Britain | Bagehot

Bootlicking: a guide to pre-election British politics

Labour is not yet in power. But the honeymoon has already begun 

The Press on their knees, licking a Starmer boot with a Labour rosette sock.
Photograph: Nate Kitch

Daytime television is a surprisingly dangerous place for a politician. During the 2019 general-election campaign, Boris Johnson was chased into an industrial fridge by an intrepid reporter from “Good Morning Britain”, a chatty breakfast show. In 2012, during a live interview on “This Morning”, a usually lightweight late-morning show, a presenter handed David Cameron, then the prime minister, a list of politicians suspected of paedophilia.

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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The art of bootlicking”

The next housing disaster

From the April 13th 2024 edition

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