Brexit Bulletin: ‘Abysmal’

Days to General Election: 2

(Bloomberg) --

What’s Happening? The final stretch of the U.K. election campaign is being dominated by disinformation and leaks.

In one clear-eyed sentence Jonathan Ashworth may just have summed up how voters are thinking in the last days of the U.K. election campaign: “They don’t like Johnson, but they can’t stand Corbyn and they think Labour’s blocked Brexit.”

No surprises there, you might say. But Ashworth is a senior member of the opposition Labour Party and its spokesman on health. He was referring to the situation on the ground in traditionally Labour-supporting areas where Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes to make electoral gains on Thursday. Party loyalists aren’t supposed to use words like “abysmal.”

In a withering analysis of his own side’s prospects, recorded and passed to the pro-Tory website Guido Fawkes, Ashworth was blunt: “It’s dire for the Labour party up there, in these traditional areas.”

Ashworthtried to dismiss the recordings as “banter” with a Conservative friend. But after Boris Johnson’s tough Monday, which saw him upbraided over an image of a four-year-old boy being treated on the floor of a crowded hospital, the Ashworth recordings put the focus back on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. 

The tapes are just the latest leak to define the campaign. For all the pages of policy plans published in party manifestos, the final days of the race are being characterized by fake punches, internet hoaxes, leaked documents and deceptive social media advertisements. This afternoon, YouGov’s polling director warned of a fake poll being shared online. The internet lit up overnight with accusations that the photograph of Jack Williment-Barr on the floor of Leeds General Infirmary was faked in order to smear Johnson and his Conservatives.  

That theory was seen and spread by thousands of social media users before it was effectively debunked. With little more than 24 hours before campaigning stops and voting begins, few with a stake in the fight are ready to back down quite yet.

Today’s Must-Reads

• Hedge funds are turning to political experts rather than corporate executives ahead of the election — a marked change from traditional investment strategies, Bloomberg’s Ksenia Galouchko and Charlotte Ryan report.
• Win or lose on Thursday, the hard left has successfully secured its place in the Labour party, Matthew d’Ancona writes for Tortoise.
• The choice between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn is simply turning into an unpopularity contest, Rachel Sylvester writes in the Times.

Brexit in Brief

What We’re Watching | Pollster YouGov will publish its updated “MRP model” at 10 p.m. this evening. The survey of 100,000 voters is expected to give an indication of how the election campaign has developed on a seat-by-seat basis. The last MRP poll, published two weeks ago, projected a Conservative majority of 68. 

Nothing to See | The U.K. economy unexpectedly stagnated in October, marking three straight months without growth for the first time since 2009.

Votes for Equality | Mandu Reid, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, spoke to Bloomberg QuickTake about why and how her party is fighting for a fairer deal for women in the general election.

Shy Lib Dems? | The Liberal Democrats might not be having a storming campaign, but is their impact being underestimated? The party’s Brexit spokesman Tom Brake joined Caroline Hepker and Sebastian Salek on Bloomberg Westminster earlier today, and insisted that national polls aren’t picking up on grassroots support for the party. 

Stunts Matter | It’s been a busy 24 hours in quirky campaign videos, too. After Corbyn read “mean tweets” about himself while sat next to a roaring fire (1.8 million views on Twitter), Boris Johnson re-enacted a famous scene from the Richard Curtis movie “Love, Actually” (2.1 million views). This afternoon, Johnson has driven a “Get Brexit Done” bulldozer through a wall branded “Gridlock.” Don't say this election is subtle.

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To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net

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