Rishi Sunak says young people could be sanctioned for refusing national service

Angela Raynor has appeared to turn on her former boss and close ally Jeremy Corbyn.

The deputy leader, who served as shadow education secretary in Corbyn’s cabinet, said that while she was initially ‘absolutely gutted’ to hear the former leader had been suspended by Keir Starmer, ‘Since then we’ve seen that Jeremy Corbyn hasn’t really acted in a way that would have been in keeping with the Labour Party.’

‘He’s now standing against the Labour Party so therefore he’s not a member of the Labour Party any more,’ she added.

Both Raynor and Starmer have attempted to distance themselves from their support for Corbyn despite previously being seen as close allies, which BBC Breakfast host Charlie Stayt suggested makes the duo seem untrustworthy in the eyes of voters.

Raynor responded by saying both she and Starmer had a ‘duty’ to support Corbyn as members of his shadow cabinet, but admits Labour were ‘hammered’ in 2019 and claims the party ‘didn’t put forward a credible case for the country’.

Continuing to press her on the issue of trust, Stayt read Raynor a social media post she made four years ago in which she called the two-child benefit cap ‘obscene and inhumane’.

When asked how she now feels about the policy, given that Labour have refused to scrap it in their manifesto, Raynor acknowledged that it was a ‘fair question’ but said ‘we can’t do everything – the Tories have crashed the economy’.

Nigel Farage has praised misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate as a ‘fascinating figure’ and a voice for ’emasculated men’ in a number of podcast interviews throughout the past year.

Self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate is currently facing charges in Romania for human trafficking, rape, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, which he has repeatedly denied.

Yet in a series of interviews, the Reform UK leader has spoken highly of Tate for ‘defending male culture’ and said he was ‘an important voice for men,’ despite acknowleging he had gone ‘over the top’ and said ‘some pretty horrible things’.

During an appearance on the Strike It Big podcast in February, Farage said Tate ‘was a very important voice for an emasculated … you three guys, you are all 25, you are all kind of being told you can’t be blokes, you can’t do laddish, fun, bloke things … That’s almost what you’re being told.

‘That masculinity is something we should look down upon, something we should frown upon. It’s like the men are becoming feminine and the women are becoming masculine and it’s a bit difficult to tell these days who’s what.

‘And Tate fed into that by saying, “Hang on, what’s wrong with being a bloke? What’s wrong in male culture? What’s wrong in male humour?” He fed into those things. His was a campaign of raising awareness, his was a campaign of giving people perhaps a bit of confidence at school or whatever it was to speak up …’

In a previous interview last August, Farage said: ‘I think Andrew Tate is a fascinating figure. I think his speaking to men, who because of the woke agenda were told they couldn’t be male in any way at all, was an important thing. But I feel some of his comments were pretty horrible.’

The Reform leader’s comments come as he attempts to court a younger male audience in the election, and has seen his party spend big on TikTok ads to appeal to Gen Z.

Addressing his comments on Tate, Farage told the Guardian: ‘There’s an awakening in a younger generation who have had enough of being dictated to, have had enough of being lectured to.

‘They’re seeing through the rubbish they’re getting taught in schools and universities. If no other politician is willing to reach out to this group of people, then I will.’

Farage was pictured with Tate in 2019, before the controverisal influencer’s charges, in a post shared on Tate’s Facebook page.

Welsh Secretary David TC Davies is doing the media rounds for the Tories this morning, taking to BBC Radio 4 to express his ‘concern’ for his party’s reputation following news of the ongoing betting scandal.

Speaking on the Today show, Mr Davies said: ‘On the morning that the election was called I was talking to civil servants and they said “Oh, have you heard this rumour?” or words to that effect.

‘But we didn’t know and very often in the past I’ve had conversations like that, so I didn’t know and I wasn’t certain, I think, until the PM called us in that afternoon, and I am in the Cabinet so you might have thought I’d have had some advance notice.’

When asked if he was worried about the reputation of the Tory Party on questions of ethics and integrity, particularly given the impact of the Partygate scandal, Mr Davies replied: ‘Well, of course I am.

‘I took a decision when I entered the Wales Office as Secretary of State that I’d do two things immediately to set an example. The first was to get rid of the ministerial car, so I’ve been happily travelling around on the Tube ever since, which I don’t think is appropriate for all Cabinet ministers, by the way, because some of them have more security issues than I do.

‘The second thing I did was to look round, notice there was alcohol in the building and ask for it all to be removed within 48 hours, for there to be no alcohol to be served at any official Wales Office events at all, and for nobody – including and of course especially myself – to be drinking alcohol at any official functions at any time of the day or night.’

