Memorable moments from general election campaigns gone by

Published

1 year ago

June 30, 2024

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Since Rishi Sunak called the election, Sky News’ Politics Hub has been looking back over memorable moments from campaigns gone by.

From David Cameron‘s football own goal, to an upstart Nick Clegg emerging as the unlikely victor from the UK’s first televised leaders debate, there were plenty to choose from.

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We’ve collated them all here for you to reminisce on – and a fair warning, given the fine weather we’ve had this week, one might leave you craving some ice cream…

Cameron’s own goal

Nothing says “man of the people” like a good football reference.

But – in an embarrassing slip during the 2015 campaign – David Cameron did little to convince us he was a true fan.

In a speech in which he sought to celebrate Britain’s diversity, he said this was “a country where people of all faiths, all colours, creeds, and backgrounds can live together” – and one where “you can support Man Utd, the Windies, and Team GB all at the same time”.

“Of course, I’d rather you support West Ham,” he quipped.

Alas, he’s an Aston Villa fan.

‘Hell yes, I’m tough enough’

Labour had been tipped to return to power at the 2015 election, but some bruising TV appearances for Ed Miliband didn’t help the party’s chances by the end.

One saw him grilled on Sky News by Jeremy Paxman about whether he was “tough enough” to be prime minister.

Leaning forward, Mr Miliband shared an anecdote about the UK government’s desire to intervene in Syria that year, in line with the US under then president Barack Obama.

He told Paxman how he was “called into a room” to speak to David Cameron and his deputy, Nick Clegg, fresh off the phone with Mr Obama, and ultimately decided to vote against taking action.

“Standing up to the leader of the free world shows a certain toughness,” said Mr Miliband.

Defending his record on foreign policy, he concluded his point with the immortal words: “Am I tough enuss… tough enough? Hell yes, I’m tough enough.”

Johnson hides in a fridge

Indiana Jones infamously hid in a fridge to survive a nuclear explosion, but who knew they were equally effective at protecting yourself from Piers Morgan.

During the election campaign of December 2019, Boris Johnson retreated into an industrial fridge at a milk firm in Yorkshire after being invited to speak on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

Told by a producer from the show that he was live on telly, Mr Johnson said he’d be “with you in a second” before enacting his daring escape.

“He’s gone into the fridge,” Morgan muttered in apparent disbelief, down the line from the ITV studio, as the then prime minister surrounded himself with the comfort of milk bottles.

Mr Johnson did eventually emerge and went on to win the election.

Flakes between friends

New Labour’s time in power often saw stories about a fractious relationship between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

But the pair put on the truest form of friendship on the 2005 campaign trail: enjoying delectable 99 Flakes together.

The photo op was a rebuttal to reports of a fallout, and nothing brings people together like good ice cream.

And they probably really did cost 99p back then.

‘We’re alright!’

It’s 1992 – and Labour’s Neil Kinnock is facing John Major.

A week out from the vote, and the opposition thinks it is on track to finally re-enter Downing Street after more than a decade out of power.

Thousands of the party faithful gathered at Sheffield Arena for a huge rally.

Amid rampant cheering and applause, Mr Kinnock bellowed what was reported to be the phrase “we’re alright!”

This was taken to be him signalling Labour would be winning – a sign of complacency and overconfidence.

His party went on to lose to Mr Major’s Tories, and Mr Kinnock resigned as party leader.

He has since argued he was actually saying “well alright” in an attempt to get the crowd to listen to him.

‘Nothing has changed’

Theresa May didn’t have a great time during the 2017 campaign.

One moment in particular went down in infamy, as she repeatedly told journalists “nothing has changed” despite a screeching U-turn on controversial plans to get the elderly to pay for their social care.

It was perhaps the nadir of a campaign that had begun with her tipped to inflict a crushing defeat upon Labour, but instead saw her lose her majority.

‘I agree with Nick’

The big winner from the UK’s first ever TV prime ministerial debate in 2010 wasn’t primary contenders David Cameron and Gordon Brown, but Nick Clegg.

As the Tory and Labour leaders looked to take chunks out of one another, they saved a more conciliatory side for the insurgent Lib Dem.

He could do no wrong that night, with Messrs Cameron and Brown both finding it completely irresistible not to simply “agree with Nick”.

Cleggmania took him all the way into Number 10 as part of the coalition.

The Ed Stone

Never mind his bacon sandwich eating technique, it was unveiling Labour’s 2015 election pledges inscribed on an enormous slab of limestone that really got voters wondering what Ed Miliband was up to that year.

The then party leader thought the stunt, known as the Ed Stone, would persuade the public he was serious about delivering his promises.

They included “a strong economic foundation” and “controls on immigration” (these sound familiar, no?).

Worse still, Labour even committed to putting it up in the Downing Street garden should they win power.

But it was immediately ridiculed upon its unveiling in Hastings, and the party ended up performing so disappointingly at the election that the now shadow energy secretary resigned as leader.

Bigotgate

Nigel Farage has claimed that the furore over Rishi Sunak leaving D-Day commemorations was the prime minister’s “Gillian Duffy moment”.

So fittingly, we looked back at the original.

“Bigotgate” was born after the then prime minister Gordon Brown described one voter – Gillian Duffy – airing concerns about immigration in Rochdale as a “bigoted woman”.

Mr Brown muttered it after an exchange on camera, not realising he was being picked up by a microphone, and the comment was subsequently broadcast.

The Prescott punch

How would you react if someone threw an egg in your face?

In the case of John Prescott, the answer was to punch them.

The former deputy prime minister threw a fist at the voter who targeted him ahead of a campaign rally in Wales.

The incident came on the day Labour launched its 2001 manifesto, and went down in such infamy it has its own Wikipedia page.

Mr Prescott, then Tony Blair’s deputy, insisted the hefty jab was an act of self-defence – but him choosing violence divided the party leadership, with Gordon Brown more sympathetic than the prime minister was.

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Published

7 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.

MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.

Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.

In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.

“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.

“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.

“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”

Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.

The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.

It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.

“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”

Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.

“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”