Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

11 key moments from the 2017 general election campaign

Post Thumbnail

The general election campaign got off to a dramatic start with Theresa May’s shock announcement of a snap poll outside Downing Street after a walking holiday in Snowdonia.

Despite repeatedly insisting she would not call an early vote, that’s exactly what she did, prompting Brenda from Bristol to declare: “Not another one!”

We look back at some of the key moments:

1) Early on, the prime minister showed just how aggressive she could be. After leaked reports of a frosty dinner with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, she went on the offensive accusing European politicians and officials of issuing “deliberately timed” threats to influence the general election result.

2) Remember that morning we all woke up to read about the leaked Labour manifesto? Jeremy Corbyn faced accusations of wanting to drag the UK back to the 1970s and his day got worse when the car he was travelling in drove over a cameraman’s foot.

P-03cb02f7-dd1e-428d-bbfd-d5f74829df99.jpg

That chain of events certainly added fuel to Mrs May’s claims of chaos. But the manifesto was all anyone was talking about and contained some real crowd-pleasers, such as scrapping university tuition fees in England.

3) The Conservative manifesto launch in contrast did not go well for Mrs May. The proposed big changes to social care funding in England proved immediately controversial and seemed unduly risky given her previously play-it-safe “strong and stable” message and pledge to “make a success” of Brexit. Within days, she was backtracking, although the prime minister insisted “nothing had changed”. In the wake of the episode, polls suggested a surge in support for Labour.

4) Mrs May also had to grapple with the 2015 election expenses row that hung over the first part of the campaign. Initially, the Crown Prosecution Service said no criminal charges would be brought even though spending returns by some candidates and officials may have been inaccurate because there was insufficient evidence to prove they were knowingly dishonest.

But one file relating to Thanet South’s Craig Mackinley remained under consideration and he has subsequently been charged with allegedly overspending. He has said he did nothing wrong and questioned the timing of the decision.

5) The SNP has seemed to actively avoid talking about a second independence referendum during the campaign, with rivals – particularly the Conservatives – choosing to focus closely on the subject.

General Election 2017

But the nationalists’ manifesto made clear that victory in Scotland would provide a “triple lock” mandate for another poll.

6) Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale suffered a couple of blows late in the game. Firstly, Welsh leader Carwyn Jones indicated Labour would scrap the Barnett formula, forcing Ms Dugdale to emphasise the party’s commitment to it. Far more damaging, however, was Nicola Sturgeon’s claim during this week’s Scottish leaders’ TV debate that her unionist rival told her privately in the aftermath of the Brexit vote that Labour should “stop opposing a referendum”. Ms Dugdale subsequently branded the first minister a liar, but the SNP leader has stood by her account.

STV Hold Televised Leader's Debate Ahead Of The Holyrood Elections

7) Politicians often come unstuck in election campaigns when dealing with numbers and this one was no different. Labour’s Diane Abbott endured a particularly awkward interview about how to pay for policing. Mr Corbyn also suffered an excruciating moment when asked about funding for his free childcare policy, reaching in vain for his i-Pad to try and find the figure. On the other hand, the Conservative manifesto featured hardly any costings at all.

8) As well as floundering over numbers, there have been more than a few cringeworthy comments. Mrs May – who seemed to struggle in off-the-cuff moments throughout the campaign – infamously said in one interview that there are “boy jobs and girl jobs” around the house.

She later revealed the naughtiest thing she has ever done was run through fields of wheat. Mr Corbyn also had us wincing when he referred to himself as “Monsieur Zen”.

9) Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie has once again thrilled us all with his unusual photo calls.

Scottish Local Elections 2017

Back in April, after being dogged with questions about his beliefs, he said he does not believe gay sex is a sin, but the issue came up again last week during a radio phone-in.

10) Interaction with the public has seemed limited throughout the campaign, but a few people have managed to get their points across directly. Ms Sturgeon was put on the spot by a nurse who said she was forced to use food banks due to low pay, while Mrs May found herself similarly taken to task over cuts to disability benefits during an Oxfordshire visit.

11) Finally, it is clearly impossible to talk about the last seven weeks without reference to the appalling atrocities committed in Manchester and on London Bridge.

Tributes to those killed and injured laid in St Ann's Square, Manchester
Tributes to those killed and injured laid in St Ann’s Square, Manchester

The defiant response of the British people in the face of such evil has been inspiring and hopefully, as party leaders have urged, people will get out and vote today undeterred.