I knew “those adverts” had achieved “cut-through” when one of my aunties from India asked me on WhatsApp if Labour seriously thought Rishi Sunak supported child abusers. The good news is that Labour’s advertising campaign has gone global. The bad news is that lots of people think Labour is calling him a patron of paedophilia. To be fair, that’s basically what Boris Johnson did to Keir Starmer about his time as DPP and Jimmy Savile (Sunak has never apologised for that horrible smear) — which means the art of political debate in Britain is each party yelling “nonce” at the other.
Weaponising paedophilia for political advantage is grotesque. Ironically, many bigots look at our Prime Minister and will lump him in with Asian groomers. I don’t buy the lazy argument that there’s no racism towards him. I’ve seen it. Being rich, Tory and brown doesn’t insulate you from the crudest form of prejudice and innuendo.
