UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Thursday that anyone involved in using inside information to bet on the date of Britain’s July 4 national election should be expelled from his Conservative Party.Sunak said on the BBC that he was “incredibly angry, incredibly angry” to learn of allegations that Conservative politicians betted on the election date, and that they “should face the full force of the law” if they were found to have broken the law.“It’s right that they are being investigated properly by the relevant law enforcement authorities,” he said. “If anyone is found to have broken the rules, not only should they face the full consequences of the law, I will make sure that they are booted out of the Conservative Party.”Two weeks ahead of the general election, it was an uncomfortable experience for Sunak, whose Conservative Party is trailing the main opposition Labour Party — by 20 points by many polls — ahead of the vote.Earlier, asked about reports that the U.K.’s Gambling Commission was investigating a second Conservative candidate for placing a bet on the timing of the election, housing minister Michael Gove told the BBC that if people used inside information to bet, it would be “deeply wrong.” “What I can’t do is sort of get too much into the detail of the case while an investigation is going on,″ Gove said. “But I can talk about the broad principle and you’re absolutely right, it’s reprehensible.”Sunak announced on May 22 that parliamentary elections would be held on July 4. The date had been a closely guarded secret and many, even those in Sunak’s governing Conservative Party, were taken by surprise as a vote had been expected in the fall.Under the United Kingdom’s electoral laws, the prime minister has the power to call the date within five years of the previous election. Many members of Sunak’s party have said that he called it too soon, as he had until January 2025 to call the balloting.British media, including the PA news agency and the BBC, reported on Thursday that Tory candidate Laura Saunders, who is married to the Conservative Party’s director of campaigning, Tony Lee, is facing a commission investigation into alleged betting offences. Saunders’ attorney, Nama Zarroug, of Astraea Linskills, said she would be co-operating with the commission investigation and that she had nothing further to add.“It is inappropriate to conduct any investigation of this kind via the media, and doing so risks jeopardizing the work of the Gambling Commission and the integrity of its investigation,” the statement said. “The publication of the BBC’s story is premature and is a clear infringement of Ms Saunders’ privacy rights. She is considering legal action against the BBC and any other publishers who infringe her privacy rights,” it added.The Conservative Party said Britain’s Gambling Commission contacted it over a “small number of individuals″ in connection with the investigation. The party declined to immediately comment on the fresh allegation pending the commission investigation. But it said in a statement that Lee took a leave of absence from the party on Wednesday. The broadening scandal came after reports Wednesday that one of Sunak’s police bodyguards was arrested over alleged bets on the date of Britain’s national election made before it was announced. The constable in the Royalty and Specialist Protection Command was arrested Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, the Metropolitan Police force said.Last week, Sunak aide Craig Williams, who is running to be reelected to Parliament, acknowledged he was being investigated by the Gambling Commission for placing a 100 pound ($128) bet on a July election before the date had been announced.Betting is popular in the U.K., with bookies offering odds on everything from sports to elections. Cheating by acting on inside information is a criminal offense.___Associated Press writer Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report. More

Members of the BBC Question Time special audience shouted “shame” when Rishi Sunak said he would prioritise the UK’s security over the European Convention on Human Rights.Speaking during the debate on Thursday (20 June), Mr Sunak said: “I believe everything we are doing is compliant with our international obligations.”Mr Sunak said he was “prepared to do what it takes” to begin sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, adding that the country does not need a “foreign court” to issue instructions on border security.“I will put our country first,” he added.Calls of “shame on you” could still be heard during the programme’s closing credits. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has said he could take drivers’ licences and bank accounts off 18-year-olds if they refuse to take part in his mandatory national service.The prime minister has so far failed to say how he will force young people to participate in the scheme, which would see them volunteer with community groups or join the armed forces.And, pressed by BBC Question Time presenter Fiona Bruce, Mr Sunak suggested the government will consider stopping young people having access to finance or drivers’ licences.Rishi Sunak suggested 18-year-olds could lose their driving licences or bank accounts More

