Rishi Sunak is claimed to be despondent over the furious backlash to his decision to skip a D-Day memorial attended by other world leaders, as a second cabinet minister openly criticised the decision.
Transport secretary Mark Harper described Mr Sunak’s decision to miss the 80th anniversary event in Normandy as a “mistake”, after his cabinet colleague Penny Mordaunt condemned it as “completely wrong” in a fiery seven-way BBC debate on Friday night.
Cabinet ministers told Bloomberg his misstep had exacerbated their concerns about his judgement – including one former loyalist said they regretted the Tories had not ousted him as PM earlier this year.
And one insider told The Times they had “never heard it so quiet” at CCHQ after the PM’s decision to skip the international memorial sparked a major backlash.
Broadcasters were also met with silence on Saturday, as a scheduled media slot with the prime minister was cancelled during a campaign visit to a walled garden at Auckland Castle on Saturday. Voters could be seen gathered at a hillside above the garden to try and catch a glimpse of him within.
Sunak asked about NHS backlog at village fete
Rishi Sunak received a largely warm welcome from attendees at a village fete in his Richmond constituency on Saturday afternoon, where he met stall holders, chatted with members of the public, and played a game of “splat the rat”.
He was welcomed by applause from some who appeared to be local Conservative members, but a consultant who identified herself as only Chloe to the PA news agency asked the PM about the NHS backlog as he arrived.
The doctor, who said she recently rejoined Labour ahead of the election, said she “wanted to know what his plan is for waiting lists” and claimed the government had left the NHS “completely unprepared” for the pandemic.
Elsewhere at the fete, children shouted “we love you Rishi” and filmed the PM as he visited a stall fronted by gift bags which read “Wine or Surprise”.
Tom Wilson, Labour’s candidate for the reorganised Richmond and Northallerton constituency that Mr Sunak is seeking to hold, was also at the village event and at one point could be seen following the Prime Minister’s party at a distance.
BBC debate watched by 3.2 million people, broadcaster says
The BBC general election debate between seven senior political party figures was watched by more than three million viewers, the broadcaster has said.
An average audience of 3.2 million tuned in across BBC One and the BBC News Channel on Friday evening to watch the politicians clash over D-Day and support for war veterans, immigration and the state of the NHS, according to overnight ratings.
Reform candidate says airport arrivals lounge made him realise UK had too much immigration
A Reform candidate has claimed they realised Britain had a problem with immigration when he saw the number of people at an airport arrivals lounge.
George Woodward, Reform’s parliamentary candidate for Leigh, told the News Agents podcast he decided to get involved in politics because of migration, citing a moment last year when he was coming through arrivals at an airport.
“I was like, ‘wow, there’s a lot of people coming in here and we need to re-examine this,” he said.
Put to him by a bemused Lewis Goodall that many of those people were presumaby tourists or Britons returning from holidays, he said: “Some of the, absolutely. Some not. You can tell.”
Sunak ‘despondent’ over backlash to skipping D-Day event
Rishi Sunak was left despondent over the backlash to him skipping the D-Day event with other world leaders, people close to the prime minister have told Bloomberg.
Cabinet ministers told the outlet that his misstep had exacerbated their concerns about his judgement and confidence – including one former loyalist who is reportedly said to regret the Tories had not ousted him as PM earlier this year.
During a campaign visit to a walled garden at Auckland Castle on Saturday, a scheduled media slot with the prime minister was reportedly cancelled, as residents climbed a hill to peer over the walls for a glimpse of Mr Sunak.
Lib Dems are not the party of nimbys, Ed Davey insists
Sir Ed Davey has denied that the Liberal Democrats are the party of nimbys – those opposed to local development, often characterised by the acronym of the phrase “not in my back yard” – for focusing on national parks amid a housing crisis and low economic growth.
The Lib Dems vowed to plough £50m a year into maintaining three new national parks in their latest policy offer. He told the PA news agency: “No, far from it. You’ll see when we publish our manifesto we’ve got ambitious plans on housing as well, but the right houses in the right places.
“But people don’t just want houses, they want to know that there’s the environment there to enjoy. And investing in the environment is right to deal with the nature crisis.”
He accused the Conservatives of being the party of nimbys, “but they’re also the party of developers”, adding: “They have a developer-led approach. We have a community-led approach.”
Opinion | The Green Party’s stance on childbirth isn’t just tone-deaf – it’s dangerous
Reading the Green Party’s childbirth policy – which has been speedily whipped down from its website, so in order to read it you’ll have to find a screenshot on Twitter – you’d be forgiven for thinking they had never met or conversed with an actual human woman, writes Harriet Toner.
This is surely the only reasonable explanation for the party’s policy on so-called “natural birth”, which describes childbirth as a “normal and non-medical event” – words a woman who has been through such an event would never utter.
It would be a forgivable error if the Greens’ policy had been withdrawn before the publication of the damning Ockenden review, or the release of the report from the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for birth trauma – which highlighted “harrowing” stories of trauma caused by “mistakes and failures” in the system. But the party’s website suggested the page was updated as recently as April – at which point their childbirth “policy” went from being an oversight to being tone deaf, patronising and dangerous. It’s a wonder Green co-leader, Carla Denyer, wasn’t grilled on the issue during last night’s debate.
A senior party official has since said that the policy – which in its most basic form was an aim to reduce the number of medical interventions in childbirth – has been scrapped. But what was it doing there in the first place?
Liberal Democrat manifesto to pledge under 35s can live, study and work in EU despite Brexit
The Liberal Democrat election manifesto will include a commitment to ensure under 35s can live, study and work in the EU despite Brexit, The Independent can reveal.
The party will also accuse the Conservative government of “abandoning young people and our economy”. It comes as Ed Davey’s party battles to win younger, more Labour-minded voters in key ‘blue wall’ seats in the south of England it believes it can take from the Tories.
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has more in this exclusive report:
Watch: Rishi Sunak responds after D-Day veteran says he let the country down
Here was Rishi Sunak’s apology yesterday for leaving D-Day commemorations early:
Sunak has ‘destroyed’ his credibility by leaving Normandy early
Rishi Sunak has “completely destroyed” his credibility as prime minister by leaving D-Day commemorations early, Scotland’s first minister John Swinney has said.
Speaking to journalists on the campaign trail in Livingston, West Lothian, Mr Swinney said: “I think Rishi Sunak’s credibility is completely destroyed by his departure from D-Day early and the insult he delivered to the veterans who had travelled to Normandy for that solemn occasion.
“It also, frankly, was a desertion of the international responsibilities of the Prime Minister.
“The Prime Minister and especially the Conservative election campaign is now utterly in tatters.”
Starmer vows no surprises on tax in manifesto
Asked during a brewery visit in Camden whether he would be cutting taxes as part of Labour’s manifesto, Sir Keir Starmer told reporters there “won’t be any surprises on tax”.
The Labour leader said: “All of our plans are fully costed, fully funded, none of them involving tax rises over and above those that we have already set out.”
