The fourth week of the general election campaign began with Grant Shapps being interviewed on Sky News and other broadcasters. No surprise there.
Like Jude Bellingham, from Gareth Southgate’s England Euros squad, Shapps is one of the first names on Rishi Sunak’s election team’s roster for broadcast interviews.
Reliable, unflappable? In his seventh election campaign, he is an experienced member of the Conservative team. “I accept the polls,” he told Kay Burley on Breakfast. “I am realistic.”
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A league table of interviews on Sky News during the campaign so far reveals that the Defense Secretary is one of three key ministers leading the Tories’ televised attack on Labour.
Unsurprisingly, Sunak ultra-loyalist Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, tops our league table with five interviews, with Home Secretary James Cleverly also on four.
Another ultra-Sunak loyalist, transport secretary Mark Harper, is just behind the top three, with a trio of interviews on Sky News, including Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips at the weekend.
The Sky News league table is likely to be similar to those of other broadcasters and is therefore a good indication of the overall interview totals of key politicians during the election campaign.
This is because cabinet and shadow cabinet members frequently participate in a “broadcast round” of interviews on most television channels and radio stations, usually at breakfast time and in the early evening.
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins and Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer gave two interviews each on Sky News, but both were also champions of the debate hall and TV events.
Cleverly also led the Tory line in the spin room at Sky News’ leaders’ event, The Battle for Number 10, in Grimsby last week, in which a snap poll suggested Sir Keir Starmer won 64% to 36% for Rishi Sunak.
Top of the Labor Party’s Sky News interview chart is tough Jonathan Ashworth with eight, followed by shadow health secretary Wes Streeting – who also appeared on Sunday morning with Trevor Phillips at the weekend – with seven.
This duo, clearly considered by the Labor high command as the party’s main media players, has also been the most prominent members of the shadow cabinet in the rotation rooms, frequently participating in lively debates with Conservative opponents.
As for the Conservative ministers who have not yet left the bench and were interviewed on Sky News during the campaign, the big surprise is Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister. He also did not appear in a TV debate.
Another close ally of Sunak, Dowden has also not faced Tory opponents in debate rooms or TV events so far. Like the omitted Jack Grealish at the Euros, he is the invisible man of the Conservative campaign.
Although Penny Mordaunt was also not interviewed by Sky News, she featured prominently in two high-profile TV debates, in which she was involved in fierce clashes with the Labor Party’s Angela Rayner over tax policy.
Another key Conservative who has not yet appeared in the Sky News interview summary is party chairman Richard Holden, silent since a broadcast clip in which he refused to answer questions about his controversial selection as a candidate in Basildon and Billericay.
Shapps is one of the first names on Rishi Sunak’s election team’s roster for broadcast interviews.
Despite the conservatives relentless attack on labor over taxesJeremy Hunt, the chancellor, was only interviewed once on Sky News during the campaign.
His number two, Treasury Chief Secretary Laura Trott, however, has also been interviewed once by Sky News, but has been a regular presence, as well as leading Tory attacks on the Labor Party’s tax plans.
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For the Labor Party, after Ashworth and Streeting, shadow chief secretary Darren Jones and shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds each appeared on Sky News five times during the election campaign.
Despite energy policy being a major campaign issue, Ed Miliband has not yet been interviewed by Sky News during the campaign. Party president Anneliese Dodds is also yet to hit the nail on the head for Sky News.
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Politics, like football, is often a game of two halves. With just 17 days left in the six-week campaign, it could be said that this election is now moving from the group stage to the knockout stage.
In a candid commentary on political leaders, SkySports analyst Gary Neville famously declared that Gareth Southgate is “everything a leader should be: respectful, humble, truth-telling, genuine”.
So, as the euros coincide with the election campaign during the second half of June, who will be the winner in July? Gareth Southgate, Rishi Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer?
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
