General election 2024 live: Reform UK canvasser filmed calling Rishi Sunak a 'f*****g p**i'

My colleague Joe Barlow has done a fascinating interview with Isaac Howarth, a 21-year-old student who’s standing for the Tories in Sheffield Hallam. He must be one of the youngest Conservative candidates in the country.

Howarth has a completely different political viewpoint to most of his peers - the Tories trail Labour by 52 points amongst Gen Z. So it’s very interesting to hear about his own path to becoming a Conservative candidate and views on politics. Read the full interview below.

More and more frontbenchers from Labour and the Tories (and even the Lib Dems) are filing into the spin room. In Keir Starmer’s corner, Wes Streeting, Darren Jones, Bridget Phillipson, Jon Ashworth and Pat McFadden are milling around.

While Laura Trott, David Davies and James Cleverly are here backing up the PM. Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, is also chatting to hacks, despite Ed Davey not being on stage tonight. She sounds upbeat, and why not given the Lib Dems’ performance so far.

A man understood to be a member of the Labour Party has been arrested as part of a police probe into a sexting scam that targeted political figures. The suspect, aged in his mid-twenties, was held in Islington, north London, on Wednesday on suspicion of harassment and offences under the Online Safety Act.

A police investigation began in April after it was suggested that at least 12 men with links to Westminster had received unsolicited messages in a honeytrap plot.

An unknown scammer is said to have used the aliases “Charlie” and “Abi” while sending flirtatious messages to attempt to coax MPs and other figures in political circles into sending explicit pictures. Then-senior Conservative MP William Wragg resigned the party whip after he admitted giving politicians’ phone numbers to a suspected scammer.

Fellow Tory Dr Luke Evans called for a full review of Parliament’s system of investigating incidents reported by MPs after he was also targeted. Wragg admitted he gave colleagues’ phone numbers to someone on a dating app amid fears that intimate images of himself would be leaked.

I am in an absolutely roasting spin room in Nottingham, ahead of the final TV debate of the campaign which will be on BBC One at 8.15pm. It is only the second time Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have come face to face on the campaign, and I’m expecting the Prime Minister to come out fighting.

The Tories plan is simple - hit Labour on tax over an over again. They even put out a tweet today, which just said the word tax hundreds of times (see the bottom of the post). Sunak managed to rinse and repeat his tax attack over and over again in the first debate, but this hasn’t shifted the polls.

Starmer meanwhile needs to work on convincing the voters that he stands for something. When I’ve been speaking to people throughout the election campaign, the common refrain is that he changes his mind too much. His attack on Jeremy Corbyn’s 2019 manifesto, when he was in the Shadow Cabinet, will not have helped this.

Starmer is almost certain to become Prime Minister, however he is likely to have a difficult time from the off, with a struggling economy and little time to turn around crumbling public services. An impressive display tonight, with millions of people watching, could buy him some time.

BBC Newsnight has reported that 15 Tory candidates and officials are being investigated by the Gambling Commission. So far two candidates have been suspended, and two senior officials and a member of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) have been named.

Mel Stride said he did not know how many Conservatives would be dragged into the investigation. He told LBC: “I don’t know what the number is, what the number may or may not end up as, or indeed which parties may be involved, because we have obviously just heard that a Labour candidate has apparently betted against himself in the constituency in which he is standing and has been suspended as a consequence.

“So I don’t know where all of this will lead, it could be that there will be others across different political parties going forward. But what I do know is that in the case of those Conservative candidates, who are being investigated by the Gambling Commission, they have been suspended. They are not supported as Conservative candidates in this election.

“Indeed, the Prime Minister has been very clear that in the event that they are found to have broken the rules by the Gambling Commission, they will be expelled from the Conservative Party.”

The Labour gamble-gate candidate Kevin Craig has admitted making a “stupid error of judgment” by placing a wager on the Tories defeating him in the constituency of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.

He claimed he had done so because he thought he would “never win this seat” and had been planning to give any winnings to local charities.

Labour found out on Tuesday that Craig was being investigated by the Gambling Commission, and moved immediately to withdraw its backing for him, it is understood.

It comes amid a wider scandal over gambling on the date of the General Election, with four Conservative candidates and officials facing a probe by the watchdog.

In a statement on Tuesday, Craig said: “While I did not place this bet with any prior knowledge of the outcome, this was a huge mistake, for which I apologise unreservedly.”

He added: “I deeply regret what I have done and will take the consequences of this stupid error of judgment on the chin. I am deeply sorry to the many dedicated and loyal local Labour Party volunteers who have been supporting my campaign. I will comply fully with the investigation.”

