The circus spirit is strong in British politics. It makes a rowdy theatre of parliament and a clown-car parade of election campaigns. Every show is different to the extent that no two candidates are the same, but convention and a fixed repertoire of plots make for a familiar experience. There must be farce (hot microphone broadcasts private conversation); slapstick (candidate hides from TV crew); audience participation (unscripted encounter with irate voter).
Personality trumps policy. Debate is lively but parochial. The antagonism is real but also camp and cartoonish in the Punch-and-Judy tradition. Many rising political stars have promised to do things differently. All end up joining in, because it is the only show in town.
The clash of Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives and Keir Starmer’s Labour over the coming weeks will be sometimes entertaining, often irritating and rarely informative. The spotlight will be trained on the characters of the two leaders on centre stage, leaving most questions about the needs of the country in shadow.