Rishi Sunak will double down on his plan to revive compulsory national service in the UK on Monday, as discontent mounts in the Conservative party about his faltering election performance.
As the first full week of the campaign begins, the prime minister will urge bosses to give priority to job applicants who have served time in the military.
But his “bold” national service plan has caused concern in the armed forces, amid fears it could impose strains on the military.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner denounced Sunak’s plan to divert £1.5bn a year from “levelling up” funds for deprived regions to help pay for the “desperate” scheme. A further £1bn would come from tackling tax avoidance and evasion.
“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” said one former Conservative party chair, of Sunak’s campaign so far. Another former party chair said: “Words fail me.”
But the prime minister’s allies believe the plan has achieved something that has eluded him for months: a hearing.
One said: “For a long time people just weren’t listening to anything we said. By announcing the election, we are forcing people to engage in a conversation.”
Sunak’s manifesto pledge to make all 18-year-olds take part in a year-long military placement or to carry out 25 days of compulsory “volunteering” in the community was his biggest policy statement to date.
The prime minister, if re-elected on July 4, will ask a royal commission to look at how the roughly 30,000 annual participants in the £2.5bn-a-year military scheme could get a “leg up” in their career.
Sunak said one option would be to encourage employers to “consider those who complete the armed forces placement during job applications”.
Other options could include offering them “fast-track interviews” for jobs, including the civil service fast-stream programme, or giving them special consideration during applications for universities and apprenticeships.
Sunak said: “We want to make sure Britain’s future generations can get the most out of national service. That’s why we’re looking into ways it can open doors they wouldn’t otherwise get in work or education.”
But the policy of military national service was rejected only last week by defence minister Andrew Murrison, who said that having unwilling national service recruits “could damage morale, recruitment and retention and would consume professional military and naval resources”.
Home secretary James Cleverly said the military route would not be compulsory and therefore recruits would be motivated. “Whilst you will be compelled to take part in the national service, no one will be compelled to do the military bit,” he said.
National service was abolished in the UK in 1960 and senior military figures have privately warned reintroducing it would place a new burden on the armed forces.
Sunak’s team have contrasted the prime minister’s active — and accident-strewn — start with a more low-key approach taken by Sir Keir Starmer, suggesting the Labour leader was already exhausted.
One Downing Street insider called the 61-year-old Labour leader “Sleepy Keir”, an apparent attempt to link him in the public’s mind to the US’s 81-year-old President Joe Biden, dubbed “Sleepy Joe” by Donald Trump.
“Campaigns are tough, tiring things and it’s understandable that he may be weary,” said a Tory campaign official. “But being prime minister is a 24/7 job which requires stamina.”
Labour dismissed the claim as a sign of desperation. “We were out speaking with voters across the country within half an hour of the election being called,” said a spokesperson for Starmer.
Privately veteran Conservative figures, some of whom might have been expected to lend a hand during the campaign, have kept their distance, in expectation that Sunak is heading for disaster.
One former Tory adviser said the campaign, which began with a drenched Sunak announcing the election date in a rainstorm, was “embarrassing”. Another said he could not believe “how bad it has been”.
Separately senior ministers, including deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden and defence secretary Grant Shapps, have told colleagues they did not argue in favour of an early election on July 4.
Shapps told Sunak that waiting until the autumn would have allowed the governing party to establish its message, and to allow better news on inflation and interest rates to be felt by households.
“Grant thought going early was a mistake and said so,” said one senior Tory briefed on the discussions last week.
Meanwhile Starmer will promise on Monday to “fight” for voters if he wins, saying he would always put “country before party”. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said on Sunday that victory was “within touching distance”.
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