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Police have resumed their search and rescue operation for TV doctor and columnist Michael Mosley, who went missing while holidaying on a Greek island.
A yellow weather warning is in place for the region, with temperatures expected to reach highs of 36 degrees on Friday, with growing concerns for the medic’s welfare.
Mosley’s wife, Dr Clare Bailey, raised the alarm after he failed to return back to their accommodation after embarking on a coastal walk on the Dodecanese island of Symi on Wednesday afternoon.
A police source told the Daily Mail there is “just no trace” of the 67-year-old after he left a beach to hike along a coastal path at around 1:30pm.
“Any and every attempt to track him down has not produced any result,” they said, adding that they had expanded the search.
Mayor of Symi Eleftherios Papakalodoukas said firefighters had told him they believed it was “impossible” Mosley was still there.
He told the BBC: “It is a very small, controlled area, full of people. So, if something happened to him there, we would have found him by now.”
Dr Michael Mosley, known for fronting diet and exercise TV and radio shows, has gone missing on the Greek island of Symi.
A search operation is under way for the 67-year-old broadcaster, who first trained as a doctor before moving in to the world of broadcasting.
Through his work, he helped popularise the 5:2 diet and often pushed his body to extreme lengths to see the effects, including living with tapeworms in his guts for six weeks for a documentary.
Read the full article here:
A specialist unit of sniffer dogs have been drafted in to help with the search for missing TV doctor Michael Mosley.
Police and firefighters have been using drones to try and locate Mosley with a helicopter also involved in the rescue operation.
A spokesperson for the Greek fire service said on Friday: “The search continues today with seven firefighters, one drone checking the wider area, and we (are) co-operating with the Hellenic Police Office.”
The spokesperson also confirmed that the Greek police are using sniffer dogs in the search.
The local police department confirmed at around 7am on Friday that officers are scouring the island following them pausing the search-and-rescue operation for the 67-year-old British national on Thursday night.
Police and firefighters have been using drones to try and locate Mosley, who was reported to have vanished after setting off on a walk to the centre of the island on Wednesday, and a helicopter was deployed on Thursday to assist the search.
More officers will join the search-and-rescue operation on Symi, which is part of the Dodecanese island chain and is about 25 miles north of Rhodes.
Local people from Symi, a helicopter from Rhodes and Greek officers, along with police drafted in from outside the island, are searching the Pedi area and surroundings on Friday morning, the mayor’s office said.
Local people from Symi, a helicopter from Rhodes and Greek officers, along with police drafted in from outside the island, are searching the Pedi area and surroundings on Friday morning, the mayor’s office said.
The area where Mosley went missing is experiencing hot temperatures, which is forecast to reach highs of 36C on Friday, according to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service.
It also has a yellow weather warning in force in Rhodes and the surrounding islands including Symi for high temperatures.
A statement from Greek police, which has been translated, said officers were informed about the “disappearance of the 67-year-old British national on the island” on Wednesday.
Police then asked for assistance from the Greek fire service, with six firefighters, a vehicle and a drone team arriving from Rhodes at about 2pm (12pm BST) on Thursday.
Mayor of Symi Eleftherios Papakalodoukas said firefighters had told him they believed it was “impossible” Mosley was still there.
He told the BBC: “It is a very small, controlled area, full of people. So, if something happened to him there, we would have found him by now.”
He also expressed concerns to LBC that Dr Mosley may have lost consciousness and tumbled off a cliff due to the intense heat.
Roy Taylor, who is a professor of medicine and metabolism at Newcastle University and co-authored The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet with Mosley, said in a statement: “This shocking news focuses our minds on Michael’s wife Claire and their sons.
“Our thoughts are with them in this terrible time of uncertainty, hoping that he will be found safely. All speed and success to those searching for this dear man.”
Trust Me I’m A Doctor star Saleyha Ahsan wrote on social media that the news was “shocking” and that she was hoping Mosley would be “found safe”.
“I literally feel sick with worry,” Ahsan added. “Don’t even know what to say.”
Radio 2 presenter and Channel 5 talk show host Jeremy Vine wrote in a social media post: “I’m praying this lovely man is found and thinking of Claire and the whole Mosley family.”
A friend of the person Mosley was staying with said she was struggling to understand how anyone could get lost on the part of the island he was believed to be on.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Drive programme, she said: “It’s a road that sort of heads over the mountain side but it’s been recently widened and there is only one route, so it’s not possible to lose your way.
“So, it is probably a 20-minute walk down the side of the mountain, but it’s not overly rugged or something that would be seen to be too dangerous, it’s something that tourists do every day in the summer.
“I’m having trouble understanding how you could get lost.”
A woman who gave her name only as Irini, and who works at Kamares coffee shop on Pedi Beach, said on Thursday: “They came, the police, with the coast police and firemen, and the rescue team, to carry out the investigation, but I don’t think that anything has been found yet.”
Another woman in the area said Mosley’s disappearance was “strange” as the path he was thought to be on is “clear”.
She said: “It’s a quiet place … if you see the map of the area it’s a clear path, it’s nothing dangerous, many people go every day, every few minutes, that’s the reason it’s very strange because it’s a clear path.”
Rishi Sunak has issued an apology on social media for not staying longer at D-day events in France yesterday.
The prime minister, having left Normandy in order to instead pre-record an election interview with ITV, said “for the commemorations to be overshadowed by politics”.
He posted:
The 80th anniversary of D-day has been a profound moment to honour the brave men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our values, our freedom and our democracy.
This anniversary should be about those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The last thing I want is for the commemorations to be overshadowed by politics.
I care deeply about veterans and have been honoured to represent the UK at a number of events in Portsmouth and France over the past two days and to meet those who fought so bravely.
After the conclusion of the British event in Normandy, I returned back to the UK. On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer – and I apologise.
Filters BETA
John Swinney has been campaigning today in Glasgow – more of that in a monent – but he has added his comment to the row over Rishi Sunak’s decision to leave D-day commemoration services in France yesterday before events had finished.
The SNP leader and first minister of Scotland said:
I took a very conscious decision that, for the 48 hours I was involved in the memorial and observation of the sacrifices that have been made, I would, essentially, not be engaged in this election campaign. I have deliberately exercised my responsibilities as first minister to focus entirely on the D-day commemorations.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has told broadcasters “there was nowhere else I was going to be” other than at D-day commemoration events, and that the prime minister will have to “answer for his own actions.”
During a visit in Greater London on Friday, the Labour leader said:
Rishi Sunak will have to answer for his choice. For me there was only one choice, which was to be there, to pay my respects, to say thank you and to have to speak to those veterans.
Asked whether the prime minister’s apology draws a line under the row, Starmer said: “He has to answer for his own actions, for me there was nowhere else I was going to be.”
Sunak has apologised for leaving D-day anniversary events early to take part in a TV interview, admitting it was “a mistake not to stay in France longer”. Foreign secretary David Cameron to take his place in the late afternoon ceremony at Omaha beach on Thursday.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has said Sunak brought “shame” on the office of prime minister.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey has written to defence secretary Grant Shapps with a specific set of questions including “Did the prime minister himself suggest that this was not the best use of his time? If not the prime minister, who did?” and also pointed out that “Given that the prime minister has been campaigning on the idea young people should complete a year’s national service, what does it say that he appears to have been unable to complete a single afternoon of it?”
Sunak’s party appear to being squeezed from the right by Reform UK in polling, and the recently installed Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said “Patriotic people who love their country should not vote for [Sunak].”
Veterans minister Johnny Mercer, however, has said he has found “faux outrage” from people he claimed were preventing veterans’ affairs from being improved “nauseating”.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey has added to the pressure facing the Conservatives over Rishi Sunak’s decision to cut short his trip to France for D-day commemorations by writing to defence secretary Grant Shapps with a specific set of questions.
Healey writes “Yesterday, Britain and our allies came together to commemorate the events of D-day. As one, we paid our respects to the brave Allied forces who gave their lives for our freedom. The prime minister’s decision not to attend the events in Normandy yesterday – apparently in favour of recording a TV interview – raise worrying questions about both his judgement and his priorities.”
“As secretary of state for defence, I know you will share those concerns,” the letter continues, and then asks specifically:
When was the decision made for the prime minister to skip yesterday’s D-day commemoration?
Did the prime minister himself suggest that this was not the best use of his time? If not the prime minister, who did?
Did he record the television interview with ITV while D-Day events were still going on in Normandy?
