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      Litvinenko’s widow ‘disgusted’ by Farage and Reform UK candidate’s praise for Putin

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      Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRussian dissidents living in the UK have hit back at “deeply offensive” words of admiration for Vladimir Putin by Nigel Farage and another Reform UK candidate.It comes as a former British defence attache posted in Moscow described Mr Farage and his party, now third in the polls, as “deeply maligned actors … working against the security interest of our country”.When asked about both accusations, a Reform UK spokesperson burst into laughter, before suggesting Julian Malins, a party candidate who last weekend bragged about meeting Putin and that he “seemed very good”, was merely a highly-intelligent “eccentric sort of character”.Mr Malins later sought to clarify his comments, saying Putin was a “popular” president and therefore a “good Russian president”, but said he was not a good man “in the Christian sense”.Three dissidents, as well as newly-knighted Sir Bill Browder, formerly Russia’s largest foreign investor before being exiled by Putin, told The Independent that comments from Mr Farage and Mr Malins were an affront not only to them but to the British passport holder Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence in a Siberian solitary confinement cell for speaking out against the invasion of Ukraine. After the death of Alexei Navalny in a Russian penal colony, Mr Kara-Murza’s family now fear he will Putin’s next target. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow More

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      Inside Jeremy Corbyn’s fight for Islington seat after former Labour leader stripped of the party machine

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      Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailIt has been seven long years since the White Stripes song “Seven Nation Army” became an anthem for a new generation of Labour voters. In 2017 the chant “Oh Jeremy Corbyn” rang out at music festivals and political rallies as young people got behind the socialist firebrand. But fast forward to 2024 and not only is Mr Corbyn not Labour leader, he is no longer a member of the party he championed for 40 years, and is instead running as an independent. Unfortunately for the man who has served Islington North since 1983, not all of his supporters appear to know that, and that could at least partly explain why the veteran campaigner appears to have a real fight on his hands despite winning a majority of 26,000 in 2019. Then Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn with shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer at a press conference in London in 2019 More

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      Voters in ‘blue wall’ seats bombarded with Lib Dem ads as party steps up moves to oust Tories like Jeremy Hunt

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      Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailVoters in the blue wall have seen an average of eight Liberal Democrat adverts as the party steps up its bid to oust high-profile names like Jeremy Hunt, according to sources.The Lib Dems are climbing in the opinion polls, with some even suggesting they could be fighting for second place in the event of a Tory meltdown. Forecasts indicate the party could take more than 50 seats on Thursday, after a campaign noted for leader Ed Davey’s stunts.Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has spent £100,000 of his own money to try to save his seat (Aaron Chown/PA) More

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      Nigel Farage claims Reform UK activist who directed racist comments at Rishi Sunak is ‘an actor’

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      Nigel Farage claimed a Reform UK canvasser who called for English Channel migrants to be used as “target practice” was an actor.When challenged that “all sorts of people are actors”, on Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme (29 June), the Reform UK leader said of the canvasser who was filmed by an undercover reporter: “He’s an actor – a rather well-spoken actor – but he has an alter ego. He does what he calls ‘rough speaking’.“I was there working in the office in Essex when he turned up and he was, from the moment he walked through the room, like a version of Alf Garnett (a character from the 1960s sitcom Till Death Us Do Part who used racist slurs).” More

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      Rishi Sunak in fiery clash with BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg over Brexit: ‘You’re completely wrong’

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      Rishi Sunak was involved in a fiery clash with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg over Brexit on Sunday (30 June) as the prime minister told her “You’re completely wrong”.Mr Sunak was pressed about claims that the UK’s departure from the EU has hit the economy since the 2016 referendum.Ms Kuenssberg asked: “Some people believe, including the Independent Climate Change Committee, that the UK has lost its status as a leader. Was it a mistake?”Mr Sunak replied: “No, I fundamentally disagree. You said we lost our standing in the world. That is completely and utterly wrong.”“That is not what I said,” Ms Kuenssberg interrupted. More

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      Watch moment Led by Donkeys interrupt Nigel Farage’s speech with huge Putin banner

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      This is the moment political activists disrupted Nigel Farage’s Reform election speech as they lowered a banner showing Vladimir Putin and the words ‘I heart Nigel’.Mr Farage was giving a speech at The Columbine Centre in Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex on Saturday (29 June), when Led by Donkeys carried out the prank.The Reform leader can be heard asking “Who put that up there?” before joking: “Someone at The Columbine Centre needs to get the sack”. Two staff members attempted to get rid of the banner, while audience members cheered and chanted “Rip it down”. More

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      Trevor Phillips issues defiant Reform racism row warning: ‘We protect our children’

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      Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips spoke of the need to protect his children from racism as he issued a defiant message in the Reform racism row.In a week that saw one campaigner refer to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a “f****** p***” and another claim migrants arriving by small boats should be “target practice”, Nigel Farage’s party has come under fire.Presenting his politics show on Sunday (30 June), Mr Phillips said: “In our family, we protect our children, not by hiding them from the reality of the world but preparing them for a world in which such words are still regrettably commonplace.“They understand from the get-go that the person with the problem is not them, but the racist. All that said, out of courtesy to some colleagues who feel differently and who may be distressed by the use of such words, we’ll do our best to avoid them today.” More

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      Keir Starmer warns ‘hardest mile’ ahead as he tries to rally Labour activists for final push

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      Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailKeir Starmer has warned Labour activists the “hardest mile” is still ahead as he attempted to rally his troops for a final push towards polling day.The Labour leader told an event in central London: “This is the final furlong. This is the last push. The last mile, the hardest mile.”He asked them to imagine waking up to a Tory government on 5 July, saying that the millions of undecided voters mean “it could happen”.At the same event his deputy, Angela Rayner, had an equally tough message for the invited audience, telling them: “Right now we have won nothing.”Even as it unveiled star-studded endorsements from the likes of Sir Elton John, Labour is desperate to convince voters, as well as its own activists, the election is by no means in the bag.Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner (left) with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria More