Rishi’s ‘mandatory’ national service is already a confusing, unpopular mess

Given the Tories’ historically poor polling, we all knew this general election was going to be a mess. What we didn’t realise was the wheels would come off Rishi Sunak’s campaign so quickly that he’d have to revert to National Service to try and save himself:

BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch. https://t.co/gZ1Sb5JBYk

— Kiran Stacey (@kiranstacey) May 24, 2024

Nor that Sunak would return from his break to somehow make things even worse:

Rishi Sunak had a terrible start to his campaign, took an unscheduled day off to work with his team and came up with the single worst policy of modern times. Fair play.

— Liam Thorp (@LiamThorpECHO) May 25, 2024

The policy in question? Mandatory/voluntary national service for Gen Zers:

NEW: Rishi Sunak has pledged *mandatory* National Service for *every 18 year old* if he wins the election

— they will *have to* do either a year-long army placement or one weekend a month volunteering for a year

First ‘bold’ manifesto policy, but it will be highly controversial

— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) May 25, 2024

If you’re confused by the mandatory/voluntary part of the announcement, don’t worry – so are the people announcing it.

Before we get to the confusion, however, let’s investigate if this policy – in any form – is appealing to anyone:

Who is this for?

The Tories are clearly targeting older voters with their new proposal:

'Gen Z think they can do nothing and get benefits – bring back National Service': Pensioners slam 'lazy and entitled' work-shy youngsters who moan they can't get jobs because Covid left them without social skills https://t.co/dONRVp086W pic.twitter.com/qxoChWwVTU

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 14, 2024

As many have speculated, the policy would go down less well if it was expanded to everyone:

Lots of people on here tonight suggesting national service for let’s say 68 year olds as well as 18 year olds

Would older voters support “compulsory volunteering” if it involved them?

— Darren McCaffrey (@darrenmccaffrey) May 25, 2024

As the generation which incorrectly thinks they fought in World War II, boomers are often ridiculed. To be fair, though, they’re not all frothing goons – just 99% of boomer opinion columnists. A 2023 poll from YouGov did find that compulsory military service was most popular with those who wouldn’t be compelled, but it did fall short of a majority – even among the 65+ bracket:

The same YouGov poll covered a number of national service options:

As you can see, all ‘compulsory’ options were unpopular (the exception being ‘one month of community service’, and even that was opposed by half of those with an opinion).

The polling also broke the above brackets down by age:

The policy seems to purely be about giving nasty Tory voters a reason to bother voting – something which is far from guaranteed in this election. Going off the record number of Tory MPs stepping down, these people can’t even stomach voting for themselves:

BREAKING: Tory MP Sir David Evennett is 76th to step down.

More Conservative MPs are stepping down this than in the 1997 general election.

Sky's @joncraig has the latest.https://t.co/hGv7aXZC4j

📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/BHOE490gcY

— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 24, 2024

BREAKING: Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove will stand down at the General Election in July.

This adds to the growing number of Tory MPs stepping down this year, which is more than the number that did so in 1997https://t.co/KaZ7VX2mdC

📺 Sky 501 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/frTYFRcX5u

— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 24, 2024

 

While we’re sure there are tens of thousands of voters who would spitefully vote Tory to punish young people for the crime of being young, they might not buy into this particular policy. After all, the Tories have only just announced it, and it’s already descended into farce:

Sunak team clear to me this am no-one going to jail over this: “This about giving young people from all backgrounds skills & experience – not a criminal record”

Frame it as ‘opportunities for young people’ but making it mandatory gives it punitive feel for those who might not… https://t.co/PHEYkuSa4w

— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) May 26, 2024

Compulsory or optionally mandatory?

When national service was first announced, several outlets reported on it being ‘mandatory’:

Presumably, they were briefed on it being mandatory. Interestingly, however, it wasn’t described as such in Sunak’s general election announcement video (a video in which Sunak looks so dead behind the eyes that you’d feel sorry for him if he wasn’t a Tory):

Opportunity. Community. Security.

