News

Rishi Sunak has once again refused to be drawn on exactly when a general election could be called.Speaking to ITV News on Friday 9 February, the prime minister suggested the UK will have a “brighter future” with another Conservative government and claimed voting in Labour would be “going back to square one”.“We are going to have an election this year,” Mr Sunak said when asked if a vote would happen “sooner rather than later”.“We have had a tough couple of years, I am the first person to say that… but at the start of this year, we are really pointing in the right direction.” More

Paddy McGuinness shocked Question Time host Fiona Bruce – and the audience – by revealing his father once used pliers to pull his teeth.The panel, which also included James Daly and Wes Streeting, were discussing the difficulty of registering as an NHS dentist patient when a member of the audience asked if it was “time to invest in a pair of pliers”.“Funnily enough my dad did that, took his own teeth out because he couldn’t get a dentist appointment,” McGuinness said, drawing a shocked “what?” from Bruce.“This is a few years back, so I know that first hand.” More

Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard clashed with Jonathan Reynolds on Labour U-turns during an interview on Good Morning Britain on Friday 9 February.After listing U-turns on wealth tax, tuition fees and nationalisation, Mr Shephard suggested the public doesn’t know what Labour is going to deliver “because give it five months and you could change your minds.”“I don’t think it is fair to say – going back to previous Labour commitments from previous leaders – that there has been a change,” Mr Reynolds, the shadow secretary for business and trade, responded.“As you get to a general election year, we have to be ready, we have to have a manifesto ready.” More

Paddy McGuinness clashed with a Tory MP over the Brexit campaign promise about leaving the EU leading to £350m a week for the NHS.The comedian and TV presenter, 50, called out James Daly during an appearance on the BBC’s Question Time on Thursday, 7 February.As the new deputy chair of the Conservatives launched into a defence of his party, McGuinness questioned him: “Well where is it? Why is the NHS on its knees if it’s here? Why are they going on strike, nurses and doctors, if it’s here? Where is it?”Viewers praised McGuinness on social media, with one commenting: “Paddy McGuinness for PM. Wow.” More

Rishi Sunak was not making a joke about transgender people at Prime Minister’s Questions, a transgender writer has claimed.Mr Sunak refused to apologise to the family of murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey after his jibe while her mother was visiting parliament.Speaking to LBC on Thursday (7 February), Debbie Hayton defended Mr Sunak’s comments in the House of Commons the previous day.Ms Hayton said: “The focus of what Rishi Sunak was saying was at Keir Starmer”Starmer spent time not being able to declare what a woman is because he has to say different things to please different audiences.” More

Policing minister Chris Philp has defended Rishi Sunak after he made a joke about the “definition of a woman” as the mother of murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey visited parliament.In an interview with BBC Breakfast on Thursday (8 February), Mr Philp said: “The Prime Minister made no reference at all to any individual trans people.“It was Keir Starmer who introduced that. The Prime Minister was making a point about Labour’s very numerous flip-flops.”Asked about Brianna Ghey’s father’s call for an apology, Mr Philp said: “I think anyone who is interested in this issue should actually listen to the clip, listen to the initial exchange.” More

Rishi Sunak has said he still speaks to Boris Johnson “on occasion” and refused to rule out bringing the former prime minister back into the fold.Speaking to ITV, the PM said he was “proud of the work we did together” before he became one of the first in a series of ministerial departures before the former Tory leader’s resignation.Mr Sunak insisted he would “never talk about these personnel things”.“We worked well together for a long time. In the end there are, you know, well-documented differences,” he added. More

Patients are pulling their teeth out and Ukrainian refugees are flying back to the war-torn country for appointments amid a lack of NHS dentistry services, Wes Streeting has said.It comes after a seven-year-old Ukrainian girl and her mother flew to Poland and took a 15-hour bus across Ukraine for dental treatment because the NHS waiting list was so long.A British Dental Association survey of 500 UK dentists found that “DIY” dentistry is “rampant” – 82 per cent of respondents said they have treated patients who have taken matters into their own hands since lockdown.The BDA said “DIY dentistry” could be any form of DIY dental care, from a simple filling kit to an attempt at extraction. More