A Labour spokeswoman said: “With Keir Starmer as leader, the Labour party upholds the highest standards for our parliamentary candidates, as the public rightly expects from any party hoping to serve, which is why we have acted immediately in this case.”

The PA news agency understands the party has also since handed back £100,000 in donations it received from Craig.

Craig, who founded public affairs agency PLMR and is described on its website as an expert in “political communications” and “crisis management”, was campaigning in Suffolk earlier on Tuesday, according to his social media.

The candidate posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he had attended the Ipswich Family Bank and said he hoped to “work with them to bring change after (July 4)”.

He was standing for Labour in the constituency after Dr Dan Poulter, who won the seat as a Tory, defected to the opposition party in protest at what he described as the Conservatives’ “rightward drift” and neglect of the NHS.

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride has been on the morning round, and guess what - he’s been asked about gamble-gate. On the late suspension of candidates, Stride said that internal investigations “would have started from the moment that the information or the news broke, and obviously reached a point where that was the right conclusion to draw”.

He added: “These things can sometimes take a few days. They don't necessarily take a few seconds, sometimes they take a little bit of time, to make sure you get it right. But I think that the right decision has been taken.”

Nick Ferrari of LBC also asked Stride about this apparent joke his Cabinet colleague Alistair Jack made, when he said he made a £2,000 bet on the election date. Stride said: “I think Alister has a very dry sense of humour.”

When asked if this was funny, he added: “I don't know, I wasn't there. And I didn't hear the comments. I'm not really in a position to properly judge whether it was truly funny or not, or the context ... the important thing with Alister is this, that he has made it very clear that no rules have been broken. He didn't place any bets during May, for example, which is the period that the Gambling Commission is interested in, is investigating. So he's outside of that period. And he's very clear that he hasn't broken any rules.”

The Westminster gambling row has deepened after a Cabinet minister revealed he had placed bets on the date of the general election.

Scotland Secretary Alister Jack denied having broken any rules but said he put three wagers on the timing of the 4 July poll, becoming the latest of seven politicians and officials to get drawn in to the controversy.

Jack said he had in April put £20 at odds of 5/1 on an election being held between July and September, but that he had no knowledge of when it would be called until the day that Rishi Sunak fired the starting gun on 22 May 22.

It came after the BBC reported that he had told the broadcaster he made more than £2,000 from betting on the date, but later dismissed the comments as a “joke”.

In a statement released late on Tuesday, the minister said: “Following reports today I want to be absolutely clear I have not breached any gambling rules.”

He said that in March, he placed two unsuccessful bets on the date of the election of £5 for a vote to be held in May and June respectively, then made the third wager in April.

Jack added: “As I have said previously, I placed no bets in May and am not under investigation by the Gambling Commission.”

The SNP had said the minister had a “duty to come forward with the full details” of the wager while the Liberal Democrats accused the Tories of having “mired themselves in sleaze and scandal.”

“The Conservative Party has destroyed people’s trust in politics,” a Lib Dem spokesperson said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Welsh Conservative member of the Senedd Russell George stepped back from the shadow cabinet after it emerged he was facing a probe by the watchdog over alleged betting on the timing of the poll.

He said he would “cooperate fully” with the investigation while Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies said all other members of the Welsh Conservative Group had “confirmed that they have not placed any bets”.

Labour has administratively suspended Central Suffolk and North Ipswich candidate Kevin Craig after the Gambling Commission launched an investigation.

A party spokeswoman said after being contacted by the Gambling Commission the party acted immediately to administratively suspend him pending investigation.

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: “With Keir Starmer as leader, the Labour party upholds the highest standards for our parliamentary candidates, as the public rightly expects from any party hoping to serve, which is why we have acted immediately in this case.”

Craig Williams said he remained on the ballot paper and intended to clear his name after being dropped by the Conservatives over allegedly betting on the date of the general election.

In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, Williams said: “I just want a quick message to the constituents of Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr. I remain on the ballot paper come July 4 and I hope to secure your support after years of delivery.

“I committed an error of judgment, not an offence, and I want to reiterate my apology directly to you. I am fully co-operating with routine inquiries from the Gambling Commission and I intend to clear my name.”

He said in his video statement: “In all these things, due process is important and that is what sets the UK apart from other countries, and the commission must be allowed to do its work.

“It’s been a privilege for me to be the Member of Parliament for the constituency where I was born, raised and now live with my young family.

“I have been working hard, helping thousands of constituents with our team with everything from benefits to housing, from potholes to energy bills, as well as securing an unprecedented level of investment in our local businesses, communities and high streets, and finally sticking up for farmers, because without farmers there is no food, and without food there is no future.

“For now, however, the most important thing I want to say to you today is I am committed to my campaign to be elected as your Member of Parliament and your staunch champion.”