Will Labour’s attack on the Tory credit card spending spree pay off?

Though it has clearly been a successful hit for Labour, it also feels like a potentially dangerous one, writes Marie Le Conte

Populism often is popular; the clue’s in the name (Getty Images)

Being in opposition is never easy. Newspapers rarely care about what you have to say, you’re expected to have endless policies despite not being in power, and you are, ultimately, at the mercy of the government and its announcements.

If you attack everything they do and say, as Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour did, you will be accused of crying wolf and the electorate will tune out. If you don’t attack enough, well, what’s the point of you then? It’s a tight rope to walk on and Keir Starmer has, at times, threatened to lose his balance.

Over the past few months, however, the Labour party’s attack operation has noticeably tightened. Though attacking today’s Tories can be akin to shooting fish in a barrel, the lines have been clear. The Conservatives, the opposition tells us, are crooked and corrupt and cannot be trusted with the nation’s purse strings.