Rishi Sunak is presenting himself as the underdog in this campaign.

In many ways it’s remarkable that a prime minister can position like this, but the 20-point poll deficit means he feels he has no alternative. But can he pull it off?

He knows the job of the next six weeks is to change minds – to reintroduce himself to the British public and alter the way people think about him, which at this point in his premiership after 14 years of Tories in Number 10 is no mean feat.

He is the one that has to shake up the conversation.

But having followed his campaign across three of the four nations of the United Kingdom, on planes trains and wheels, it’s rather unclear whether the campaign is set up to deliver this… whether he’s taking a big enough risk with his approach.

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The message at events is clear enough – Sunak is claiming he has returned economic and political stability after a difficult period, Labour offer uncertainty, and the challenges at home and abroad are growing.

But he has been delivering a variation of this message for some weeks. What is not clear yet is that there’s a plan to get people paying attention.

The campaign events themselves are shaved of any jeopardy. Despite the distances travelled – over 1,000 miles on day one alone – he is meeting remarkably few people.

The event with workers involved a short monologue followed by a handful of polite questions from the invited audience, some of whom turned out to be Conservative councillors.

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Visits to businesses – such as the brewery visit by our teetotal PM – seem remarkably brief and involve the PM making small talk and watching bits of machinery being operated by experts, for no immediately obvious political benefit.

When John Major confounded the polls and beat Neil Kinnock’s Labour party in 1992 he climbed on his soap box and had hundreds of raw, unmediated conversations with the public.

He ended up being jostled in shopping centres and arguing with crowds. It helped cement his image.

Theresa May had a difficult and uneasy relationship with campaigning, that probably worked to her detriment, while Boris Johnson clearly enjoyed crowds delivering the biggest majority in 2019 since Margaret Thatcher.

Sunak’s reputation is being slick and controlled – but this version of the prime minister is the one currently languishing in the polls.

Could throwing himself into more unusual situations, taking more risks for more reward, help in the coming weeks?

Rishi Sunak and senior Tories have sparked the first major row of the election campaign by accusing “spineless” Sir Keir Starmer of “chickening out” of weekly TV debates.

The prime minister has challenged the Labour leader to take part in six TV clashes during the campaign debating issues like tax, the cost of living and security.

But Labour’s high command has hit back, claiming Sir Keir‘s priority is spending time on the road talking to voters, and revealed that he will take part in two TV debates with the PM.

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Realistically, TV schedules in June and early July are packed with the group stages and knock-out matches in the Euro 2024 football tournament – with England the favourites – meaning six election debates are highly unlikely.

But undaunted by a football and politics clash, Mr Sunak threw down his challenge to the Labour leader in an article from The Daily Telegraph in which he declared: “There are big issues at stake in this election.

“Do we continue cutting taxes or raise taxes on working households as Labour would do?

“Do we prioritise energy security and your family’s finances in our approach to net zero or put environmental dogma first as Sir Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband would?

“And, above all, how do we give this country the secure future it deserves?”

Mr Sunak added: “I want to debate these issues with Sir Keir Starmer. But he doesn’t want to because he doesn’t have a plan and doesn’t have the courage to say what he wants to do.”

Using tougher language, Tory chairman Richard Holden turned up the heat on Sir Keir, telling the Daily Express: “It’s no surprise spineless Sir Keir Starmer is chickening out of debates that he publicly promised to do just months ago.

“It’s time for Sir Keir to grow a backbone. The public deserves to hear and scrutinise what the man who wants to be our prime minister has to say before he changes his mind, again.”

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Back in January, Sir Keir said on TV election debates: “I have been saying bring it on for a very, very long time. I’m happy to debate at any time.”

And rejecting the Tory claims of a U-turn, Labour sources told Sky News Sir Keir will speak to voters and take questions from media throughout the election campaign.

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“Labour believes spending time on the road talking to voters across the country is the priority and so Keir Starmer is planning to take part in the two debates with the largest audience: BBC and ITV,” said a senior party source.

“We won’t be tearing up the format established in previous elections just to suit this week’s whims of the Tory party.”

TV election debates took off in the UK in the 2010 general election when Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg took part in three debates, on ITV, Sky News and the BBC.

It was claimed they were responsible for the “Cleggmania” that eventually led to Mr Clegg becoming deputy prime minister in Mr Cameron’s coalition government.

During the debates, the phrase “I agree with Nick”, used frequently by Mr Cameron and Mr Brown, became a catchphrase successfully deployed by the Liberal Democrats during the election campaign.

At the last general election, in 2019, there were two debates between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn and it seems likely there will be two again in this campaign.

A father whose British-born baby is being threatened with removal from the UK is urging the Home Office to be flexible with how it enforces rules on visas.

Massah, who is 13 months old, was born in the Midlands in April last year. Both her parents have been living legally in Britain since 2021 when her father came to study for a PhD from Jordan and her mother came as his dependant.

They’ve tried applying for a child-dependent visa for their daughter, but this month, they received a letter from the Home Office telling them their daughter “will be required to immediately leave the UK” and will have to re-apply for a visa from abroad.

It’s all because the family took a holiday abroad together in January.

The letter from the government goes on to state: “In the particular circumstances of your case, it has been concluded that the need to maintain the integrity of the immigration laws outweighs the possible effect on you/your children.”

Massah’s father, Mohammad, says he and his wife have faced sleepless nights. Despite their MP and lawyers trying to argue their case, so far they have made no further progress.

They don’t want to have to take their baby to Jordan in order to re-apply due to the current instability in the Middle East and are concerned that, even if they did, the application could still be refused.

Mohammad tells Sky News that his daughter’s relationship with Britain will be forever changed: “I can’t imagine how I can tell her the story in the future that the country you [were] born asked you to leave while you [were] a year old.”

He shows us the reams of paperwork he has accumulated to find a solution.

“I’m trying to fix everything. I don’t need to consider a one-year-old infant as an overstayer here,” he said.

A Home Office spokesperson told Sky News: “All visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the immigration rules.

“We are working closely with the parents of this child to ensure they receive the support and direction they require regarding the application.”

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The tightening of the UK’s immigration policy has been a core commitment by the government in an effort to reduce the number of people coming to the country.

Statistics released on Thursday showed the net migration figure has dropped slightly, but it comes as the prime minister confirmed that the removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda will not take place until after the general election.

The Rwanda plan remains a central Conservative pledge, but voters will just have to trust that planes will start going without seeing any evidence before polling day.

The election campaign will be fought in part over the future of asylum seekers.

At one charity in Derby, people who came to Britain by small boat arrive still wearing the clothes given to them at a processing centre near Dover.

With Labour planning to scrap flights to Rwanda, there’s now the possibility that many asylum seekers living in fear will never have to face the possibility of being removed to the African nation.

But Damil, from India, is still anxious: “Maybe after [the] election we are happy with this because the Labour Party will be our next… I don’t know what is going on.

“Still, we are worried about these things. I’m scared about Rwanda and the election too.”

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One man, who we’re calling Nahom, was detained and taken to a detention centre earlier this month.

Just a few days ago, he was informed he’d been selected for the first flight to Rwanda – in June.

He spoke to us on the phone from the removal site where he had been notified “on 24 June there will be the first flight to Rwanda”.

But when we reported Thursday’s announcement by Rishi Sunak, he said the message gave him “hope” for his situation: “If the Labour Party [win] there are no flights at all… It’s good news to hear.”