The Welsh secretary also told Sky News he wanted to ‘put on record’ he did not bet on the date of the election and said if people were found to have broken the rules they should be ‘kicked out of the Conservative Party’.

Whatever your thoughts were on the party leaders during last night’s Question Time special, one figure who all voters seemed to agree came off poorly was host Fiona Bruce, who was criticised for ‘breaking her own rule’ and repeatedly interrupting the leaders as they attempted to answer questions.

…and of the four party leaders, Rishi Sunak absolutely received the coldest response from the audience.

Chants of ‘shame’ were heard throughout the audience as the credits began to roll at the end of the programme, and there was even derisive laughter when he claimed a student would benefit from Tory policies once he’s working, as he’ll pay less taxes.

John Swinney probably received the most applause as he criticised Brexit and the ‘calamity’ of the Conservative government, with smaller rounds of applause for Ed Davey and Keir Starmer.

But the audience seemed both impatient and frustrated by politicians who didn’t give direct answers to their questions.

Examples include Sir Keir, who wouldn’t confirm if he thought Jeremy Corbyn would have made a good prime minister, or John, who didn’t give a straight answer if the SNP losing its majority would tell them they no longer had a mandate to pursue Scottish independence.

Rishi has just walked on stage to what sounds like a much more reserved round of applause than the rest of the party leaders received.

He says he was ‘incredibly angry’ to find out about two Tory candidates allegedly betting on the General Election date, but wouldn’t comment on those two candidates being allowed to remain in the party.

He was also asked if he felt embarrassed to be the leader of the Conservatives, having had five prime ministers in seven years. Rishi says he acknowledged these problems when he became PM.

Rishi disagrees that Brexit has denied young people a future, citing the Teesside freeport which will create thousands of good jobs. Fiona Bruce said freeports could have been developed without Brexit, but he insists it wouldn’t be the same.

Rishi says migrants, including his parents and grandparents, can make a contribution to the country including the NHS but that the current immigration levels are too high.

He says there’ll be a legal migration cap if he wins the election, and says there are fantastic people willing to come to the UK without dependants, supporting his plans to cut down on the number of dependants of migrants moving to the UK.

In response to an audience member calling the Rwanda scheme ‘inhumane’, Rishi said 15 other European countries had signed a declaration agreeing the ability to remove illegal migrants to a safe third country is crucial, and disagreed with her – receiving chants of ‘shame’ from the audience in response.

In response to Rishi saying he would consider leaving the European Court of Human Rights over the Rwanda issue, another audience member pointed out that the only two other countries who aren’t signed up to the ECHR are Russia and Belarus.

The PM says the UK doesn’t need a foreign court to tell us what to do.

Sir Kier is on the stage now and being grilled over his past endorsement of Jeremy Corbyn.

He’s been asked if he was telling the truth when he said Corbyn would make a good prime minister back in 2019, and Keir refused to give a straight answer.

He also said he would put more money into the NHS ‘straight away’ if he’s elected, saying: ‘My wife works in the NHS, I say it’s on its knees, my wife says ‘no it isn’t, it’s flat on its face.’

Sir Kier was asked if it was acceptable to not set a target for cutting immigration, but he said he doesn’t want to set a target which can’t be met.

He also says he’s worried that the debate about gender and sex has become ‘toxic’, and repeated that he agrees with Tony Blair who recently said that men have penises and women have vaginas.

Sir Keir also said he would ban landlords from engaging in bidding wars to drive rents sky high, to help renters save for a deposit to buy a house.

The leader of the SNP is now facing audience questions and the first question says the party has been a ‘disappointment’ in the face of its ongoing scandal.

John Swinney has only recently taken over as party leader and says he has two goals: to rebuild trust in the party, and improve people’s lives. He says he’s focusing on eradicating child poverty and moving to net zero.

When asked if the SNP will continue with independence campaigns and referendums until it gets ‘the answer it wants’, he says he accepts Scotland can’t be an independent country until the people vote for that. He says he genuinely believes Scotland will be better off as an independent country.

When asked about problems within the manufacturing industry, John said the SNP would seek to rejoin the EU and blamed those problems on Brexit.

He also said Brexit has brought about a significant change in circumstances following the 2014 independence vote, which was fought on the supposition that Scotland’s EU membership would only be guaranteed if it stayed within the UK. This obviously changed following the Brexit vote, as Scotland has now left the EU with the rest of the UK despite overwhelmingly voting to remain.

He said: ‘The sooner we can get back into the European Union, in my view, the better.’

He also said the Conservative government has been ‘an absolute calamity’ and wants them out of government as soon as possible.

Fiona Bruce has kicked off the BBC’s leaders’ special with the leaders of the four main parties leading up to the General Election.

