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    Reform activist filmed making slur about Sunak denies being racist because he has ‘had Muslim girlfriends’

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Reform UK activist filmed making a racial slur about prime minister Rishi Sunak claims he cannot be racist as “he has had Muslim girlfriends”.Andrew Parker was recorded by a Channel 4 undercover reporter saying army recruits should use migrants arriving by small boats in Kent as “target practice”, and labelling Islam a “disgusting cult” in widely condemned comments. Referring to Mr Sunak, who is of Indian descent, he said: “I’ve always been a Tory voter. But what annoys me is that f****** p*** we’ve got in. What good is he? You tell me, you know. He’s just wet. F****** useless.”Speaking on Friday, Mr Parker claimed he had made the comments in “the heat of the moment” because he was being “goaded on” and said they were “off-the-cuff”.“Of course I regret what I said,” he added. “Christ, I’m not a racist. I’ve had Muslim girlfriends. It was typical chaps-down-the-pub talk.”Andrew Parker’s racist comments were exposed by a Channel 4 News operation More

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    Labour unveils faux ‘Rishi’s Mega Mortgages’ shop front in south London

    Labour set up a faux “Rishi’s Mega Mortgages” shopfront on the campaign trail in south London on Friday 28 June.The tagline on the bright blue signage, which includes pictures of prime minister Rishi Sunak’s floating head with a wheeler-dealer style glinting tooth, reads in bright yellow: “Every deal will leave you worse off!”The number “£4,800” was also featured in the biggest font, emblazoned across the front, with one window for each digit.“Here’s my deal of the day. Your mortgage up £4,800”, the shopfront reads underneath.The signage also said “Rishi’s latest raw deals” and “you should be grateful”. More

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    Farage says Reform UK campaigner made homophobic remarks because he was drunk after football

    Nigel Farage said a Reform UK campaigner who made homophobic remarks did so because he’d “watched England play football” and “was drunk.”An undercover Channel 4 reporter’s recording in Clacton showed a canvasser describing the Pride flag as “degenerate” and suggesting members of the LGBT community are paedophiles.“People when they’re drunk often turn quite nasty. It was unforgivably nasty,” the party leader told Loose Women panellists on Friday, 28 June.The Channel 4 footage also captured campaigners using a racial slur and suggesting migrants should be used as “target practice”.Mr Farage has sought to distance himself from the comments, saying he was “dismayed” by the “appalling sentiments” expressed. More

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    Sunak reveals anger as daughters forced to hear Reform activist call him racist slur

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has revealed his hurt and anger after his daughters were exposed to their father being called a p*** by a Reform UK canvasser.Andrew Parker was caught using the racial slur while canvassing in Clacton, Essex, where Nigel Farage is standing as an MP in the general election.Mr Parker, who was filmed as part of an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News, said: “I’ve always been a Tory voter. But what annoys me is that f****** p*** we’ve got in. What good is he? You tell me, you know. He’s just wet. F****** useless”.On a campaign visit to a school in Teesside, the prime minister told broadcasters: “My two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign to Nigel Farage calling me an effing p***. It hurts and it makes me angry, and I think he has some questions to answer.Andrew Parker More

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    Johnny Mercer to stand down at next election blaming abuse as he reveals voter’s horrific comment to daughter

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailVeterans minister Johnny Mercer has said this will be his final election campaign due to the abuse his family have suffered – including a recent incident in which a man told his daughter: “Your dad’s a c***.”The Conservative candidate for Plymouth Moor View is the latest politician to open up about abuse and threatening behaviour, revealing it has left him feeling drained despite his love for the job. The 42-year-old won the seat from Labour in 2015, and has grown his majority to almost 13,000 over two subsequent elections.After three tours in Afghanistan, Mr Mercer said he entered politics to speak up for armed service veterans and the city he described as the “Jewel of the South West”. And despite an “up and down” time in government – he was relieved of his job twice as Veterans Minister before his latest stint under Rishi Sunak – Mr Mercer was “incredibly proud” of what he’d achieved.But he said abuse directed at him and his family has gone too far, and that if he wins his seat for a fourth successive term, it will be his last.Johnny Mercer speaking to a Conservative voter in Ernesettle in Plymouth during canvassing on Thursday More

