General election: Economy to take centre stage after big-name Tory MPs quit

Published

1 month ago

May 25, 2024

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Rishi Sunak is set to battle it out with Sir Keir Starmer over the economy after a bruising day for the Conservative leader which saw two senior party figures quit as MPs.

Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom both announced on Friday they would not stand in the 4 July general election, bringing the total number of sitting Tories quitting to 78.

This beats the previous record of 72 MPs stepping down before Tony Blair‘s landslide in the 1997 election.

General election latest: Reaction as Gove and Leadsom standing down

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves feature in Saturday’s editions of The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail respectively touting their economic promises if their party wins the election.

Mr Hunt hinted at tax breaks for high earners and branded inheritance tax as “profoundly anti-Conservative”.

Meanwhile, Ms Reeves vowed to deliver financial stability with a Thatcher-style commitment to “sound money”.

She will meet with supermarket workers in London later to talk about the cost-of-living crisis, seeking to attack the Conservative record on the economy as she pitches Labour as the party of “stability and tough spending”.

Their comments come as Mr Gove quit his almost two-decade career in politics, saying it was time to let “a new generation lead”.

He was quickly followed by Ms Leadsom who unsuccessfully stood against Theresa May to lead the Conservatives after the Brexit referendum.

In her resignation letter, Ms Leadsom said it had been “the greatest honour to serve the people of South Northamptonshire as their MP for the last 14 years”.

Ms Leadsom, who is currently a junior health minister, was business secretary under Mrs May.

Politics

Scale of gambling scandal for Tories is different magnitude to Labour’s issue

Published

1 hour ago

June 26, 2024

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Scale of gambling scandal for Tories is different magnitude to Labour's issue

After days of furore directed at Rishi Sunak for the election betting scandal, now a Labour candidate is under investigation by the Gambling Commission for his own betting activity – and is immediately suspended.

Is this an equaliser in one of the grubbiest electoral sagas of recent elections? Quite possibly not.

There is no doubting the utter dismay in Labour HQ at the revelation that they too have a candidate caught up in the betting scandal.

Politics live: Labour to return £100k donation to suspended candidate

It lends itself to the easy narrative that there’s a plague on all politicians’ houses – everyone as bad as each other.

However, if the facts are as presented, the scale of the challenge for the Tories is of a different order of magnitude to that now facing Labour.

Labour’s Kevin Craig was suspended immediately after the party was informed by the Gambling Commission of the probe.

We are told that he placed a bet – not on the election date, but that he would lose his race in a general election.

He is certainly guilty of gross stupidity, as he admitted in a statement on Tuesday evening.

However, if this scenario is as presented, it is hard to see an allegation being mounted that he had insider intelligence on the race – unless it can be proved he was deliberately setting out to lose.

An under-pressure Gambling Commission will investigate every candidate’s name on the spreadsheet from gambling companies of those who placed bets – but it is unclear from available facts where this will go.

The Tory betting saga, however, is more complicated and now on its 13th day.

It was almost two weeks ago that Craig Williams – Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide and former Montgomeryshire MP – admitted he had placed a bet on the election date – a date he might have known before the public at large.

He denies he committed any offence, and remains under investigation.

Laura Saunders, standing for the Tories just south in Bristol North West, has also been suspended for putting a bet on the date when her partner worked in Conservative headquarters on the election.

For most of that time, Mr Sunak has been insisting he could not suspend either candidate because of the ongoing probe by the Gambling Commission.

Ministers, as well as opponents, weighed in.

And on Tuesday he reversed that decision under that pressure.

This means there are questions about the prime minister’s own judgement and unwillingness to act on top of questions about the behaviour of those closest to him.

This story has had massive cut through with the public, topping the charts for any news story in the UK – according to YouGov’s AI news tracker – for the last four days.

There is dismay from the cabinet downwards.

Labour’s own problems have undermined their own ability to go on the attack. But it is not clear that voters will see the two issues on the same scale.

The full list of the candidates running for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich is:

Charlie Caiger, independent;
Tony Gould, Reform UK;
Mike Hallatt, independent;
Brett Alistair Mickelburgh, Lib Dems;
Dan Pratt, Greens;
Patrick Spencer, Conservatives.

The full list of candidates for Bristol North West is:

Caroline Gooch, Lib Dems;
Darren Jones, Labour;
Scarlett O’Connor, Reform UK;
Mary Page, Green Party;
Ben Smith, SDP.

The full list of candidates for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr is:

Jeremy Brignell-Thorp, Green Party;
Oliver Lewis, Reform UK;
Glyn Preston, Lib Dems;
Elwyn Vaughan, Plaid Cymru;
Steve Witherden, Labour.

Politics

US politicians who may be spinning the news with crypto

Published

9 hours ago

June 25, 2024

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US politicians who may be spinning the news with crypto

Donald Trump seems to have doubled down on digital assets after he was convicted of 34 felony counts in New York.

Politics

Four men arrested at Rishi Sunak’s North Yorkshire home

Published

10 hours ago

June 25, 2024

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Four men arrested at Rishi Sunak's North Yorkshire home

Four men have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass in the grounds of the prime minister’s home, police have confirmed.

The incident took place at Rishi Sunak’s constituency address in Kirby Sigston, North Yorkshire, while he was attending events in London to mark the Japanese state visit.

A police statement said officers were “with the four men within one minute of them entering the grounds”.

Politics live: Labour to return £100k donation to suspended candidate

The arrests are connected to a protest by campaigners from Youth Demand. It describes itself as a group of young people who want “the Tories and the Labour Party commit to a two-way arms embargo on Israel, and to stop all new oil and gas licences”.

A spokesperson for the group said three of those arrested were taking part in the demonstration, while the fourth person was an independent photographer.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “They were detained at around 12.40pm before being escorted off the property and arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass.

“The men, aged 52 from London, 43 from Bolton, 21 from Manchester, and 20 from Chichester, remain in police custody for questioning and enquiries are ongoing.”

It comes after a separate incident last summer, when protesters scaled the roof of Mr Sunak’s home.

They held up banners which said “NO NEW OIL” and draped the building in fabric. It happened while the prime minister and his family were away on holiday in California.

Amy Rugg-Easey, 33, Alexandra Wilson, 32, Michael Grant, 64, and Mathieu Soete, 38, have pleaded not guilty to criminal damage, with a two-day trial set to take place in July.