Sir Ed Davey from the Liberal Democrats is currently getting a grilling, with John Swinney, Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak taking their turns later this evening.

The Lib Dem leader says he’s ‘not proud’ of some of the votes his party supported during their coalition with the Conservatives, including going back on their big manifesto pledge in 2010 to scrap tuition fees.

He says he’s spent time trying to rebuild trust since he and many other Lib Dems lost their seats in 2015, and said the impact of the tuition fee issue has been ‘really scarring’ for the party.

Sir Ed also says he believes the majority of seats the Lib Dems are likely to win are in the home counties and south of England, but hopes to win in a few key seats in the north such as Harrogate and Cheadle in Greater Manchester.

He’s just been asked whether he’s proud of his actions as Post Office minister, and says he’s ‘sorry’ he didn’t see through the lies about the Horizon software scandal.

Former Tory minister Chris Skidmore said he will vote Labour for the first time because of Rishi Sunak’s decision to ‘side with climate deniers and to deliberately politicise the energy transition’.

The ex-net zero tsar said: ‘For the first time, I cannot vote for a party that has boasted of new oil and gas licences in its manifesto or that now argues that net zero is a burden and not a benefit.

‘Instead, like many others who know that we have neither choice nor any more time, and need to tackle the climate crisis now, I have decided that the Labour Party is best placed to achieve economic growth and the green industrial revolution.

‘Net zero is one of its five key priorities, and for this reason I will be voting Labour at this election.’

A Conservative candidate alleged to have bet on the date of the General Election says she’s considering legal action against the BBC, who broke the story of the Gambling Commission investigation.

You can scroll down our blog to find more details of the allegations against Laura Saunders, who is the second Tory candidate accused of betting on the Election date.

A statement released by her solicitors said: ‘As the Conservative Party has already stated, investigations are ongoing.

‘Ms Saunders will be co-operating with the Gambling Commission and has nothing further to add.

‘It is inappropriate to conduct any investigation of this kind via the media, and doing so risks jeopardising the work of the Gambling Commission and the integrity of its investigation.

‘The publication of the BBC’s story is premature and is a clear infringement of Ms Saunders’ privacy rights.

‘She is considering legal action against the BBC and any other publishers who infringe her privacy rights.’

Among several big General Election polls released yesterday, one predicted a particularly shocking result: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak losing his seat in North Yorkshire.

The Savanta poll, carried out for the Daily Telegraph, suggested the Tories could be almost wiped out next month with the party getting just 53 MPs.

Other similar forecasts have suggested a slightly less devastating result for the party, though almost all suggest Labour will win in a landslide on July 4.

If the Telegraph’s prediction of ‘wipeout’ comes true, Sunak would become the first sitting prime minister to lose their seat in a General Election.

But how likely is that? And what would happen as a result?

I’ve done my best to answer that question in an explainer here.

The Conservative Party has deleted a tweet featuring a roulette wheel and the caption ‘If you bet on Labour, you can never win’.

It comes after several figures linked with the party have come under scrutiny over alleged bets on the date of the General Election.

Candidates Craig Williams and Laura Saunders, and campaigning director Tony Lee – who is also Saunders’ husband – are all reportedly under investigation by the Gambling Commission.

It’s understood Lee has taken a leave of absence from his position.

BBC News reported yesterday that a police officer in Rishi Sunak’s personal security team has been arrested and suspended over allegations he placed a bet on the timing of the election.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has called on Sunak to suspend Saunders, telling reporters today: ‘If it was one of my candidates they’d be gone and their feet not have touched the floor.’

It seems like every other story about candidate drama is centred around the constituency of Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.

Maybe this is something that doesn’t matter to the casual politics enthusiast, but as someone who used to work in that area, I’m a little obsessed.

First we had Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross being selected as his party’s candidate due to health concerns for his former parliamentary colleague David Duguid, despite Duguid insisting he was well enough to run.

The fallout from that led to Ross announcing he was standing down from his leadership position.

Then, the Labour candidate Andy Brown was suspended from his party following revelations about pro-Russia social media posts he had made.

And now we’ve got Jo Hart, who’s the Reform candidate for the new constituency.

The Mail reports that during the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, Hart called the monarchy the ‘single biggest benefits scroungers’ and accused royal fans of having a ‘massively washed brain’.

Her post was signed off with the hashtag ‘#makelizzythelast’.

Reform recently said it was planning to take a vetting company to court after accusing it of failing to track down controversial social media posts from its candidates.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said he thought he was being pranked when Liz Truss called to ask him to take over from her right-hand man Kwasi Kwarteng.

