Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe man who could become the face of the greatest shock in British political history has claimed that whether he wins or not, there is a “bubbling undercurrent” of change in the electorate which means once safe Tory strongholds will fall.Tom Wilson is the 29-year-old Labour candidate running against Rishi Sunak in Richmond and Northallerton who, according to polls last week, could be the first electoral “king killer” – in that he may be the first person to defeat a sitting prime minister in a general election.He became a person of interest for the entire political establishment when an MRP poll last week suggested Mr Sunak’s constituency was “too close to call”.For everyone looking for the so-called “Portillo moment” of this election – named after the shock defeat of Michael Portillo in the 1997 Tory collapse – this looked unbeatable.Sunak could be facing a Portillo moment, according to some polls More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA top aide to James Cleverly has described Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation plan as “crap”, a leaked recording has revealed.James Sunderland, Tory candidate for Bracknell and the home secretary’s parliamentary private secretary, said he has been immersed in the policy for two years, repeatedly calling it “crap”.Addressing a private meeting in April, Mr Sunderland said: “I have been part of this for the last two years and am probably going to say too much.Click here for our live coverage of the general election campaign.“What I would say to you is that… nobody has got their cameras or phones on, have they?“The policy is crap, OK, it’s crap.”James Sunderland said the Rwanda policy is ‘crap’ More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email The chief data officer of Britain’s Conservative Party has taken a leave of absence, British media reported Sunday, following growing allegations that the governing party’s members have been using inside information to bet on the date of Britain’s July 4 national election.The Sunday Times and others reported that Nick Mason is the fourth Conservative official to be investigated by the U.K.’s Gambling Commission for allegedly betting on the timing of the election before the date had been announced. The Times alleged that dozens of bets had been placed with potential winnings worth thousands of pounds. Two other Conservative election candidates, Laura Saunders and Craig Williams, are under investigation by the gambling watchdog. Saunders’ husband Tony Lee, the Conservative director of campaigning, has also taken a leave of absence following allegations he was also investigated over alleged betting. The growing scandal, which came just two weeks ahead of the national election, has dealt a fresh blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which is widely expected to lose to the opposition Labour Party after 14 years in power. Sunak said this week that he was “incredibly angry” to learn of the allegations and said that anyone found to have broken the law should be expelled from his party. Saunders, a candidate standing in Bristol, southwest England, has said she will cooperate fully with the investigation. Williams was Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary as well as a candidate. Senior Conservative minister Michael Gove has condemned the alleged betting and likened it to “ Partygate,” the ethics scandal that contributed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ouster in 2022. That controversy saw public trust in the Conservatives plummet after revelations that politicians and officials held lockdown-flouting parties and gatherings in government buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. “It looks like one rule for them and one rule for us,” Gove told the Sunday Times. “That’s the most potentially damaging thing.”Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said “people are sick and tired of this sleaze” and that Sunak must intervene and order an official inquiry.The Conservative Party said it cannot comment because investigations are ongoing. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer have led criticism of Nigel Farage after the Reform UK leader claimed that the West “provoked” Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.It did not stop Mr Farage from doubling down on his comments, originally made in a BBC Panorama interview which aired on Friday night, in a column piece on Saturday afternoon for the Daily Telegraph, claiming that he should “not be blamed for telling the truth about Putin’s war”. Asked about the remarks during an election campaign visit in London on Saturday, prime minister Mr Sunak suggested Mr Farage was “emboldening Putin”.“What [Mr Farage] said was completely wrong and only plays into Putin’s hands,” he said.“This is a man [Mr Putin] who deployed nerve agent on the streets of Britain, who is doing deals with countries like North Korea, and this kind of appeasement is dangerous for Britain’s security, the security of our allies that rely on us, and only emboldens Putin further.”Sir Keir, speaking at another campaign event in the capital, said: “Anyone who is standing for parliament ought to be really clear that Russia is the aggressor, Putin bears responsibility, and that we stand with Ukraine, as we have done from the beginning of this conflict.Nigel Farage drew a link between Nato and European Union expansion in recent decades and the conflict in eastern Europe More