Reports in the media attributed to Conservative Campaign Headquarters on Wednesday morning claimed the prime minister was “giving the next two days over to D-day out of respect”. Did they know this to be untrue at the time? If not, when was the decision made to cut short the prime minister’s attendance at the D-day ceremonies?
The French government are reported to have said they were told a week ago that the prime minister would not attend the D-day 80th commemoration. Is this true?
Do you believe that the prime minister apologising in a social media post is sufficient? Will you encourage the prime minister to make a further, fuller statement of apology?
Given that the prime minister has been campaigning on the idea young people should complete a year’s national service, what does it say that he appears to have been unable to complete a single afternoon of it?
Healey concludes “The public deserve clear explanations from the prime minister and those around him about why this dreadful decision was made.”
Hannah Al-Othman is a North of England correspondent for the Guardian
It is a family affair in Hyndburn in Lancashire, where the Tory incumbent Sara Britcliffe is being challenged by her own first cousin.
Matthew Britcliffe is standing for George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain on 4 July. He had joined the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn, campaigned for them in the last general election, and cites the late radical Labour MP Tony Benn as his most inspirational political figure.
Sara Britcliffe was elected in 2019; then just 24-years-old, she became the youngest Conservative MP. Labour had previously held the seat since 1992.
Matthew Britcliffe has criticised his cousin for voting in favour of dumping raw sewage in rivers, and voting against a ceasefire in Gaza, and said “the last five years have been horrific, and we simply cannot afford another five years like that.”
“My desire to do the right thing is what has caused me to now stand to represent the constituency of my father’s family,” he said in a statement. “My family has been part of East Lancashire’s history through the age of industrialisation, and I well understand how most of us came to be here in the first place.”
“Days after the [2019] election, my father told me I had a cousin, who I’d never heard of, and that she had been elected to parliament as a Tory MP,” he continued. “It was disappointing news, and didn’t get any better. A vote for dumping more sewage in our rivers, and a vote against a ceasefire in Gaza: two votes of Sara’s which stood out to me.”
Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, Sara Britcliffe has said that “Matthew is an estranged family member with whom I have no contact due to personal reasons.”
She said she does not believe that her cousin lives in the constituency, adding: “it is important to note that we do share the same last name and that I will be the second name down on the ballot paper.”
Veterans minister Johnny Mercer has had some combative words over those criticising Rishi Sunak’s early D-day exit, saying “I do find the faux outrage from people who’ve done nothing but make my life difficult trying to improve veterans’ affairs over the years is pretty nauseating.”
PA Media quotes him saying to the Sun that he understood the outrage and that it was a significant mistake. He told the paper:
I get the outrage. It’s a mistake. It’s a significant mistake for which he’s apologised.
But I’m also not going to join the howls of the fake veterans supporters who say he doesn’t treat veterans correctly, because it’s not correct. Obviously it’s a mistake. The prime minister on these visits receives a lot of advice on what he should and shouldn’t be doing.
I’ve spoken to the prime minister this morning and obviously it’s disappointing, but I do find the faux outrage from people who’ve done nothing but make my life difficult trying to improve veterans’ affairs over the years is pretty nauseating, to be frank.
Mercer has represented Plymouth Moor View since 2015, and is standing again at this election.
Matthew Pennycook, the shadow housing minister, was out promoting the Labour policy on the media round this morning. He told viewers of Sky News:
It’s a new policy that will allow first time buyers, through a comprehensive and permanent mortgage guarantee scheme, to get on the housing ladder.
So home ownership for far too many young people is now a pipe dream. We’ve seen rates of home ownership among the young almost half since the 1980s. Now a majority of 20 to 24-year-olds are living at home, people delaying starting families, because they can’t buy their own home. So we need to do something about that. The government’s record on this has been woeful.
The scheme, we think, will help around 80,000 people. People who can afford mortgage payments, but perhaps can’t afford that large deposit they need. Perhaps they haven’t got help from the “bank of mum and dad” to get on the housing ladder. It is part of our comprehensive plan to address the housing crisis, boost economic growth, and unlock opportunity.”
He also spoke about social housing, accusing the government of “the net loss of 14,000 genuinely affordable social rented each and every year.”
He said:
We’ve got to build more of these genuinely affordable social rented homes, as well as take action on the empty and vacant possessions if you like. And that’s exactly what we plan to do.
