Skillful defense of the Tory candidate in the dispute over “shitty” Rwanda policy – ​​that’s how it happened

Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education minister, said many parts of the existing draft policy contained “good and straightforward principles”.

She added: “Other elements, in my opinion, drifted far too far into partisan and unnecessary language, which I think makes it harder for schools to deal with.”

Phillipson pledged to provide schools with advice, a draft of which was published in December and is currently being consulted on. The document bans teaching about the concept of gender identity and will come into force later this year.

Phillipson said: “There are trans people in society and their existence should be recognised.” She told the BBC that children questioning their gender are often desperate and vulnerable, adding: “That is not served by ministers looking to pick fights and grab headlines. Let’s be more responsible and not so critical. Let’s get on with this properly and seriously.”

Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, speaks to pro-Palestinian protesters outside the London School of Economics last week. He is running as an independent for his old seat, Islington North.

PETER NICHOLLS/GETTY IMAGES

Jeremy Corbyn was not a “good choice” for the post of prime minister in the 2019 election, a shadow cabinet minister said.

Bridget Phillipson argued that “the bar was set pretty low in 2019” when she defended Sir Keir Starmer, who said at the 2019 election that Corbyn would be a “great prime minister”.

She told the BBC: “I didn’t think Jeremy Corbyn would ever win. And that was very, very clear before the election. Let’s be honest, it wasn’t a good election, and it certainly wasn’t a good election that Labour put forward in 2019.”

Eight years ago today, Great Britain voted to leave the European Union.

But while Brexit captured Boris Johnson’s Conservative majority in the last election campaign, it is the central issue this time, says Tim Shipman, chief political commentator for the Sunday Times.

• Read the full story: Why don’t our politicians want to talk about Brexit?

Labour said the Conservatives’ betting scandal had sparked “real disgust” among voters. Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education minister, called on Rishi Sunak to suspend candidates accused of gambling on election day.

“There is so much disgust among so many voters that we are seeing some pretty shocking behaviour here,” Phillipson told the BBC.

“Rishi Sunak promised us his government would be different. He has done nothing against the candidates in question. He should suspend them. As Michael Gove said, this only reminds people of the worst excesses of the Conservatives over the last 14 years.”

James Cleverly said there was “no reason to believe” Cabinet ministers had placed bets on the timing of the general election. The Home Secretary said the allegations involved a “small number of people”.

“As far as I know, it’s a small number of people,” he told Sky News. “There is an investigation by the Gambling Commission and we have been told very, very clearly that we are not allowed to talk about the investigation.”

Asked whether Cabinet ministers had placed bets, Cleverly said: “I have no reason to believe so.” When asked by the BBC whether ministers had placed bets, he replied: “Not that I am aware of.”

Nigel Farage reiterated his claim that the West “provoked” President Putin to invade Ukraine.

The reform leader responded to criticism from both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer by stressing that the UK and other nations had “played into Putin’s hands and given him the excuse to do what he wanted to do anyway”.

Writing for the Sunday Telegraph, he denied being a “defender” of the Russian president and called the invasion “immoral, outrageous and indefensible.” But he added: “If you poke the Russian bear with a stick, don’t be surprised if it responds.”

• Read the full story: Nigel Farage accuses the West of provoking the Russian invasion

James Cleverly has defended an adviser and Conservative candidate who described the government’s Rwanda policy as “rubbish”.

The Home Secretary said James Sunderland was trying to grab his audience’s attention when he appeared to reject the policy in a leaked recording seen by the BBC.

“It’s clear that he’s making a very counter-intuitive statement to get the audience’s attention,” Cleverly told Sky News. “If you listen carefully to what he said next, he said that it’s the impact, the effect that counts.”

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), public services face “drastic cuts” after the general election, regardless of which party wins.

The IFS had accused both Labour and the Conservatives of a “conspiracy of silence” regarding their spending plans for the next five years.

In a new report, the independent economic research institute said: “The lack of plans for every department after this year means that we are unclear about the trend in spending on particular public services and are unable to estimate the ‘cost’ of any particular spending trend.”

“However, the lack of plans for each department also means that parties can commit to overall spending plans in their manifestos that imply drastic cuts in real terms in a number of areas, without setting out where these cuts will be made or how they will be achieved.”

As if the political betting controversy wasn’t enough of a headache for Rishi Sunak, a Tory candidate was recorded describing the government’s Rwanda policy as “rubbish”.

The BBC reported that James Sunderland, a former parliamentary private secretary to British Home Secretary James Cleverly, made the remark at a Young Conservatives event in April.

He was recorded saying: “I would tell you nobody has their camera or their phone on. Politics sucks, OK? It sucks.”

Sunderland adds: “But it’s not about the politics. It’s about the impact of the politics… There is no doubt at all that the launch of the first flights will send such a shockwave across the Channel that the gangs will stop.”

Labour and the Liberal Democrats called on the Prime Minister to suspend all those involved in the election betting controversy.

Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, called it “a real scandal at the heart of Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party”. She said: “Sunak must personally intervene to order a Cabinet Office investigation and suspend all individuals being investigated by the Gambling Commission.”

A Labour Party spokesman described the latest allegations as “completely extraordinary”.

Four Conservative officials have been named as part of the investigation into alleged betting on election timing in the days leading up to the July 4 election date being announced.

The controversy began on June 12, when it was reported that Craig Williams, the Conservative MP and parliamentary private secretary to Rishi Sunak, had bet £100 at Ladbrokes at odds of 5:1.

On Thursday it was announced that campaign manager Tony Lee and his wife Laura Saunders, a Conservative candidate in the Bristol North West constituency, were being investigated by the Gambling Commission.

Now the Sunday Times has revealed that Nick Mason, the party’s chief data protection officer, is also involved in the investigation and is taking a leave of absence.