Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailFour Tory candidates have signed up to the pledges of Laurence Fox’s right-wing Reclaim Party in exchange for campaign donations of £5,000 each.The four Conservatives, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Karl McCartney and Marco Longhi, have promised to uphold Reclaim’s “four commitments to culture”.The commitments are to seek to pull Britain out of the European Court of Human Rights, repeal the Human Rights Act, ban gender reassignment for children and to reform the Equality Act.Laurence Fox said he founded Reclaim after being ‘cancelled’ for a BBC Question Time appearance More

The Independent has launched a brand new WhatsApp Community, bringing you the latest news on the General Election as the campaign unfolds.Never miss a big story as our dedicated politics team will keep you informed on the latest breaking news, exclusive features, gripping interviews and must-watch videos.You can expect breaking news alerts, exclusive poll results and campaign updates, cutting-edge opinion from our commentators and Premium news analysis from our award-winning journalists.To sign up to our free service all you need to do is follow the simple steps below:How to join The Independent’s WhatsApp channel( More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Tory minister has said he was “surprised and disappointed” by Rishi Sunak’s decision to snub commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.Becoming the latest member of the PM’s top team to condemn him over the gaffe, policing minister Chris Philp said Mr Sunak “made a mistake”.It followed criticism from transport secretary Mark Harper, who said the prime minister had made a mistake and apologised for it. That came after House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, a Navy reservist, who branded MR Sunak’s snub “completely wrong”.Rishi Sunak left the D-Day commemorations early More

A Tory aide stopped a Sky News interview with Richard Holden as the party chairman sought to avoid questions about how he landed a plum Conservative constituency.Mr Holden, until recently the MP for North West Durham, was the sole candidate presented on what was expected to be a shortlist of three names for the Basildon and Billericay seat.He was asked about the “stitch-up” process that led to his candidacy, beginning his answer with the words “Emily Thornberry” before he was cut off by Jon Craig.An off-camera CCHQ advisor then interrupted to complain about the questions and terminate the interview. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Conservative Party chairman has been involved in a clash with a reporter as he attempted to dodge questions before an aide stepped in to end the interview.Richard Holden was being grilled by Sky News’s chief political Correspondent Jon Craig in Westminster on Sunday over the way he was chosen as an electoral candidate for the Basildon and Billericay constituency at the last minute this week.A bumbling Mr Holden repeatedly tries to avoid answering directly, but he is pressed by Mr Craig over the accusations of a “stitch-up” – and then an off-camera CCHQ advisor interrupts to complain about the questions and terminate the interview.In the clip shared on social media, Mr Craig begins by asking: “So you can’t justify the way you have been parachuted into Basildon and Billericay? You’re not deciding it’s a stitch-up and it’s anti-democratic?”Mr Holden pauses before replying with a deflection onto Labour: “Emily Thornberry today has admitted…”He is cut off by the journalist saying: “I’m going to stop you now. This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous! You said in an interview earlier this year you were bloody loyal to the North East. What happened to that?”The Tory press officer is now heard muttering “this wasn’t agreed” in the background.Mr Holden insists, “I’ve already answered these questions,” referring to an interview Channel 4, an answer rejected by Mr Craig, who responds: “That’s one broadcaster isn’t it? This is a pool interview for all the other broadcasters.”The unseen aide can be heard arguing: “These broadcasters agreed that the questions would be specifically…” before Mr Craig throws back: “No, nobody agreed! I’ve got a list here of questions from other broadcasters. Nobody’s agreed, absolutely not.”With a sheepish Mr Holden still in the camera shot, the advisor then asserts: “If that’s the way this is going to go, then we will just leave, because that’s not what we agreed to come here today to discuss.”A Labour source told HuffPost: “The Conservatives have spent another day in total chaos – running and ducking from scrutiny. They know their desperate, scattergun plans don’t stack up and think they can take the public for fools.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Flemish nationalist parties dominated general elections in Belgium on Sunday as Prime minister Alexander De Croo’s liberal party took a hit, with difficult coalition talks to form a new government now looming. Despite polls predicting that the far-right, anti-immigration Vlaams Belang party would become the main political force in the country with 11.5 million inhabitants, the right-wing nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) retained its first spot, with an expected 22% of the votes, according to provisional results provided by the Interior ministry.The Vlaams Belang came in second position, with a share of 17.5%, ahead of the Socialist Voruit party, which garnered about 10.5% of the votes.De Croo’s party managed less than 7% of the votes, lagging well behind the far-left.Belgian voters returned to the national polls on Sunday, in conjunction with the European Union vote and elections for regional chambers.Sunday’s results will result in complex negotiations in a country divided by language and deep regional identities. Belgium is split along linguistic lines, with francophone Wallonia in the south and Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north, and governments are invariably formed by coalitions made of parties from both regions. Vlaams Belang has so far been blocked from entering governments as mainstream parties vowed to exclude it from power under a “cordon sanitaire” doctrine referring to the protective barrier put in place to stop the spread of infectious diseases.De Croo is in charge of a seven-party coalition government which was formed after almost 18 months of talks following the previous elections five years ago. The wait was even longer after the 2010 vote when the country needed 541 days to form a government, still a world record.As more than eight million Belgians took to the polls on a hot and sunny day, voters sometimes had to queue for hours before they could vote in Brussels, the country’s capital city.With some people struggling to cope with the hot weather, the Red Cross reportedly helped out and handed out bottles of water.There were also reports of irregularities, as some underage voters who were only allowed to cast their ballot in the European elections also managed to vote in regional and federal elections they were not entitled to take part in. Teenagers aged 16 and 17 were allowed to vote for the first time in the European elections, but Belgian citizens must be at least 18 to vote in the other elections.Following reports in local media Sunday that people under 18 voted in all three elections, Interior minister Annelies Verlinden told VRT news that “the errors appeared to have been limited” and that any complaints will be investigated. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has been accused of going into hiding after his disastrous decision to snub commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.After a senior minister was forced to deny he is considering quitting before the general election, Labour pointed to the fact the PM has not faced the media in more than 48 hours.Rishi Sunak has not taken questions from the media in 48 hours More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour’s general election candidate for Dover and Deal has said he would not have stood for the party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.Mike Tapp, who is fighting to replace Tory defector Natalie Elphicke in the battleground seat, told The Independent he did not feel he could trust the former Labour leader on defence and security.But the 39-year-old former soldier praised Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership and said now voters in the constituency “understand that Labour takes this seriously”.Labour’s general election candidate for Dover and Deal Mike Tapp with his dog, Scooby More