Akshata Murty and senior Tory wives hit the campaign trail
Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt and James Cleverly’s wives took to the election campaign trail on Wednesday to help promote the Conservative cause.
Akshata Murty, the wife of the Prime Minister, teamed up with Lucia Hunt, the Chancellor’s wife and Susie Cleverly, the wife of the Home Secretary, for a day of canvassing in Fordham, Suffolk.
The political WAG trio were also joined by Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary and local Tory candidate, to door knock and hand out Tory leaflets to residents.
Ms Murty has been previously dubbed one of Mr Sunak’s secret weapons in his uphill battle for re-election on July 4, as his party continues to trail 20 percentage points behind Labour in the opinion polls.
The Indian heiress, who married Mr Sunak in 2009, has been an active member of the Tory campaign on many occasions, sitting front and centre for her husband’s manifesto launch on June 11.
It marks a stark contrast to the notable absence of Sir Keir Starmer’s wife Victoria, who has not appeared in public to support Labour or her husband’s efforts.
Lady Starmer - who the Labour leader affectionately calls Vic - has stepped away from the political front line to focus on her job in the NHS and help their son study for his GCSE exams.
Sir Keir outlined the reasons behind his wife’s low profile during an interview with LBC on Tuesday.
“One, she is working at the NHS in a hospital. Two – and I don’t make a lot of this – is our boy has been doing his GCSEs,” he said.
He added: “We took the decision that whilst I was out and about on the road, we wanted to create the environment where he could study calmly in ordinary circumstances.”
The Labour leader said his son had completed his last exam last Friday.
At Westminster magistrates’ court on Wednesday, Lady Starmer gave evidence in the trial of three pro-Palestine protesters who demonstrated at their family home.
Lady Starmer described feeling “a bit sick”, and “apprehensive and uncomfortable” after a banner was hung in front of the house that read “Starmer stop the killing”, surrounded by red hand prints.
Her court appearance came the same day the senior Tory wives took selfies with residents in the village of Fordham, Cambridgeshire, mucking in by foot as other Tory politicians have previously done.
Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, left a video message on a home doorbell camera while canvassing in Hampshire saying he was “keen to win support” in the second week of campaigning.