Senior members of the Labour team are expected to spend much of the day holed up to iron out the party’s draft manifesto ahead of publication expected next week, but for public consumption today they have been promoting their “freedom to buy” housing policy.
As my colleague Jane Croft has written:
Labour has said that, if it wins the general election, it will make permanent a mortgage guarantee scheme aimed at helping low-deposit mortgages become available for first-time buyers.
The temporary scheme, which involves the government acting as a guarantor for part of a home loan, was introduced by the Conservatives in 2021 and was extended until July next year by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt. It is aimed at encouraging lenders to offer low-deposit deals to first-time buyers.
Labour believes its plan, which will be rebranded “Freedom to buy”, will help 80,000 young people buy their own homes over the next five years.
Jim Waterson is the Guardian’s political media editor
Sunak’s decision to head home early from D-day could have been explained away by a claim to be working on official business. Unfortunately, his cover was blown after it was revealed he had spent some of the afternoon recording an interview with ITV political journalist Paul Brand.
Extraordinarily, that interview will not be shown in full until next Wednesday night. It was part of a series of pre-recorded ITV interviews with political party leaders that will be broadcast throughout the election campaign – meaning Sunak could have recorded it at any point in the next four days.
On Thursday evening ITV decided to release a short taster clip from the longer interview, in which Sunak was challenged about his tax claims, hoping to attract some coverage ahead of Friday night’s televised debate between party representatives. Instead, the clip mainly served to highlight what Sunak had been up to when he headed back early from Normandy.
Brand, whose reporting helped bring down Boris Johnson during the partygate scandal, told viewers on ITV News: “Today was the slot we were offered … we don’t know why.”
It has often been mooted there should be some kind of role for the Electoral Commission in defining a set of rules around TV debates and interviews during an election campaign to either compel participation, or to avoid the airwaves being flooded. Tonight’s seven-way debate on BBC is the third of ten so far scheduled debates.
The BBC has just now issued a press release detailing a series of interviews that Nick Robinson is carrying out with party leaders. You may recall that Boris Johnson avoiding an interview with Andrew Neil in a similar BBC series of shows became a subplot of the 2019 election.
For this time around, the BBC has announced this schedule:
Monday 10 June at 8pm – Rishi Sunak, Conservatives
Tuesday 11 June at 10.40pm – Nigel Farage, Reform UK
Wednesday 12 June at 7pm (BBC One and BBC One Scotland) – John Swinney, SNP
Wednesday 12 June at 7pm (BBC One Wales) – Rhun ap Iorwerth, Plaid Cymru
Tuesday 18 June at 10.40pm – Adrian Ramsay, Green party of England and Wales
Friday 28 June at 8.30pm – Ed Davey, Liberal Democrats
The BBC says it “has also invited Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour party, to be interviewed by Nick Robinson.”
Euro 2024 fixtures, the split of which was agreed a while ago by BBC and ITV, are also a factor interfering with the election broadcast calendar this year, as presumably nobody wants their slot to go up against an England or a Scotland match. The tournament starts with Germany v Scotland on 14 June.
Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent
The row over Douglas Ross apparently elbowing out another candidate who is recovering from serious illness in hospital shows no sign of abating this morning.
As we reported yesterday, the Scottish Tory leader made the surprise announcement that he would be standing for another Westminster seat – having insisted he was focusing on his Holyrood duties as an MSP – and none was more surprised than David Duguid, the anticipated candidate, who had been adopted by the local branch but was then blocked by the party’s management board for health reasons.
Overnight, Duguid’s local supporters have been out in force, condemning his treatment, while opposition voices have variously described Ross’s behaviour as “tawdry”, “shamefull” and “a betrayal”.
This morning Ross gave a lengthy interview to BBC Radio Scotland in which he insisted the management board was concerned “about the rigours of the election campaign and indeed the next five years as a member of parliament”.
Ross denied this was “an insurance option” for his career, and when it was put to him that colleagues at Holyrood were unhappy about his U-turn, Ross said these were “very unique circumstances” and repeated that he “wanted to lead from the front” in a key SNP target seat.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has added to a chorus of disapproval of Rishi Sunak’s actions yesterday, saying it showed “the supreme arrogance of someone who thinks their time matters most and who doesn’t really understand what service means.”
Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Liberal Democrat leader in Scotland, has commented on Rishi Sunak’s decision to leave D-day commemorations in France early. He said:
During elections there are moments in time that don’t just punctuate the campaign, but can define or even end an entire career. Rishi Sunak’s abandonment of the D-day commemorations and the veterans we honour on the beaches of Normandy feels like one such moment.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has also commented, saying “Patriotic people who love their country should not vote for him.”
The big set-piece of the day is the seven-way BBC debate. Andrew Sparrow will be here later on to pick up the blog and cover that for you.
The BBC invited party leaders or “senior figures” to represent the parties at the debate, which is on at 7.30pm for 90 minutes. Penny Mordaunt, leader of the Commons, will represent the Conservative party in the debate tonight. You can imagine, given that she is standing in the fiercely proud port constituency of Portsmouth North, how thrilled she must be at the fact that Rishi Sunak’s D-day flit is sure to come up.
Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, will speak for the official opposition. The Liberal Democrats will be represented by Daisy Cooper, their deputy leader. They will be joined by Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s leader at Westminster.
Three party leaders did accept the invite: Carla Denyer, Green party of England and Wales co-leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru, and Nigel Farage, the freshly installed leader of Reform UK, will make up the seven.
No parties from Northern Ireland are represented.
Mishal Husain is in the chair, and in a somewhat inside baseball* moment this morning she was interviewed on the BBC about the prospect of chairing the debate for the BBC. She was asked how she was going to keep control of a seven-way debate, and rather pointedly suggested that it gives the chance to the politicians appearing to communicate to viewers in ways other than simply in what they say.
[*I suspect putting the phrase inside baseball into the live blog is somewhat inside baseball itself]
Jessica Murray is the Guardian’s Midlands correspondent
The disgraced former Labour MP Keith Vaz has announced he is standing for election in his old seat, Leicester East, for a new local party.
Vaz will be taking on Labour, as well as his successor Claudia Webbe, who is standing as an independent candidate after being expelled from Labour over a conviction for harassment in 2021.
Vaz was the MP for Leicester East for 32 years, from 1987-2019, before he stepped down as a candidate after being caught in a tabloid sting offering to acquire cocaine for sex workers.
In a leaflet distributed to voters in the seat this week, Vaz said: “It was the greatest privilege of my life to serve as MP for Leicester East for over three decades. I absolutely love Leicester.
“Today, I am shocked with what I see. Despite so many opportunities, Leicester is unrecognisable, and on the edge of bankruptcy.
“Many people have urged me to stand again. I have decided to do so and accept the nomination of Leicester’s newest party, One Leicester, to be their candidate for one more term. Although I have always held Labour values, I promise to put Leicester first and party politics second.”
Vaz told the Guardian last year that he would not stand as an MP again, saying: “That ship has sailed.”
Prince William has arrived at Chester Cathedral ahead of the Duke of Westminster’s wedding to Olivia Henson as hundreds lined the street to catch a glimpse of the Prince.
Bunting and camping chairs line the streets outside the church as onlookers waited to see the Prince, who disembarked a blacked-out van with 10 other ushers just after 10:30am.
There were cheers from the gathered crowd once they realised it was the Prince of Wales, who is acting as an usher in today’s ceremony, but he slipped quietly inside the church through a side entrance without greeting those waiting.
Hugh Grosvenor, the 7th Duke of Westminster, will marry fiance Olivia Henson in what will be the society wedding of the year, with some 400 society guests in attendance, including Princess Eugenie.
However, Prince Harry will be notably missing from the day’s events after “an understanding” was reached with the Duke, who is reportedly godfather to Prince Archie, that he should stay away.
Miss Henson will travel to the church ahead of the midday service in a vintage Bentley as the young couple said they were “hugely grateful” for the messages of support.
Follow the latest updates below
The search for missing TV doctor Michael Mosley has resumed on Friday with police reinforcements after he went missing on the Greek island of Symi.
A local Facebook group said Mosley, known for appearing on programmes like This Morning and The One Show, went for a walk from Saint Nikolas Beach at about 1.30pm Greek time on Wednesday.
Police and firefighters have since used drones to scan the island, which is about 25 miles north of Rhodes, while a helicopter was deployed at about 7pm local time on Thursday.
The search was paused for the night, but police said "more men will be coming" on Friday morning.
A statement from local police, which has been translated, said officers were informed about the "disappearance of the 67-year-old British national on the island" two days ago. It is reported that Mosley's wife raised the alarm then.
