In this day and age, campaign optics are as critical as any professed policy. Just look at Nigel Farage’s confrontational Union Jack socks. For their July 4 reckoning, Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak have both leant into a strong and stable polish.
They are impeccably clean shaven at all times, hair as solid and compact as a Lego figurine, attempting to signal that there is no chaos here, not a follicle is out of place, you can trust us (compare and contrast with the chaos of Boris Johnson’s comically unwieldy blonde thatch and Jeremy Corbyn’s scruffy beard).
