As the general election campaign enters its final days, Conservative candidates are displaying a range of emotions from despair to disbelief, with many clinging to the hope that the dire polling predictions of a Labour landslide may be wrong. Some candidates report a disconnect between the national polls and what they are hearing on the doorstep, while others express anger over Rishi Sunak's decision to call an early election and the mishandling of the D-Day commemorations.
The party's campaign strategy has shifted to warning voters about the dangers of a Labour 'supermajority', hoping to trigger 'buyer's remorse' among undecided voters. Senior Tories are emphasising that a large Labour majority could give Keir Starmer unchecked power for a decade or more. Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell argued that Labour's tactics are 'duplicitous' and warned that a supermajority would be bad for the country.
However, some within the party view this as a desperate tactic. The campaign has retrenched, pouring resources into traditionally safe seats where majorities exceed 15,000. There is also frustration over the early election call, which caught many by surprise, with over 150 candidates yet to be selected at the time of the announcement. Gallows humour has set in, with one candidate noting: 'It's always darkest before it's completely pitch black.'
