Indy TV

Penny Mordaunt and Angela Rayner became embroiled in a heated clash over defence as the Labour deputy leader claimed: “I won’t take lectures from you”.The candidates were taking part in a BBC live election debate on Friday (7 June), when the subject of the UK’s defence came up.Conservative candidate Ms Mordaunt accused Rayer of voting to end the UK’s nuclear deterrent. She said: “If you are doubting that they would use that force, imagine what Putin is thinking. Without credibility, we become a target. If we become a target we are less safe.”Ms Rayner hit back and told Ms Mordaunt: “You can tell as many lies as you want.”“My brother served in Iraq and I won’t be lectured by you.” More

Rishi Sunak laughed as he was heckled by a GP at a general election campaign event in Wiltshire on Friday evening (7 June).Dr Jane Lees-Millais, a Conservative member, warned there were 37,000 GPs across the UK angry with the government about what she described as “constructive dismissal” because of funding changes.As Mr Sunak said the UK was “on the right track”, due to economic growth and rising wages, the GP shouted: “But the NHS is disintegrating. I am one of 2,500 GPs in this country who are currently unemployed due to your policies.“What are you going to do about that? More

Rishi Sunak made sand “ice-cream” cones with children at a childcare centre in Swindon on Friday, 7 June, as he continued on the general election campaign trail.The prime minister met staff and youngsters at Imagination Childcare, and Conservative candidate for Swindon North Justin Tomlinson, as he sought to promote the Tory election offer aimed at helping higher earners keep more of their child benefit.It came after Mr Sunak was forced to make an apology for leaving D-Day commemorations in France early to take part in a TV interview. More

Rishi Sunak leaving D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations early on Thursday was an “embarrassing dereliction of duty,” Labour’s shadow housing minister has said.The prime minister apologised after skipping the major international ceremony remembering the 1944 landings in order to carry out a general election TV interview, prompting intense criticism.Mr Sunak described his decision as a “mistake.”Speaking to Sky News, Matthew Pennycook called Mr Sunak’s decision to leave France “embarrassing.””I’m glad he’s apologised, because it was absolutely a mistake,” he added. More

An NHS nurse clashed with a Tory minister during a heated Question Time debate on Thursday (6 June) as she told him “You talk absolute rubbish”.The nurse, who had worked in the NHS for 37 years, addressed Mark Harper, telling him social care had been “decimated”. She said: “Patients are dying in corridors. If you sorted out social care and put your money where your mouth is, then all these issues would be sorted.“You are talking absolute rubbish because you are trying to decimate the NHS and we all know that. You don’t want it and you never have wanted it.”“Are you going to let me come back on it?”, Mr Harper asked. More

Mark Harper repeated Rishi Sunak’s claim that Labour will hike household taxes by £2,000 if they win the general election during an appearance on Question Time on Thursday, 6 June.During the first televised debate of the campaign, the prime minster said analysis by Treasury civil servants showed a £38.5bn black hole in Sir Keir Starmer’s spending plans that would lead to each working household paying £2,094 more in tax.Treasury permanent secretary James Bowler said “civil servants were not involved in the production or presentation of the Conservative party’s document ‘Labour’s Tax Rises’ or in the calculation of the total figure used”. More

Two Tory ministers starred in a Gogglebox-style video reacting to the first leaders’ debate between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.Mel Stride and Gillian Keegan were filmed watching Tuesday night’s (4 June) clash between the prime minister and the Labour leader with what appeared to be alcoholic drinks beside them, similar to the Channel 4 show.The pair offered their reactions to the debate, commenting on the PM’s “crisp” shirt and telling Sir Keir to stop talking about Liz Truss.A YouGov instant reaction poll gave Mr Sunak a narrow win of 51 per cent to 49 per cent in the debate. More

The UK general election campaign is now in full swing, with less than one month to go until Britain heads to the polls.Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will have the opportunity to battle for votes over the coming weeks, with plenty of public appearances and a number of head-to-head TV debates planned.Occasionally, though, politicians can make a slip or two and it seems several high-profile gaffes have marred the early days of the Conservative Party’s election campaign. More