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While Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer spent yesterday evening trying to convince voters in Grimsby to back their parties during Sky’s TV event, another audience was analysing the pair from afar – on social media.

From confessions of the prime minister’s love for “sugary” treats to others reminding Labour how many times Sir Keir Starmer has said his dad is a toolmaker, there was a lot going on.

This is how the audience online received the debate.

Using social media listening tool, TalkWalker, Sky News has analysed how well-received both leaders were during the event on TikTok, YouTube and X.

The data from TalkWalker shows a large majority of social media users talking about the two leaders were not positive in sentiment – but either negative or neutral.

Our search looked at posts using ‘Keir Starmer’ and ‘Rishi Sunak’ from accounts which set their location to the United Kingdom and were posted during the hours of Sky’s TV special programme. Sir Keir only narrowly beat the prime minister on posts with positive sentiment – scoring 7.2% versus Rishi Sunak on 4.5%.

Read more:
Starmer performed best overall in Sky News leaders’ event – poll
Starmer reveals ‘worry’ for family if he enters No 10

The platform uses AI to measure the sentiment of chatter online whether positive or negative – but doesn’t include Meta products like Facebook or Instagram.

This compares to a snap YouGov poll following last night’s event which shows that almost two-thirds – 64% – of those questioned said the Labour leader came out on top, compared to 36% who thought the prime minister did better.

Sir Keir’s father was a toolmaker – did you know?

Sir Keir Starmer, addresses the audience during a Sky News election event with Sky's political editor Beth Rigby, in Grimsby. Pic: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
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Pic: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

First in line for grilling was the Labour leader. Pushed on issues like the economy and abandoned pledges, one of the biggest reactions from the audience was his response to taxes and how much he earns.

Sir Keir said he accepts that he earns a lot of money in his current role (over £126k), proceeding to repeat a line many have heard from him before. The line didn’t just make the audience in Grimsby laugh but was one of the most viral moments from the event online.

He said: “When I grew up my dad was a toolmaker, he worked in a factory, it’s true, and my mum was a nurse… and actually we couldn’t make ends meet, which isn’t actually a laughing matter.”

One version of the clip posted on X gained over 700,000 views in the first two hours and is now almost at two million impressions.

Others joked online that it’s a phrase the Labour leader has used many times before – even the gambling company PaddyPower seemed to jump on the trend posting a video of the popular gif of football fan Lee Judges saying “he’s done it again….”

Sunak’s guilty pleasure… are Haribos

Could you tell the audience something that might make them like you a bit more again?

Mr Sunak said people might think he has a “healthy lifestyle”, but in fact he admitted to having an “appalling diet” and eats an “enormous amount of sugar” – with the prime minister naming Haribos and Twix among his favourites.

Memes of the prime minister and his love for sugar soon emerged on X. Other parody accounts tweeted “vote for me because I eat Haribos” – featuring a picture of the prime minister last night.

What were the other parties doing?

While last night’s programme only featured the Labour and Conservative leaders, some of the other parties did chime in.

The Liberal Democrats took to X to jab at the prime minister – although it wasn’t focused on policy and more on his appearance.

Meanwhile, the SNP shared a post from candidate Alison Thewliss which claimed Sir Keir’s answers in last night’s event “confirmed” that Labour are “not serious about child poverty”.

As last night’s event was taking place, Sky News analysis of the TikTok, Facebook and X official accounts of the other parties – Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, Reform UK, Plaid Cymru and the SNP, shows that most of the parties seemed rather quiet on their social media accounts with few or no posts about last night’s event.

Meanwhile the official accounts for the Green Party, Reform UK and Plaid Cymru show the parties instead posted about their own campaigns and did not react online to Sir Keir and Mr Sunak’s performances in the event.

This article is part of the Online Election project – a Sky News initiative to cover how the campaign is playing out online, led by Tom Cheshire who is our Online Campaign correspondent throughout.


The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Russell Brand charged with rape and sexual assault

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Russell Brand charged with rape and sexual assault

Russell Brand has been charged with rape and two counts of sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.

The Metropolitan Police say the 50-year-old comedian, actor and author has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault.

The charges relate to four women.

He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 2 May.

Police have said Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999 and indecently assaulting a woman in the Westminster area of London in 2001.

He is also accused of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in Westminster in 2004.

The fourth charge alleges that a woman was sexually assaulted in Westminster between 2004 and 2005.

Police began investigating Brand, from Oxfordshire, in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations.

Read more from Sky News:
Mum spared prison after son’s death
Last UK blast furnaces days from closure
Ship owner files legal claim after North Sea crash

The comedian has previously denied the accusations, and said all his sexual relationships were “absolutely always consensual”.

Met Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.

“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”

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Last UK blast furnaces days from closure as Chinese owners cut off crucial supplies

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Last UK blast furnaces days from closure as Chinese owners cut off crucial supplies

​​​​​​​The last blast furnaces left operating in Britain could see their fate sealed within days, after their Chinese owners took the decision to cut off the crucial supply of ingredients keeping them running. 

Jingye, the owner of British Steel in Scunthorpe, has, according to union representatives, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.

The upshot is that they may have to close next month – even sooner than the earliest date suggested for its closure.

Read more: Thousands of jobs at risk as British Steel consults unions over closure

The fate of the blast furnaces – the last two domestic sources of virgin steel, made from iron ore rather than recycled – is likely to be determined in a matter of days, with the Department for Business and Trade now actively pondering nationalisation.

The upshot is that even as Britain contends with a trade war across the Atlantic, it is now working against the clock to secure the future of steelmaking at Scunthorpe.

