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Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes Sir Keir Starmer “will do a very good job of running the country” if he wins the general election.The Ineos founder and Manchester United co-owner suggested that the Conservatives have had a “good run” but that “most of the country probably feels it’s time for a change.”“I’m sure Keir will do a very good job of running the country, I have no questions about that,” Sir Jim told Sky News.“The UK does need to get a bit sharper on the business front.” More

Wes Streeting needed to pull out a prompt card as he recited Sir Keir Starmer’s six Labour pledges.Appearing on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the shadow health secretary was sat opposite Grant Shapps when the BBC host caught them off guard with a “test”.While Mr Shapps was able to name all of Rishi Sunak’s five pledges, Mr Streeting only managed five of Sir Keir’s six key policies, which were outlined by the Labour leader on Friday 17 May.“The annoying thing is, I was preparing for that question and I still fluffed it,” he admitted.“I might as well just go home now.” More

Jess Phillips has revealed Sir Keir Starmer told her to “f*** off” when she expressed sympathy for Rishi Sunak.During an appearance on Have I Got News for You on Friday 17 May, the Labour MP was asked if Sir Keir “is as much of a laugh as he seems” by host Jason Manford.“He is funnier than Rishi Sunak, he told me to f*** off the other day,” Ms Phillips explained.“I was showing a level of sympathy to Rishi Sunak. I was starting to feel sorry for him – and he was like ‘oh f*** off Jess’”.Her anecdote drew laughter and applause from the audience. More

Suella Braverman was met with silence when she approached pro-Palestine protesters who had set up an encampment at Cambridge University.The former home secretary attempted to engage with people wearing masks, asking them what their “message” would be to Israel and Hamas and if they thought hostages should be released.Each time she tried to talk to protesters, they did not respond to her.Tents were set up outside the university’s Senate House ahead of graduation ceremonies due to take place there.The events were instead held at Downing College due to the protest. More

Jeremy Hunt accused Labour of spreading “fake news” to try and win the general election with claims about his economic plans.Speaking in London on Friday, 17 May, the chancellor hit out at Labour’s judgement that scrapping national insurance would mean a £46bn funding gap, and lead to higher taxes on pensioners, telling the audience: “I don’t make any bones about it. It is fake news and it is an absolute disgrace to try and win this election by scaring pensioners about a policy that is not true.”Announcing that further tax cuts would be implemented in the autumn, Mr Hunt criticised Keir Starmer for promising “motherhood and apple pie” following his speech on Thursday. More

Rishi Sunak was confronted on why he “hates pensioners” by Janet Street-Porter, who was angered by the recent spring Budget, during an appearance on Loose Women on Thursday, 16 May.The prime minister laughed off the blunt question, in which the presenter pointed out that some measures in the announcement did not cater for older people, responding that the triple lock had seen a rise in the state pension.Elsewhere in the live grilling, Mr Sunak was confronted about his own sex education had been at school – but he could not remember. More

Gillian Keegan failed to give specific, non-anecdotal evidence that she has seen “inappropriate material” being taught in classrooms as she was grilled on the government’s approach to sex education.The education secretary told BBC Breakfast: “There have been materials which I’ve seen … things like choosing lots of different genders and identities, and saying which ones of these are gender identities, gender spectrum, it can be a spectrum, it’s fluid, you can have different genders on different days.”It came after reports that age limits are set to be imposed for the first time on when children can be taught about sex education. More

Nigel Farage has suggested it is unlikely that he will join the Conservative Party after Jacob Rees-Mogg revealed that he wanted the Tories to join forces with both him and members of Reform UK.“It’s just not going to happen because Rishi [Sunak] is not bold, he has no leadership whatsoever,” Mr Farage said, responding to the idea on GB News.The former Ukip leader went on to add that the “vast majority” of Conservative MPs have “no courage” and “no vision”.“This will not happen, even though Jacob [Rees-Mogg] thinks it’s a frightfully good idea.” More