UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email A former Tory cabinet minister has accused Rishi Sunak of helping to ensure a large Labour victory as the Tory blame game escalates before even a single vote has been cast.John Redwood hit out at what he called the ‘One Nation leadership’ of his party. He said that together with Nigel Farage’s Reform, if they polls are correct, they will “visit on us” a Labour government “that may have a lower vote share than Labour led by Jeremy Corbyn… but have a large majority of MPs giving it a lot of potential power.” However, that would only hold if Labour “can keep its party together”, he added.Sir John Redwood More

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UKSign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday dismissed suggestions that his party was headed to defeat in the July 4 general election, using one of his final televised appearances to defend the Conservatives’ record on the economy.Sunak told the BBC that he believed he’d still be in power by the end of the week, despite opinion polls that have found the Conservatives trailing far behind the opposition Labour Party of Keir Starmer.“I’m fighting very hard,” Sunak said. “And I think people are waking up to the real danger of what a Labour government means.”While he acknowledged that the last few years “had been difficult for everyone,’’ Sunak declared it was “completely and utterly wrong” to suggest that Britain’s place in the world has diminished since Brexit.“It’s entirely wrong, this kind of declinist narrative that people have of the U.K. I wholeheartedly reject,” he said. “It (the U.K.) is a better place to live than it was in 2010.’’After 14 years of Conservative-led governments, many voters blame the party for Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, long waiting lists for health care, high levels of immigration and the dislocations caused by Britain’s departure from the European Union.Sunak, who became prime minister in October 2022, has tried to silence his critics by arguing that his policies have begun to solve those problems and warning that Starmer, the Labour leader, would raise taxes if his party wins the election. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailTikTok suspended the livestream of a Reform UK rally for around half an hour on Sunday, the social media platform has confirmed.The “temporary suspension” of the stream on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s account was due to a “moderation error”, a spokesperson for the site said.His access to TikTok’s “Live” feature has since been restored.Mr Farage addressed thousands of Reform UK supporters at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre on Sunday afternoon, along with other members of the party.People complained that the livestream cut out as Reform UK politician Ann Widdecombe addressed the crowd.Ann Widdecombe speaking during a Reform UK General Election campaign launch (Lucy North/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Long-serving Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte urged his country to support Ukraine and international cooperation in his final address to his compatriots Sunday, as an inward-looking new government is set to take over the Netherlands in two days.“It is crucial that our country is embedded in the European Union and NATO. Together we are stronger than alone. Especially now,” the 57-year-old Rutte said from his office in The Hague. After leading the country for 14 years, he will take his experience with consensus-building to Brussels, where he will take over as NATO’s new secretary-general later this year.He stressed the need to continue support for Ukraine, “for peace there and security here.” The new government, expected to take office on Tuesday, has pledged to maintain assistance. But far-right populist Geert Wilders, whose party won the largest block of seats in last year’s election, has expressed pro-Russia views and Kremlin backers cheered his victory at the polls. Rutte described the MH17 tragedy in 2014 as “perhaps the most drastic and emotional event” during his tenure. The passenger jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine as it traveled from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, killing all 298 passengers and crew, including 196 Dutch citizens.A Dutch court convicted two Russians and a pro-Moscow Ukrainian in 2022 of involvement in the downing of the Boeing 777. Known for cycling to meetings and his dedication to politics, Rutte highlighted his country’s positive attributes. “There is no war here, you can be who you are, we are prosperous,” he said in the 12-minute speech. He acknowledged that there had been low points during his tenure, including a child benefits scandal that wrongly labeled thousands of parents as fraudsters.Wearing a white shirt with several of the top buttons undone, Rutte said that his time in office had added some “gray hairs and wrinkles” to his appearance. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAs you drive into Clacton there are scores of pro-Farage Reform posters asking people to “save Britain” in what is becoming a struggle for the soul of right-of-centre politics.Only as you travel out to the more genteel areas of the constituency, like Frinton, do they give way to “I stand with Giles” boards. But Giles Watling, the Tory MP defending his Clacton seat, may be the only Conservative candidate in this election with a wide coalition of support across the country willing him to win.In the wake of the Channel 4 News expose of the Reform Clacton team and the racist comments by one of the canvassers Andrew Parker, Watling received a telephone call from Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell, in normal circumstances no lover of Tories.Giles Watling is defending his Clacton seat for the Tories More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailCandidates can turn up just about anywhere on the campaign trail, but several families were shocked when Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg walked into their children’s first holy communion. Sir Jacob had permission to appear with his family and a film crew for a mass at St Joseph and St Teresa Church in Somerset earlier this month, but while a sign had been put up, the families of some dozen children said they did not know he would be in attendance.Parents, including Gideon Davey, whose 10-year-old daughter Ottilie received her first holy communion, initially believed the film crew was there on behalf of the church.“This spiritual and deeply personal occasion will forever be stained by a selfish and self-promoting stunt,” he said.The reason for the film crew accompanying the Conservative candidate for North East Somerset and Hanham has been kept under wraps. Earlier this month it emerged Mr Rees-Mogg was in talks with Discovery+ over a fly-on-the-wall documentary. Gideon Davey with his daughter after she received her First Holy Communion during a church service attended by Jacob Rees-Mogg and his film crew More

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UKSign up to our Brexit email for the latest insightRishi Sunak has said he is “proud” of his disastrous election campaign and claims he will win Thursday’s general election. The prime minister has come under fire in recent weeks for a series of calamities that included a rain-soaked announcement of polling day, leaving D-Day commemorations early and a gambling scandal.But in a crunch interview with just days to go before the vote, Mr Sunak told the BBC‘s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg “this campaign is something I am very proud of” as he sought to disparage Labour’s plans.He also said he believes he will win the election. Asked whether he thought he would still be prime minister on Friday, he said: “Yes. I’m fighting very hard and I think people are waking up to the real danger of what a Labour government means.”Rishi Sunak, soaked in rain, pauses as he delivers a speech to announce the election date More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRussian dissidents living in the UK have hit back at “deeply offensive” words of admiration for Vladimir Putin by Nigel Farage and another Reform UK candidate.It comes as a former British defence attache posted in Moscow described Mr Farage and his party, now third in the polls, as “deeply maligned actors … working against the security interest of our country”.When asked about both accusations, a Reform UK spokesperson burst into laughter, before suggesting Julian Malins, a party candidate who last weekend bragged about meeting Putin and that he “seemed very good”, was merely a highly-intelligent “eccentric sort of character”.Mr Malins later sought to clarify his comments, saying Putin was a “popular” president and therefore a “good Russian president”, but said he was not a good man “in the Christian sense”.Three dissidents, as well as newly-knighted Sir Bill Browder, formerly Russia’s largest foreign investor before being exiled by Putin, told The Independent that comments from Mr Farage and Mr Malins were an affront not only to them but to the British passport holder Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence in a Siberian solitary confinement cell for speaking out against the invasion of Ukraine. After the death of Alexei Navalny in a Russian penal colony, Mr Kara-Murza’s family now fear he will Putin’s next target. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow More