Rishi dries off and hits the road as General Election 2024 gets underway

Party leaders have started trying to meet and charm as many voters as possible on the first day of campaigning for the 2024 General Election.

There are exactly six weeks to go until the country goes to the polls for the first time in a little under five years.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made the surprise announcement yesterday evening, bringing a day of anticipation and speculation to a rather sodden climax.

Today, he’s enjoying a whistlestop tour of the UK with stops in Derbyshire, south Wales and Scotland.

Labour leader Keir Starmer, meanwhile, headed straight for the Tory heartland of south-east England where his party is hoping to make inroads, and Ed Davey of the Lib Dems popped up in Cheltenham.

Reform UK’s Richard Tice headed up a press conference in London where he claimed the PM is ‘absolutely terrified’ of the impact his party will have in the election.

But the Conservatives were likely buoyed by news that Nigel Farage, Reform’s honorary president, has opted not to stand and instead plans to focus his efforts on the US election.

He’s not the only high-profile figure who isn’t standing in July. So far today, two more Tory MPs have announced they won’t seek re-election: Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing and Employment Minister Jo Churchill.