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LONDON — An election on July 4? Brits would rather be watching the football.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to launch a campaign smack-bang in the middle of Britain’s summer risks overshadowing some actually enjoyable things the country has lined up.
Here are some definitely-very-serious reasons to rue July 4 — for normies and Westminster geeks alike.
1) The sport
This summer sees the return of the European Championships — and the soccer tournament’s crunch fixtures fall right in the middle of the election campaign and on either side of polling day itself.
Westminster-residing football fans hoping that pre-tournament favorites England meet success will find themselves sneaking a glance at the side’s matches while on the campaign trail. If England reaches the quarter finals, meanwhile, those fixtures will take place in the days immediately following the election.
Scotland’s side are also playing at the tournament — and the timing of the campaign may present a problem for the Scottish National Party’s leader in Westminster, Stephen Flynn, who planned to be in Germany for the team’s June fixtures.
Everyone else can look forward to leaders going even further over the top than normal in their efforts to capitalize on the football frenzy — so expect more cringe photo-ops from the pub.
Britain’s Wimbledon tennis grand slam — much-loved by politicians and celebs — also gets underway in July, but now risks being overshadowed by loads of people plying Britain’s streets with clipboards.
2) Festival season
Why sit in a field, drinking beer and listening to Dua Lipa, when you could be attending over-rehearsed election campaign stops with middle-aged men?
The election date falls right in the middle of the U.K.’s summer music festival season — and polling date is a week after Glastonbury, Britain’s largest festival.
The senior politicians and journalists who typically head to the festival — which this year features Lipa, Coldplay and Shania Twain — may find themselves scrambled to campaign events instead.
That don’t impress me much.
3) The school break
The election date comes before English and Welsh state schools break for summer.
However, most schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland — plus some private schools across the U.K. — will already be off.
Kids with political parents can expect even less love and attention as mums and dads scroll X frantically for updates.
Maybe it’ll prompt them to become politicians in turn.
4) Summer vacations
Sunak’s persistent promise of an election in the second half of the year — which does include July, to be fair — encouraged some insouciant Westminster types to book holidays. That includes ministers.
Holiday cancellations for SW1’s finest will be hard to swallow just a few years after the Covid-19 pandemic curbed all foreign travel. Get the violins out.
5) That ‘quiet’ August nerds keep dreaming of
It’s not just July we have to worry about.
August used to be the quietest month of the political year, with parliament in recess and little on the government or opposition “grid” of announcements.
But this year, falling just after an election, August will be very different.
Any new government will try to set the tone — with the critical first 100-day period of a new administration riding roughshod over dreams of an easy life.
Oh, and then we’ll have bitter recriminations and leadership posturing from whichever party loses. So maybe September will be ruined as well. Thanks, politics!
