Political column - June 1

One lot will say almost anything to get elected, the other lot will say almost nothing to get elected.

It's a strange general election when the Opposition thinks its best policy is to have virtually no radical or eye-catching policies, while urging people to vote for change.

For their part, the Tories are in a bind. They can hardly stand on their record, after all. So they are bringing rabbits out of the hat with promises on pensions, on tax, on creative activities for teenagers, and so on.

Rishi Sunak has been a revelation after his damp squib start and relaxing Bank Holiday day off. So he can campaign, after all. He's a reinvigorated Prime Minister, who's been up and down the country in a burst of enthusiasm. For this, he will get marks for effort as he fails the exam.

Sir Keir Starmer's message to his hopefuls has been to go to the country, be cautious, watch what you say, and don't act as if victory is a given, as voters don't like that.

One of his star turns this week has been Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor, and newly anointed darling of British business. I'm not going to promise anything, she more or less said, except stability.

Oh, how responsible she is. And somebody has told her to smile from time to time, so she doesn't come over as overly dour and dry.

Nevertheless, she is the Gordon Brown of our age. During Gordon's tenure his best friend was Prudence, a title which can now be bestowed on Rachel, although it should be added that Prudence found herself unceremoniously thrown out of the window when the international financial crisis struck.

That's the trouble about promising stability. Stability is not in the gift of politicians. Events, dear boy, events, as Harold Macmillan famously said when asked what was the greatest challenge for a statesman.

Meanwhile the Diane Abbott imbroglio has been seized on by the Tories as reflecting on Sir Keir. This is entirely unfair, as he has a perfect alibi. He is only the Labour leader, so what has it got to do with him?

He was neither present, nor involved. In any event, it is a little local difficulty which is only of real importance to his greatest enemies, who are not the Conservatives, but the Left of the Labour Party.

If teenagers are lacking engagement so far, there have been proposals on both sides which are so radical that they might momentarily lose a grip on their mobile phones.

While campaigning in Stafford, Sir Keir said he wants to give 16-year-olds the vote. It's not a Labour policy, at least at the moment, but thinking-out-loud musing. Interesting.

As a former Director of Public Prosecutions he will know that 16-year-olds are legally minors, and therefore treated differently by the legal process. But if they are considered responsible enough to vote, should courts in future sentence 16-year-olds as adults?

Meanwhile the negativity which has greeted Rishi Sunak's plan to reintroduce National Service for 18-year-olds is based on the misapprehension that it will involve young people marching up and down drill squares with shouty drill sergeants calling them an 'orrible lot.

It won't be like that at all. Instead, they will relax in the Naafi playing computer games and having cheap drinks. Or they will enjoy days out in the countryside as they have fantastic fun learning how to fly drones.

Carrying rifles and shooting the enemy is passe in the 21st century. Today the most effective combat operators are miles away from the front lines operating new technology.

Leave the business of being highly trained and supremely fit to crack units like the SAS with their old-fashioned traditions. What the British Army needs in 2024 is thousands upon thousands of drone operators.

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