As local elections loom ever closer, Britain’s intrepid party leaders have taken to the road to pitch themselves far and wide. Set-piece visits are a chance to show the Westminster elite really are down with the people. So who, in the run-up to next week’s high-stakes poll, has gone all guns blazing in the battle for 7 May? Steerpike has the numbers and they show that since the start of March, Nigel Farage tops the tally of campaign visits at 59, covering stops from Swindon to South Tyneside and even the Shetland Islands. Not bad for 62…
Kemi Badenoch takes silver, coming in on 41 including Pembroke and Aberdeen. Boob-busting hypnotist turned Green Party leader Zack Polanski meanwhile managed 15 visits, including the liberal trifecta of Brighton, Margate and Hackney. But poor old Sir Keir Starmer only found time for a mere six local election-related visits. He does, in his defence, have a few other preoccupations as Prime Minister – though, for how much longer, Steerpike can only imagine. A Labour spokesperson defended Starmer, arguing: ‘Nigel Farage rarely turns up to do his actual job. Yet he somehow finds time to jet off around the world on his donor’s private plane and trouser half a million quid while families struggle.’ Doesn’t seem to be hurting his poll numbers…
The battle for votes has also hit new heights on social media, with parties churning out content in a bid to prise eyeballs away from screens and towards ballot papers. Across X, Facebook and Instagram, Farage has posted 526 times, compared with 485 for Badenoch and 356 for Starmer. Blowing them all out of the water, Polanski leads the pack with a whopping 1,485 posts. Let’s hope he remembers David Cameron’s famous aphorism about too many tweets, eh?
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