Comment 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). In terms of their wardrobe what can be divined? Multi-millionaire Sunak favours his much-tittered scant-of-leg Savile Row suits by Henry Herbert (about £3,500), while Sir Keir is more man of the high street in his reportedly Charles Tyrwhitt numbers (from £350). The Labour leader has levelled up his opticals — stylistically at least, his new Garrett Leight Hampton 1001s are £300 cheaper than his previous bland, outdated square metal yet £500 frames — in come the more Hackney-esque rounded rims which add a certain confidence.
Sunak recently toted a £750 Tumi rucksack on the train to one of the country’s most deprived areas. But, he’s exceptionally rich. It may have appeared tone deaf, but at least it’s authentic.
It would have been more crass to have brought along his briefing papers in a specially purchased Primark shopper. You shouldn’t need to cosplay as your constituents to understand t.