Sir Keir Starmer refused to say if Jeremy Corbyn would have made a good prime minister during BBC’s Question Time leaders election debate.The Labour leader was repeatedly quizzed by host Fiona Bruce on whether he believed his predecessor would have made a good leader for the country during the debate on Thursday night (20 June).When asked to give a “yes or no” answer, Sir Keir said he did not think Labour could have won the general election in 2019.When pressed further, he said: “He would be a better prime minister… look what we got… Boris Johnson, a man who made massive promises and did not keep them.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWhen a soaking wet Rishi Sunak stood in front of Downing Street last month to call a snap 4 July general election, the Conservative Party needed a miracle.Almost three years had passed since the Tories enjoyed a lead over Labour in the polls, and the prime minister had given them just six weeks to turn it around. No campaign is ever perfect, but Mr Sunak’s needed to be pretty close to stop Sir Keir Starmer walking into Downing Street on 5 July.But since the prime minister kicked off proceedings in the wettest of circumstances, the picture for the Tories has gone from bad to utterly bleak. Journalists sat around a conference table in a plain white room while Gove toured the site More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak is staring at an electoral catastrophe as two more polls confirmed that the Tories could be stranded as the third party in British politics after the election.With just two weeks to go before the election date a new Redfield and Wilton poll has put Reform ahead of the Tories for the second time in a week while the Techne UK weekly tracker poll for The Independent has seen Nigel Farage’s party close within two points.Michela Morizzo, chief executive of Techne UK, said: “The election is just two weeks away, and it’s normal to see more undecided voters. But this time the political scenario is more complicated than ever and political parties – above all the Conservatives – have only fortnight to try to persuade those who are undecided or defected to Reform to come back.“At this time things look very bleak indeed for Rishi Sunak and his Conservatives. Let’s see what the last two weeks of campaign will bring.”Both polling outcomes would consign the Conservatives to less than 50 seats and give the Lib Dems a chance of being the official opposition even though they are only polling at 11 and 12 percent in the two polls.The disastrous results come after the Tory campaign has been hit by a scandal of people close to Mr Sunak’s inner circle betting on the election date just before he called it. In a campaign which has already been dogged by mishaps including leaving the D-Day commemorations early, Mr Sunak has now lost his director of campaigning Tony Lee to the gambling scandals. The Redfield and Wilton poll puts Labour 23 points ahead of Reform on 42 percent with Farage’s party on 19 percent and the Tories one point back on 18 percent. It follows the shock YouGov poll last week which put Reform a point ahead of the Conservatives.If this were to be the outcome of an election it Electoral Calculus, the prediction website, calculates that Labour would have a majority of 366 with the Lib Dems on 56 seats, Tories 35 and Reform five.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a visit to Sizewell in Suffolk, while on the General Election campaign trail has a lot to think about (PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA number of Reform UK candidates are set to win their seats in the upcoming general election as the Tories faltering campaign grinds on, according to a new shock poll.In a major boost for party leader Nigel Farage, up to five Reform candidates are predicted to become MPs, according to YouGov’s most recent projection. The MRP poll also predicts the Tories would drop to just 108 seats, losing 257 of the seats they won in 2019, and Labour would win a huge majority of 425 seats, up by 223.The Reform candidates predicted to win include leader Nigel Farage, former Tory chair Lee Anderson, Stephen Conlay, Rupert Lowe and Sean Roger Matthews. Here, The Independent takes a closer look at the Reform UK candidates set to take their seats in the Commons on 5 July. Stephen Conlay( More

Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent’s Race Correspondent Nadine WhiteSign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race ReportA Black politician has reported racist abuse received in response to an election campaign video to the Metropolitan Police.Labour’s Dawn Butler received a torrent of abuse from online trolls after she released a video of herself rapping on a version of So Solid Crew’s “21 Seconds”.The Labour candidate for the new Brent East seat constituency, who has been MP in Brent Central since 2015, recorded the clip to mark 21 days remaining until the general election on 4 July. The Independent understands two images depicting monkeys have been reported to the Met Police.Ms Butler said: “The abuse that Black women in public life receive is absolutely appalling. “I can say that from personal experience and if people want just a snippet of what it is like, they can look for my regular ‘Block of the Week’ feature on social media every Friday, containing horrific abuse.” The “21 Seconds” clip was posted last Thursday but she said further abuse this week over a post she made on X, formerly Twitter, highlights the issue.Ms Butler was speaking to The Independent as the charity Glitch launches a campaign to address abuse aimed at Black women in politics ahead of polling day.A racist image sent to Dawn Butler More