Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, took his opportunity at PMQs to ask the question which seems to be on everyone’s lips in Westminster – is an election about to be called?
Mr Flynn used the first of his two questions to Rishi Sunak to say: “Mr Speaker, speculation is rife, so I think the public deserve a clear answer to a simple question.
Does the prime minister intend to call a summer general election or is he feart?”
That’s slang for afraid, and a riff on Margaret Thatcher’s jibe – to Labour’s Denis Healey in the early 1980s – that he was “frit” – frightened – of a general election.
Mr Sunak repeated there would be an election in the second half of this year – but did not take the opportunity to rule out a July election which would (just about) be in the second half.
Downing Street has not dampened down speculation since last night that the announcement of an election is imminent, and senior Conservatives have not ruled it out.
That doesn’t mean it will happen – Number 10 is not in the business of commenting on every bit of speculation.
But the rumour mill is running hot that with inflation now down to 2.3%, Mr Sunak claiming the economy has “turned a corner”, and little movement in the opinion polls, he has little to lose but to go sooner rather than later.
Advertisement
Plenty in his party have arguments to go sooner; or play it long.
He does not have to hold one until the end of January 2025.
Frenzies of election speculation have happened before, for example when a lectern appeared one rainy night in Downing Street on 2 March – which turned out to be for the prime minister to give a speech on extremism.
It could be another bit of election preparation – a ministerial reshuffle to make sure he has the top team he wants around him when the time does come.
The cabinet is meeting at 4pm this afternoon, ostensibly because its regular Tuesday morning meeting was postponed due to the PM’s trip to Austria yesterday.
Interestingly, Lord Cameron has returned early from a trip to Albania to attend, while Defence Seceretary Grant Shapps has delayed a visit to Lithuania.
After that, all eyes will be on whether the prime minister – who makes the decision on when to call an election alone – tells us more.
The Chamber proposes adding a field to the form for brokers to indicate if a digital asset has a different tax rate, such as NFTs taxed as collectibles, to prevent errors and ensure accurate reporting.
Mohammed Idris, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and National Orientation emphasized that Gambaryan enjoys full consular support from his home government.
Nigel Farage has reiterated that he blames the West and NATO for the Russian invasion of Ukraine – as he confirmed that he previously said he “admired” Vladimir Putin as a statesman.
Speaking to the BBC, the Reform UK leader was asked about his previous comments on Russia and Ukraine.
Asked about Russia’s 2022 invasion, Mr Farage told Nick Robinson that he had been saying since the fall of the Berlin Wall that there would be a war in Ukraine due to the “ever-eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union”.
He said this was giving Mr Putin a reason to tell the Russian people “they’re coming for us again” and go to war.
The Reform leader confirmed his belief the West “provoked” the conflict – but said it was “of course” the Russian president’s “fault”.
Image: Mr Farage was asked about the war in Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
Previous comments Mr Farage made about Mr Putin were also put to him.
He was asked about comments he made in 2014 stating that Mr Putin was the statesman he most admired.
Mr Farage said he disliked the Russian leader – but “I admired him as a political operator because he’s managed to take control” of running the country.
Advertisement
“This is the nonsense, you know, you can pick any figure, current or historical, and say, you know, did they have good aspects?” he added.
“And if you said, ‘well, they were very talented in one area,’ then suddenly you’re the biggest supporter.”
Conservative candidates – who may be feeling the threat of a Reform surge in the polls – were quick to condemn the Reform leader.
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Home Secretary James Cleverly said Mr Farage was “echoing Putin’s vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine”.
Deputy Conservative chair Jonathan Gullis added that Putin is “certainly not someone who should be admired” – adding that he “unleashed chemical warfare on the streets of our country to commit murder, which endangered further innocent British lives”.
Labour’s shadow defence secretary, John Healey, said: “These are disgraceful comments, which reveal the true face of Nigel Farage: a Putin apologist who should never be trusted with our nation’s security.
“Up until now, there has been a united front amongst Britain’s political leaders in supporting the people of Ukraine against the unprovoked and unjustifiable assault they have suffered at the hands of Vladimir Putin.
“Nigel Farage has put himself outside that united position, and shown that he would rather lick Vladimir Putin’s boots than stand up for the people of Ukraine. That makes him unfit for any political office in our country, let alone leading a serious party in parliament.”
The former UKIP leader said this is what “the Conservatives have done with it”.
“If you put me in charge it’d be very, very different,” he claimed, “but of course they didn’t do that, did they?”
On his party’s climate policies, Mr Farage said he wants to “go for nuclear energy” and scrap the existing net zero programme.
He rejected that he was “arguing the science” on climate change, but that “we spend too much time hyperventilating about the problem, rather than thinking practically and logically what we can do”.
Spreaker
This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
Mr Farage added that King Charles – who was then a prince – made a “very stupid comment” when he said carbon dioxide was a pollutant.
The Reform leader then said that, by deindustrialising, the CO2 production had been sent offshore to places like India and “all we’ve done is to export the emissions”.