British Steel proceesing

The talks between the government and Jingye broke down last week after the Chinese company, which bought British Steel out of receivership in 2020, rejected a £500m offer of public money to replace the existing furnaces with electric arc furnaces.

More on China

The sum is the same one it offered to Tata Steel, which has shut down the other remaining UK blast furnaces in Port Talbot and is planning to build electric furnaces – which have far lower carbon emissions.

These steel workers could soon be out of work
Image:
These steel workers could soon be out of work

However, the owners argue that the amount is too little to justify extra investment at Scunthorpe, and said last week they were now consulting on the date of shutting both the blast furnaces and the attached steelworks.

Since British Steel is the main provider of steel rails to Network Rail – as well as other construction steels available from only a few sites in the world – the closure would leave the UK more reliant on imports for critical infrastructure sites.

British Steel in action

However, since the site belongs to its Chinese owners, a decision to nationalise the site would involve radical steps government officials are wary of taking.

They also fear leaving taxpayers exposed to a potentially loss-making business for the long run.

British Steel

The dilemma has been heightened by the sharp turn in geopolitical sentiment following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

The incipient trade war and threatened cut in American support to Europe have sparked fresh calls for countries to act urgently to secure their own supplies of critical materials, especially those used for defence and infrastructure.

Read more:
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Gareth Stace, head of UK Steel, the industry lobby group, said: “Talks seem to have broken down between government and British Steel.

“My advice to government is: please, Jonathan Reynolds, Business Secretary, get back round that negotiating table, thrash out a deal, and if a deal can’t be found in the next few days, then I fear for the very future of the sector, but also here for Scunthorpe steelworks.”

British Steel declined to comment.

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Prince Andrew’s Pitch@Palace branded ‘crude attempt to enrich himself’ as Chinese spy documents set to be released

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Prince Andrew's Pitch@Palace branded 'crude attempt to enrich himself' as Chinese spy documents set to be released

Prince Andrew’s efforts to make money from his Pitch@Palace project have been branded as a “crude attempt to enrich himself” at the expense of “unsuspecting tech founders”, as new documents may shed more light on what he and his team have been attempting to sell.

Today is the deadline for documents to be released relating to Prince Andrew‘s former senior adviser Dominic Hampshire and his interactions with the alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.

In February, an immigration tribunal heard how the intelligence services had contacted Mr Hampshire about Mr Yang back in 2022. Mr Yang helped set up Pitch@Palace China, a branch of the duke’s scheme to help young entrepreneurs.

The alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo, has links with Prince Andrew
Image:
The alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo, has links with Prince Andrew

Pic: Pitch@Palace
Image:
Yang Tengbo. Pic: Pitch@Palace

Judges banned Mr Yang from the UK, saying his association with a senior royal had made Prince Andrew “vulnerable” and posed a threat to national security. Mr Yang challenged that decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).

Since that hearing, media organisations have applied for certain documents relating to the case and Mr Hampshire’s support for Mr Yang to be made public. SIAC agreed to release some information of public interest. It is hoped they may include more details on deals that he was trying to do on behalf of Prince Andrew.

So what do we know about potential deals for Pitch@Palace so far?

In February, Sky News confirmed that palace officials had a meeting last summer with tech funding company StartupBootcamp to discuss a potential tie-up between them and Prince Andrew relating to his Pitch@Palace project.

More on Prince Andrew

The palace wasn’t involved in the fine details of a deal but wanted guarantees to make sure it wouldn’t impact the Royal Family in the future. Sky News understands from one source that the price being discussed for Pitch was around £750,000 – there are, however, reports that a deal may have stalled.

Photos we found on the Chinese Chamber of Commerce website show an event held in Asia between StartupBootcamp and Innovate Global, believed to be an offshoot of Pitch.

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Who is alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo?

Documents, released in relation to the investigations into Mr Tengbo, have also shown how much the duke has always seen Pitch as a way of potentially making money. One document from 21 August 2021 clearly states “the duke needed money at the time, and saw the relationships with China through Pitch as one possible source of funding”.

But Prince Andrew’s apparent intention to use Pitch to make money has led to concerns about whether he is unfairly using the contacts and information he gained when he was a working royal.

Norman Baker, former MP and author of books on royal finances, believes it is “a crude attempt to enrich himself” and goes against what the tech entrepreneurs thought they were signing up for.

Read more:
Who is Yang Tenbo?
Virginia Giuffre says she has days to live
Emails between Andrew and Epstein revealed

He told Sky News: “The data given by these business people was given on the basis it was an official operation and not something for Prince Andrew, and so in my view, Prince Andrew had no right legally or morally to take the data which has been collected, a huge amount of data, and sell it…

“And quite clearly if you’re going to sell it off to StartupBootcamp, that is not what people had in mind. The entrepreneurs who joined Pitch@Palace did not do so to enrich Prince Andrew,” he said.

Rich Wilson was one tech entrepreneur who was approached at the start of Pitch@Palace to sign up, but he stepped away when he spotted a clause in the contract saying they’d be entitled to 2% equity in any funding he secured.

He feels Prince Andrew is continuing to use those he made a show of supporting.

He said: “It makes me feel sick. I think it’s terrible – that he is continuing to exploit unsuspecting tech founders in this way. A lot of them, I’m quite grey and old in the tooth now, I saw it coming, but clearly most didn’t. And a lot of them were quite young.

“It’ll be their first venture and you’re learning on the trot, so to speak. So to take advantage of people in such a major way – that’s an awful, sickening thing to do.”

We approached StartupBootcamp who said they had no comment to make, and the Duke of York’s office did not respond.

With reports that a deal may have stalled, it could be a big setback for the duke – especially with questions still about how he’ll continue to pay for his home on the Windsor estate now that the King no longer gives him financial support.

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