This is why I would introduce a bold new model of National Service 👇 pic.twitter.com/bNXTLwwBXV

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) May 26, 2024

The Conservative Party’s account also didn’t mention it being ‘mandatory’:

We'll introduce a bold new model of National Service.

To up-skill the next generation, make our nation secure & build a stronger national culture. 

Whether in the Armed Forces or volunteering in our NHS, every young person will do their duty to build a secure future for the UK. pic.twitter.com/qgLTv022RN

— Conservatives (@Conservatives) May 26, 2024

Nor did the Tory MPs retweeting it:

We're taking bold action to get more young people the opportunities they need for life.

Whether it's delivering prescriptions, working as a lifeguard, or supporting your community during storms, national service will help young people give back to the society that raised them. https://t.co/aZ6RYpNwhP pic.twitter.com/pJe1azPEKE

— Gillian Keegan (@GillianKeegan) May 26, 2024

 

On Sunday 26 May, home secretary James Cleverly said the following (as reported by Huffington Post):

Asked what the punishment would be for people who refused, the home secretary added: “There’s going to be no criminal sanctions, nobody’s going to jail over this.”

There’s a word for a ‘mandatory’ act which you’re not mandated to do, and that word is ‘voluntary’.

So where is the ‘mandatory’ part coming from?

In our opinion, this policy was dreamed up in the last few days, and the Tories have messed up announcing it. If this was a general election policy they’d put some time into, it would have its own launch page. They would also have promotional materials which didn’t look like ten-minute Photoshop jobs.

Our best guess is that one or more of the following are occurring:

• They originally decided on it being mandatory but are in the process of backtracking.
• It was always voluntary, but people have gotten confused and reported otherwise.
• It was always mandatory, but they’ve not figured out if they can legally make that fly.
• They still haven’t decided which it will be.
• It’s a ‘Schrödinger’s national service’ type situation, and we won’t know if it’s mandatory or voluntary until the first 18-year-old signs up.

James Cleverly says that National Service will be "compulsory" but then says there won't be any criminal sanction for those who simply refuse.

How's that going to work then? pic.twitter.com/epFihfjCWT

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) May 26, 2024

James Cleverly says that 18 year olds could volunteer (mandated) to be emergency health responders 🙄

Back of a fag packet stuff to say the least #BBCLauraK pic.twitter.com/t1wSnaxJw3

— Sam Webster (@SamInNotts) May 26, 2024

"We force people to do things all the time".
New Tory campaign slogan revealed by James Cleverly to Laura Kuenssberg this morning. pic.twitter.com/XyVQzyYVDv

— RyanMcGoverne I Photo I Paint I 💙💛 (@RyanMcGoverne) May 26, 2024

 

Media response to National Service

Sunak’s proposal is even unpopular with goons like the Daily Mail‘s Dan Hodges:

Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory national service is the most insane policy proposal ever launched in an election campaign by a major political party.

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) May 25, 2024

ITV‘s Robert Peston, however, described the policy as “brave”:

Presumably that’s ‘brave’ in the historical sense: i.e. ‘the general/aristocrat/moron bravely sent his troops over the front line and into a massacre‘.

Journalist (and sibling of Boris) Rachel Johnson, meanwhile, may have exposed what the Tories are actually up to:

Rachel Johnson who broke lockdown rules to play tennis,

"I like it.. It's got a lot going for it.. We need a national service, we haven't got enough people to pick our fruit" pic.twitter.com/ndb8AvatoG

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) May 26, 2024

Blitzed spirit

We’re not even a week into this election yet, and Sunak is already acting desperately. This time next Sunday, we might be looking back at national service as the most sensible policy proposal he ever had.

Maybe things really can only get better?

They certainly seem to be getting funnier anyway.

Featured image via Rishi Sunak – YouTube