Farage fights on the beaches and Boris blasts wokery on a day for final stands

The campaigning was over, the debating done, and as the sun rose on polling day there was only one task left to candidates and their volunteers: get out the vote.

On a glorious July day, the Conservatives were hoping the weather might do them a favour by encouraging a high turnout and Boris Johnson was among the first to hammer home the message.

“I’m on my way to the polling station where I’m going to cast my vote against the nightmare prospect of a Left-wing government,” he said, filming himself walking along a tree-lined lane.

“More Left-wing than any since the war, with more wokery, more illegal immigration, more pointless, powerless kow-towing to Brussels, and of course ever-higher taxation for you and your family under Keir Starmer and the Labour Party. Don’t let it happen, vote Conservative today, get out and vote today, it’s a beautiful day.”

Rishi Sunak was the first party leader out of the blocks, voting at Kirby Sigston Village Hall in his Richmond and Northallerton constituency before 8am.

Mr Sunak wore a polo Ralph Lauren wool quarter zip jumper to fend off the morning chill, while his wife Akshata Murty wore a £185 dress from Boden, the clothing catalogue of the middle classes.

In his own social media post, he appeared to be conceding defeat before many votes had even been cast. “Vote Conservative to stop the Labour super-majority, which would mean higher taxes for a generation,” he tweeted.

Sir Keir Starmer looked as though he was already dressed for a new job in Downing Street as he arrived at a polling station in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency in a charcoal suit, white shirt and red tie a little before 10am.

Fashion-watchers were quick to point out that Victoria, his wife, was wearing a more expensive dress than billionaire’s daughter Ms Murty – a bright orange cotton blend poplin dress by Jonathan Simkhai that costs £574.

There was good news for Sir Keir when The Sun newspaper, which has traditionally backed whichever party it thinks is going to win, came out in support of Labour.

Around the country people turned up in cars, tractors and on horseback to vote, while in Maidenhead Theresa May, the former prime minister, was greeted by Blitz, a border collie who has been a regular fixture at her local polling station since 2018.

Sir Keir’s predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, expelled from the Labour Party by the current leader, voted in the Islington North constituency he has represented since 1983 and tweeted a picture of himself saying: “Just voted for the independent candidate…I heard he’s alright.”

Meanwhile Brendan Cox, the widower of the Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered by a far-Right extremist in 2016, tweeted a picture of his late wife with the simple message: “Please vote.”

One party leader who could not take advantage of the traditional photo opportunity at a polling station was Nigel Farage, who had already voted by post in Kent, being unable to register in his Clacton on Sea battleground in time for the election.

That didn’t stop him making sure he got noticed, driving around the constituency in a military Land Rover with a Vote Reform placard. Cutting a dash in a blue blazer and sunglasses, he also paced the streets of Clacton enjoying a Mr Whippy ice cream.

The next party leader to vote was Sir Ed Davey, who left his wetsuit at home when he cast his ballot at Surbiton Hill Methodist Church with his wife Emily Gasson.

As for possible future leaders, Penny Mordaunt voted for herself in Portsmouth North after turning up in a car emblazoned with the legend: “Vote Penny to save your pennies.”

A few dozen miles up the A3, Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, was in a battle royal to avoid defeat in the newly-created seat of Godalming and Ash. Arriving at his local polling station in a Range Rover, he held both fists up in the air defiantly as he came out after casting his vote.

The controversy over missing ballot papers rumbled on throughout the day though, with Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, blaming her local council for disenfranchising up to 2,600 voters by “forgetting to send them their ballot papers” in North West Essex.

Kate Garraway, the Good Morning Britain presenter, revealed that she had not received a polling card for herself, though her local council had sent one to her husband Derek Draper, the former political strategist who died in January, almost four years after his body was ravaged by Covid-19.

In Somerset, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg had a welcome distraction from the possibility that he could lose his seat: he arrived to vote accompanied by his son Sixtus, who was celebrating his seventh birthday and had the badges and paper crown to prove it.

By 4.30pm the Tories were suddenly feeling more optimistic about their chances of avoiding a Labour landslide. An email to supporters reported that teams on the ground were seeing a higher turnout than expected, which “means we could have a much better chance than polls have suggested” and urging everyone to get out and vote.

Election days always provide moments of levity, and this one was no exception. There was Sandie Randle turning out to vote in Painswick, Glos, not with the traditional pet dog but with two alpacas called Dumbledore and Apollo. In Henley, rowing fans dressed in their blazers went to vote before heading off to the annual regatta.

But there were darker moments too. In east London, Palestinian flags were taken down outside several polling stations because of concerns about voter intimidation.

Several councils, including Tower Hamlets, Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham councils said they had received reports of the flags flying on lamp posts. Some Labour candidates seeking re-election were being challenged by independents running on pro-Palestine tickets, and some voters complained that the flags were “a form of intimidation”.

One user of X, formerly Twitter, said: “This isn’t Gaza and people should go to the polling stations with British issues in mind.”

According to the electoral commission, there should not be any “campaign posters, banners or other advertising literature” in polling stations, on the polling station buildings or on the land of the polling station, such as a car park.

However, the election watchdog said that flags are not considered campaign material meaning this is not a matter for electoral law.

Elsewhere, it was incompetence rather than intimidation that was causing concern. Voters at the Notre Dame Primary School polling station in Partick arrived to find posters put up by Glasgow city council that told them to rank candidates in order of preference, rather than putting an X next to one name.

The mistake was made because Holyrood elections use a single transferable vote system, and the council said no voters would be disenfranchised because their first preference would be used to determine their vote.