UK politicians go all out in quest for the vote

Shortly before the UK's general election on July 4, Ed Davey chose a rather unusual way to gain attention for his party. The leader of the Liberal Democrats participated in a Zumba class in Wokingham on Monday.

On Tuesday, Rishi Sunak picked up food at a McDonald's in Buckinghamshire, buying breakfast for journalists following his campaign. The tactic probably won't save the conservative British prime minister: all polls show Sunak's Tories far behind the left-wing Labour Party, which is predicted to win a landslide victory.

No wonder Keir Starmer (right) is smiling: recent polls have predicted 40% of the vote will go to his Labor Party, twice as many as the Conservatives, who have governed the United Kingdom for 14 years. Nevertheless, Starmer made an effort during the campaign, visiting a traditional pottery workshop in Stoke-on-Trent on June 27.

Ed Davey, of course, went for the extremes, though sometimes ended up falling off course. His Liberal Democrats hope they won't fall in the same way. They aim to benefit from the prevailing disenchantment with UK politics and pick up votes from the major parties. The latest polls put them at around 10%.

Davey could often be found in the water during the campaign, such as here during a surfing lesson in Cornwall on Tuesday. This was no coincidence: the Liberal Democrats campaigned on the issue of water pollution by untreated sewage, calling for the declaration of a national environmental emergency.

On the last day before the election, Nigel Farage faced a showdown with heavyweight boxer Derek Chisora. His right-wing populist party Reform UK is likely to enter Parliament for the first time, with a predicted 16% of the vote. Experts expect the former Brexit party to cost the Conservatives many votes on the right.

It's widely believed that Sunak, seen here playing cricket in the Midlands on Monday, ran a poor election campaign. Among other things, the 44-year-old had to apologize after leaving commemoration events for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, angering many veterans. He's also seen as a technocrat with little feeling for people, once asking a homeless man in a soup kitchen if he "works in business."

Starmer was serving drinks in Nottinghamshire on Tuesday, but will likely soon take up residence at 10 Downing Street as prime minister. Fourteen years of a Conservative government have allowed Labour to benefit from the unpopularity of the Tories. After five prime ministers and numerous scandals, particularly under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the people no longer trust the party.

Always ready for the camera, Ed Davey took part in a circus skills workshop in Edinburgh, Scotland, on June 29. It pays for candidates to score points locally, as the seats in the House of Commons are allocated by direct mandate. The candidate with the most votes in each one of the 650 constituencies wins.

There's been no shortage of attention seekers in the election campaign. Among them is Count Binface, a self-proclaimed intergalactic space warrior with a garbage can for a helmet, who is challenging Sunak in his own constituency in the north of England. In 2017, Count Binface ran against Theresa May and in 2019, he took on Boris Johnson. Satirical candidates have a long tradition in the UK.