He’s currently speaking to the Times CEO Summit, where his shadow equivalent Rachel Reeves will be appearing soon.

Hunt told the crowd: ‘It was one of the – well it was the most – dramatic week in my life in terms of decisions I had to take when I got that rather unexpected call from Liz Truss asking me to be Chancellor.

‘Which I thought was a hoax and refused to take the call and could not imagine any situation ever where Liz Truss would actually ask me to be Chancellor, so that was a bit surreal, and then in that first week literally I’m picking the entire mini-budget.’

However, he doesn’t think her truncated premiership has left any lasting damage.

The chancellor said: ‘I don’t think it’s fair to say that there was a sustained economic scarring from that.

‘I think if you look at us now with lower inflation, higher growth than most major economies we’re actually doing very well.’

A Labour spokesperson quickly sent out a response to that line: ‘Jeremy Hunt’s comments are insulting to the millions of people who are paying more on their mortgage because of Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-budget.’

Another Conservative candidate is being investigated by the Gambling Commission over alleged betting offences, it has been revealed.

Last week, Rishi Sunak’s former parliamentary aide Craig Williams – who is standing for the party in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr – was reported to have placed a bet on the date of the General Election just days before the PM announced it.

And now, Bristol North West candidate Laura Saunders is facing a similar investigation over accusations that she also bet on the date before it was revealed.

She has worked for the Conservatives since 2015 and is married to the party’s director of campaigns.

Separately, BBC News reported yesterday that a police officer in Sunak’s close protection team had been arrested for allegedly also betting on the timing of the election.

This morning, Housing Secretary Michael Gove told the BBC: ‘If people have used inside information to place bets, that is deeply wrong.

‘What I can’t do is sort of get too much into the detail of the case while an investigation is going on.

‘But I can talk about the broad principle and you’re absolutely right, it’s reprehensible.’

A Conservative spokesman said: ‘We have been contacted by the Gambling Commission about a small number of individuals.

‘As the Gambling Commission is an independent body, it wouldn’t be proper to comment further, until any process is concluded.’

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has insisted she wants to close the gender pay gap ‘once and for all’, although she said Labour’s plans are ‘not about naming and shaming’.

She said: ‘In the position of chancellor, I believe the biggest impact that I can make to the lives of ordinary women, women who go out to work, is to close the gender pay gap once and for all. That’s what I’m setting out to do.’

Labour’s manifesto states the party will ‘take action to reduce the gender pay gap’, but it’s thought this would not involve legally enforcing businesses to take action but instead obliging them to implement an action plan.

Ms Reeves added: ‘This is not about naming and shaming. It’s just saying we recognise there are some sectors, some firms, where historically there have been a lot more men than women, but everybody can do something to close that gender pay gap.

‘I hope that one of the things I can do if I become the first ever female chancellor is show that there are no jobs that women can’t do.’

She described it as the ‘the last glass ceiling in politics’.

Liberal Democrats deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: ‘Rishi Sunak must call a Cabinet Office inquiry into what is shaping up to be yet another scandal at the heart of government.

‘This stinks of yet more sleaze and answers are needed. An inquiry is needed to understand who knew what and when.’

According to the Crown Prosecution Service’s website, misconduct in a public office ‘concerns serious wilful abuse or neglect of the power or responsibilities’.

Those who can be accused of the offence include judges, bishops, MPs, civil servants, army officers, prison staff and police constables.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: ‘We can confirm that on Friday, June 14, the Met were contacted by the Gambling Commission who informed us that they were investigating alleged bets made by a police constable from the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command, which were related to the timing of the General Election.

‘The matter was immediately referred to officers in the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, who opened an investigation, and the officer was also removed from operational duties.

‘The officer was subsequently arrested on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

‘He was taken into custody and bailed pending further enquiries. The matter has also been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

‘The Gambling Commission continues to lead the investigation into the alleged betting offences, and our investigation is running in parallel to that.’

The Gambling Commission has said it is investigating ‘the possibility of offences concerning the date of the election’.

A spokesperson said: ‘The Gambling Commission regulates gambling in the interests of consumers and the wider public.

‘Currently the commission is investigating the possibility of offences concerning the date of the election.

‘This is an ongoing investigation, and the commission cannot provide any further details at this time.’

Rishi Sunak previously said it was ‘very disappointing’ that one of his closest aides and Conservative candidate for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr in Wales, Craig Williams, had allegedly placed a bet on the date of the General Election.

Mr Williams is alleged to have placed a £100 bet on a July polling day some three days before Mr Sunak named the date as July 4, at a Ladbrokes in his constituency.

He previously said he had clearly made a ‘huge error of judgment’ but refused to say whether he placed a bet on the basis of insider information.