On Tuesday Labour released an attack video that evoked class war tropes, painting Boris Johnson as a fox hunting, grouse shooting toff. The video was a desperate attempt to appeal to a demographic that has increasingly abandoned Labour since 1997, leading to the collapse of the red wall and the party's retreat to its new heartland of London. The tagline for the video is "one rule for them, another for the rest of us", but Labour no longer represent 'us'. They speak only for a metropolitan elite that openly sneer at working class people. Furthermore, if this video shows us anything at all, it's that they feel nothing but contempt for rural folk too - for whom shooting and hunting are vital to the local economy.
Click below to see Labour's pathetic attack video.
To say that this campaign is disingenuous doesn't quite cut it. Labour are painting the shooting exemption as if it were the only sporting event excluded from the 'rule of six'. It isn't. In fact there are thirty licenced sports exempt from the new restrictions, including many sports not exactly associated with the upper echelons of society - including baseball, rounders, volleyball, netball, basketball, football, paintball and... dodgeball!
The full list can be found below, bearing in mind that all exemptions (including shooting) are for organised club events only.
Angling
Baseball/Softball
Basketball
Canoeing/Kayaking
Caving
Climbing
Curling
Cricket
Dodgeball
Dragon Boat Racing
Equestrian
Floorball
Football
Gaelic Sports
Goalball
Hockey
Ice Hockey
Lacrosse
Netball
Octopush (underwater hockey)
Polo
Roller Sports
Rowing
Rugby League
Rugby Union
Rounders
Sailing
Shooting (including hunting and paintball that requires a shotgun or firearms certificate licence)
Ultimate Frisbee
Volleyball
Gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools will remain open, making a further mockery of Labour's singling out of grouse shooting. Shooting is also exempt from the rule of six in Scotland, where the decision was made by the SNP government. The rule of six is not applied outdoors in Labour-run Wales, so shooting is unaffected and continues unimpeded. There is nowhere in Britain that organised shoots aren't permitted, regardless of whether they're allowed by Tories or socialist parties like Labour and the SNP.
Labour's cynical video has so far been viewed more than 20,000 times on social media. One of those enthusiastically embracing the class war tactic has been the party's deputy leader.
Rayner will be standing in for Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday as Sir Squeaky continues to self-isolate. Let's hope she's daft enough to raise the issue of grouse shooting. Open goal for Boris.