claimed he didn't turn up because he was already being interviewed by Talk Radio. But that interview didn't start until well after the Sky one, and in it he referred to having been empty-chaired i.e. they couldn't have been simultaneous.
7. Nadhim Zahawi refused to say that Jeremy Corbyn wouldn't have rich people shot. (In reference to the Boris Johnson Telegraph column.) "You'll have to ask him," NZ said. Andrew Neil looked genuinely astounded. Another car crash interview.
On a normal day, the above would look pretty bad. But compared to their unadulterated nightmare the previous day, it was a walk in the park for the Tories.
As a reminder, here's the full sorry list of the Tories' disastrous gaffes on Day 0 of their election campaign.