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    Corbyn accuses Starmer of ‘not being honest about the past’ after criticism of 2019 campaign

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailJeremy Corbyn has accused Sir Keir Starmer of ‘not being honest’ when the current party leader said he knew that Labour would lose the 2019 general election.In an awkward exchange on the Sky News election debate earlier this month, Sir Keir was pressed by Beth Rigby about ditching his left wing policies once becoming leader of Labour. Asked whether he had meant it when he said his predecessor would make a great prime minister, Sir Keir replied: “I was certain we would lose the 2019 election. We were not ready. I was certain we would lose it.”He added: “I did campaign for Labour, of course I did. I will openly say I campaigned for Labour. I wanted good colleagues to be returned into the Labour Party, and I wanted a party that was capable of being changed so we can face the future again.”Then Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (right) alongside shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer during a press conference in central London in 2019 Jonathan Brady/PA) More

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    Pollster warns only one election question to be answered: ‘How big is the Tory loss?’

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA leading pollster has warned that defeat for the Tories in the general election next week is now unavoidable and the only question remaining is how much Rishi Sunak’s party loses by.The assessment by Techne UK’s chief executive Michela Morizzo – Italy’s equivalent of Professor Sir John Curtice – comes as her company’s tracker poll for The Independent shows that Labour goo into the final seven-day stretch with a 22 point lead over the Tories.Labour are on 41 per cent (down one) with the Tories languishing on 19 per cent for a third week in a row and Reform UK just two points behind still on 17 per cent. The Lib Dems are on 12 per cent and Greens on 5 per cent meaning that the five main parties almost completely unchanged from last week.It means that the final onslaught unleashed by Rishi Sunak in the head-to-head debate on Wednesday attacking Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on tax and immigration had almost no impact,, the same as most of his tactics throughout a problematic campaign.Instead, the Tories continue to be dogged by their own self inflicted wounds particularly the gambling scandal and before that Mr Sunak leaving the D-Day commemorations early.Ms Morizzo now believes that there is nothing he can do to turn things around in such a small space of time.She told The Independent: “With less than one full week before the British electorate go to the general election ballot boxes our regular tracker poll of Westminster voting intentions confirms what we have known now for sometime. There continues to be no closing of any gap between Labour and Conservatives continuing at a 22 per cent Labour lead. “If this wasn’t bad enough though for the Conservatives the steady rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK throughout the campaign to its position now 17 percent points of national vote – a rise of four to five polling points across the last four weeks will further squeeze and damage the Conservatives already faltering chances. Rishi Sunak has been mentioned in barely 1% of the Conservatives’ online adverts (Phil Noble/PA) More

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    Biden faces calls to stand down by former UK ambassador to the US after ‘historically bad performance’

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailPresident Joe Biden has faced calls to stand down by the former UK ambassador to the US after a “historically bad performance” in his TV debate with Donald Trump.Mr Biden and former US president Trump went head to head for the first debate of the 2024 presidential election on Thursday night.The current president’s performance added to concerns about his age and mental fitness as he struggled with his lines, mumbled and, at times, appeared confused.During one particularly excruciating moment he lost his train of thought while discussing healthcare, before pausing, and saying, “We finally beat Medicare”. Mr Trump responded: “He did beat Medicare. Beat it to death.”At another point when Mr Biden trailed off while talking about immigration, Mr Trump responded: “I don’t know if he knows what he said, either.”Lord Kim Darroch, who served as British ambassador to the United States between January 2016 and December 2019, urged Mr Biden to stand down. He said on Radio 4’s Today programme: “Joe Biden should stand aside. This was a historically bad performance. He was inaudible, incoherent and lost his train of thought several times. “Some of his answers simply made no sense. The one “we have beaten Medicaid” will be repeated a thousand times between now and the election. He should stand down – it’s very hard to see him winning now.”Lord Darroch was forced to quit his stateside role in July 2019 – before Boris Johnson took the reins as Prime Minister – after frank diplomatic cables referring to Donald Trump were leaked.Lord Kim Darroch More