BBC election debate live: Penny Mordaunt set to face challenges of Sunak’s D-day snub in seven-party debate | Politics
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Sunak denies that there was any plan for him not to attend D-Day events
Direct question from the media: “Have you or anyone around you ever considered missing the events” in Normandy.
Sunak said: “It’s just not right. The route for these events was set weeks ago, ahead of the general election campaign.
He told Sky News: “I stuck to the route.”
Key events
Penny Mordaunt will face the challenges of Sunak’s D-Day snub in a seven-a-side debate starting at 7.30pm
Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, will soon be tasked with trying to defend Rishi Sunak over his D-Day snub.
She is the Tory spokesperson in the first seven-party debate of the campaign, organized by BBC.
Mordaunt is a former Defense Secretary and ex-Royal Navy reservist. In a post on X yesterday, she emphasized her own reverence for Day D veterans and it will be interesting to see how much she is willing to justify Sunak and how much she tries to distance herself from him. If she manages to keep her seat, she is expected to stand for the Tory leadership in a post-election race.
Five years ago I had the privilege of spending several days with D-Day veterans. Today I will be thinking of all of them and their many brothers who did not make it home. I have listened to their testimony many times. We know why they did their duty. Yet their courage and sacrifice are… pic.twitter.com/mSykEjuuFm
— Penny Mordaunt (@PennyMordaunt) June 6, 2024
Angela Rayner, the deputy leader, represented Labour, and Nigel Farage spoke for Reform UK, which he leads. Farage was the first politician to criticize Sunak yesterday for skipping the international event. Rayner has a brother who served in the army, but the Tories regularly attack her defense credentials because she voted against renewing Trident.
The other participants are: Daisy Cooper, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats; Stephen Flynn, SNP leader at Westminster; Carla Denier, co-leader of the Green Party; and Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader.
Nadeem Badshah
A Conservative candidate has quit the election after it emerged he ran a business which in the past organized club nights for teenagers as young as 13 and posted pictures of the girls online.
Adam Gregg resigned today after it emerged he ran a business which organized club nights for teenagers.
Greg, who was standing in the new seat of Spen Valley in West Yorkshire, had posted pictures on social media to promote the events, showing girls with the words “horny” and “bitch” on their chests.
He said the Mirrorwho broke the story:
If anyone felt the events they attended, the promotion or the photos from the events were inappropriate, I sincerely apologize.
These events were of their time and I can understand how they might be viewed differently in today’s world.
I have withdrawn my candidacy from the general election to ensure that this matter in no way detracts from the party’s efforts to win a seat in Spen Valley and I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart everyone who helped me during the campaign.
Joe Pike has written good account for the BBC how No 10 got the D-Day decision so wrong. He says “one Conservative source told the BBC that it simply didn’t occur to anyone at the top of the campaign that this would be a problem [for Rishi Sunak to miss the international commemorative event]especially with the G7 summit in Italy next week where the Prime Minister will see all the same leaders.
Here’s a sample.
Among Mr. Sunak’s allies, there is bewilderment as to how another campaign gaffe came about.
“From one decision to the next I’m absolutely reeling,” one cabinet minister told me. “Who’s in charge?”
Another source, who knows the Downing Street team well, said of Mr Sunak: “He surrounds himself with yes men and women who do not challenge him.
“Everyone is young. None of them had campaigned before except Isaac [Levido]”, the party’s campaign chief.
Zoe Williams wrote the Guardian’s regular afternoon campaign today. You can read it here.
Michael Crick, the journalist who monitors the candidate selections on his Tomorrow’sMPs X account, says the Conservative Party has managed to field candidates for all but one of the British seats. Normally they offer applicants for all places in the UK (but not Northern Ireland), but this time it was difficult, with dozens of vacancies to be filled at very short notice.
🔵 Conservative HQ have told me they have managed to nominate candidates for all but one seat and that seat is ‘unwinnable’.
— @Tomorrow’sMPs (@tomorrowsmps) June 7, 2024
Conservative HQ told me they had managed to nominate candidates for all but one seat and that seat was “unwinnable”.
So the Conservatives hold 630 of Britain’s 632 seats – the exceptions being the Speaker’s seat, Chorley and Rotherham, where they had a late withdrawal. The Tories are also contesting five of Northern Ireland’s 18 seats.
Two hours ago, nominations closed for people who want to run. A total of 132 people who were MPs in the 2019-2024 parliament have chosen not to run, PA Media reports. PA says:
This is the second highest number of former MPs to resign before an election in modern political history.
The record is 149, which was set in 2010.
There have been only four instances since the Second World War of at least 100 MPs standing down before a UK general election: 1945 (129), 1997 (117), 2010 (149) – and now 2024.
Of the 132 who are not standing for re-election this year, 75 are former Conservative MPs.
This beats the previous post-war record of 72 Tories who stood down before the 1997 election.
Politicians involved in tonight’s party of seven BBC debate began arriving at Broadcasting House in London for the event. It starts at 19.30.
Unite cannot support Labour’s manifesto, sources say
Sami Getzoyler
Uniteone of the UK’s biggest unions, reportedly disapproved of Labour’s manifesto at a meeting to finalize the party’s policy proposals.
Sources from Unite told the PA the union had refused to back the document because it believed Labor had delivered on a number of commitments to workers and industry and was unhappy with the party’s stance on redundancies and re-employment and oil and gas.
For now, the union leaders are keeping silent after the meeting. Reacting to the signed manifesto, the left group Impulse said he was “deeply disappointed” that Labor had not committed to free school meals or removing the cap on child benefit for two.
Outside central London, where the meeting took place, senior Labor figures and union leaders hurried in and out of the venue to and from their cars, making scant remarks to the press. Heading into the meeting, Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, told reporters she was “hopeful”.
The meeting lasted about six and a half hours. Attendees entering the building were interrupted by two protests. In the morning, David Lammy was attacked by a protester from the Green New Deal Rising campaign, demanding that Labor commit to a Green New Deal. As the meeting ended, pro-Palestinian protesters greeted those leaving the venue.
Security guard Keith Vaz has been kicked out of Labor for standing up for the One Leicester party
Disgraced former MP Keith Vaz was belatedly kicked out of Labor after announcing he was staying in his old seat, Leicester East, for a new local party. Rajiv Syal and Jessica Murray have the story.
Labor agrees its ‘Clause V’ meeting manifesto.
Labour’s election manifesto was agreed at the party’s ‘Clause V’ meeting, paving the way for its official launch next week, PA Media reports.
A party spokesman said:
Today’s meeting endorsed Labour’s manifesto.
On July 4, the British people will have the chance to vote for change – to stop the chaos, turn the page and start rebuilding our country.
As reported by the PA, Rachel Reeves, Jonathan Reynolds and Ed Miliband were seen leaving the hall in central London. Most of those present declined to comment on what was agreed. Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Labour-affiliated union Unitewas scheduled to speak to reporters after the meeting but canceled his appearance.
Abdi Dualea moderate member of Labour’s ruling committee NEC, told the PA the meeting had been “very positive” and had been “faster than I thought”.
The manifesto is due to be published next week.
here it is Dan Sabagan analysis of the significance of Rishi Sunak’s D-day neglect.
And here’s Dan’s conclusion.
Labor could not believe the political gift that had been presented. Starmer’s party, often blamed by Conservatives of a soft approach to national security, managed to contrast Sunak’s rhetoric with reality. John Healy, Labour’s defense spokesman, said: “Given that the Prime Minister campaigned on the idea that young people should complete a year of national service, what does it say that he seems to have failed to complete either an afternoon of her?’
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