Indy TV

James Cleverly criticised Banksy’s small boat released into the crowd at Glastonbury, describing the piece as “a celebration of the loss of life in the channel”.A small boat filled with migrant dummies in orange life jackets was hoisted into the crowd during Idles’ performance on the Other Stage on Friday, 28 June.The artist later claimed responsibility for the work, posting footage of the performance on Instagram.Speaking to Sky News on Monday, the home secretary said: “There are a bunch of people there joking and celebrating about criminal actions which costs lives, people die… This is not funny. It is vile.” More

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

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

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

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

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was met by laughter from veterans during an Armed Forces Day visit on Saturday (29 June).The Conservative leader, who was recently criticised for leaving a D-Day event early, listened to stories from the veterans on a campaign visit in his North Yorkshire constituency.Enjoying tea and cake at Ellerton Lakeside Cafe, near Northallerton, Mr Sunak told them: “If we’re re-elected, we’re actually going to have a veteran’s bill, we’re going to pass our first ever veteran’s bill in Parliament. That will bring together all the things that we need to do – put some things in law that will improve the service that we’ve providing. More

Security minister Tom Tugendhat has hit out at a “pattern of racist and misogynistic views” within Reform UK.Campaigners for Nigel Farage’s party Reform UK in the Clacton seat in Essex he hopes to win were recorded by an undercover journalist from Channel 4 making racist comments, including about the Prime Minister who is of Indian descent.Mr Tugendhat said it was just the latest incident involving candidates or activists associated with Reform.He told Times Radio on Saturday (29 June): “There’s many decent people vote for every political party and there’s many decent people who will vote for Reform.“But what we’re trying to do is to remind people, to try to make clear to people, what it is that Reform really is.” More

‘The Whitby Woman’ is a key target voter that pollsters and political strategists think is essential for the Conservatives or Labour to win over if they’re to win the general election. With an average age of around 61, she is a homeowner who lives in a suburb or a small town like Whitby, who voted in favour of Brexit and is less likely to have gone to university.Maya Oppenheim visits Whitby, England to see if the sterotype holds and what the women of Whitby thought of the persona being targeted by the political parties. More