General Election 2024 updates — Political big hitters weigh in as Rishi skewers Keir on migrants, taxes & women’s rights

Rishi Sunak: Those involved in betting scandal must ‘face the full consequences’

Speaking to The Sun’s Political Editor Harry Cole on our Never Mind The Ballots election showdown on Monday, the Prime Minister insisted anyone involved in the General Election betting scandal must “face the full consequences”.

Sitting in front of Sun readers, Mr Sunak said: “I’ve been crystal clear, if anyone has broken the rules and not upheld the standards, I would expect they will be held to account.

“They should face the consequences of the law, and they will be booted out of the Conservative Party.

“I was as angry as anybody when I heard about these things. The right thing to do is to get to the bottom of this and investigate this properly.”

Starmer’s rare praise of Boris Johnson

In unlikely scenes, Sir Keir Starmer offered words of praise for Boris Johnson when speaking to Sun readers last night.

The Labour leader hailed Johnson’s handling of Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

He said: “Let me do something I don’t do very often, and praise Boris Johnson.”

He went on: “I was leader of the opposition, and I said, we will support the government. And so there’s been unity in parliament from the outbreak of that conflict and Russia aggression there.

“And I thought that was important, Boris Johnson thought it was important, because I think we both took the view that the only winner, if there was a split in our politics here in the UK, would be Putin. He wanted to see division in other countries, and we didn’t allow him.”

GMB Ofcom complaints over Nigel Farage clash

Reform UK leader Nigel, 60, butted heads with hosts Susanna Reid, 53, and Ed Balls, 57, when he appeared on the ITV breakfast show live from the campaign trail.

Speaking via video link, the politican was grilled by the anchors over his party’s manifesto and candidates’ social media activity.

But 471 viewers were left outraged by the way he was treated in the interview and filed complaints with the broadcasting regulator.

Things began to get heated when Susanna asked: “How can you defend 41 candidates for your party found to be social media friends with a fascist leader?”

Mr Farage replied: “Most of our candidates are not political sophisticates. Having said that, like the Green Party and, like other parties, we’ve had one or two slip through the net that shouldn’t have done.

“There will be a story coming out at lunchtime today, where you will hear that we paid a very large sum of money to a reputable vetting company who didn’t do the work.

“So yes, we’ve got one or two problems but people like each other on Facebook and I’m sorry, I just don’t take that seriously.”

Suspensions should have happened a ‘week ago’, Keir Starmer claims

Labour leader Keir Starmer has said Tories involved in the General Election betting scandal should have been suspended a “week ago.”

Sir Keir said: “Why didn’t it happen a week ago?”

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the suspensions should have happened “immediately.”

Kwasi Kwarteng feels ‘partially responsible’ for Tory election woes

Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has said he feels “partially responsible” for the Conservative’s current plight but hit out at Rishi Sunak for his handling of the wider election.

He told GB News: “I feel partially responsible but I don’t feel responsible for leaving D-day early, I don’t feel responsible for the Reform party which was on 4% in October 2022 being on nearly 20% now.

“I don’t feel responsible for the election betting scandal, nor do I feel responsible for the fact that this election has happened way before anyone was expecting it.”