Police then asked for assistance from the Greek fire service, with six firefighters, a vehicle and a drone team arriving from Rhodes at about 2pm on Thursday.
The rescue operation is focusing on the Pedi area of the island after a woman reported seeing him there on Wednesday.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Tap hereAnother woman in the area said Mosley's disappearance was "strange" as the path he was thought to be on is "clear".
"It's a quiet place… if you see the map of the area it's a clear path, it's nothing dangerous," she said.
"Many people go every day, every few minutes, that's the reason it's very strange because it's a clear path."
Adriana Shum, who shared the Facebook appeal yesterday, said in a later comment on the social media post Mosley reportedly "left his phone at his accommodation".
"The police, coast guard and EDOK, the mountain rescue people, are all searching plus all the locals are aware and keeping a look out," she wrote.
"These days it should be pretty difficult to get lost on Symi as so many of the paths have been surfaced and there is a lot more activity even in the most remote areas," she added.
Before the search was halted on Thursday night, she wrote: "Apparently he was sighted at Kamares so he made it that far..
"My husband has just spent 2 hours searching every public route in the valley by torchlight, calling his name, and has now joined EDOK to continue the search."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are supporting the family of a British man who is missing in Greece and are in contact with the local authorities."
Mosley is known for being a columnist for the Daily Mail and has made a number of films about diet and exercise.
The broadcaster fronted the Channel 4 show Michael Mosley: Who Made Britain Fat? and was part of the BBC series Trust Me, I'm A Doctor.
Trust Me I'm A Doctor star Saleyha Ahsan wrote on social media that the news was "shocking" and that she was hoping Mosley would be "found safe".
"I literally feel sick with worry," Ahsan added. "Don't even know what to say."
On Thursday's edition of The One Show, presenter Alex Jones opened the programme by saying that "lots of us are concerned to hear our friend Michael Mosley has gone missing whilst on holiday in Greece".
"Our thoughts are very much with his wife Claire and the rest of his family at this worrying time. We hope for more positive news," she added.
Read more from Sky News:
E.coli cases 'likely to rise' after 'food item' outbreak
Woman sues Netflix over Baby Reindeer character
'It was a mistake': Sunak sorry for leaving D-Day events early
Radio 2 presenter and Channel 5 talk show host Jeremy Vine wrote in a social media post: "I'm praying this lovely man is found and thinking of Clare and the whole Mosley family."
MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis wrote on X: "Feeling disturbed about the news about Dr Michael Mosley. I hope he's ok."
Rishi Sunak has issued an apology on social media for not staying longer at D-day events in France yesterday.
The prime minister, having left Normandy in order to instead pre-record an election interview with ITV, said “for the commemorations to be overshadowed by politics”.
He posted:
The 80th anniversary of D-day has been a profound moment to honour the brave men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our values, our freedom and our democracy.
This anniversary should be about those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The last thing I want is for the commemorations to be overshadowed by politics.
I care deeply about veterans and have been honoured to represent the UK at a number of events in Portsmouth and France over the past two days and to meet those who fought so bravely.
After the conclusion of the British event in Normandy, I returned back to the UK. On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer – and I apologise.
Filters BETA
Hannah Al-Othman is a North of England correspondent for the Guardian
It is a family affair in Hyndburn in Lancashire, where the Tory incumbent Sara Britcliffe is being challenged by her own first cousin.
Matthew Britcliffe is standing for George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain on 4 July. He had joined the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn, campaigned for them in the last general election, and cites the late radical Labour MP Tony Benn as his most inspirational political figure.
Sara Britcliffe was elected in 2019; then just 24-years-old, she became the youngest Conservative MP. Labour had previously held the seat since 1992.
Matthew Britcliffe has criticised his cousin for voting in favour of dumping raw sewage in rivers, and voting against a ceasefire in Gaza, and said “the last five years have been horrific, and we simply cannot afford another five years like that.”
“My desire to do the right thing is what has caused me to now stand to represent the constituency of my father’s family,” he said in a statement. “My family has been part of East Lancashire’s history through the age of industrialisation, and I well understand how most of us came to be here in the first place.”
“Days after the [2019] election, my father told me I had a cousin, who I’d never heard of, and that she had been elected to parliament as a Tory MP,” he continued. “It was disappointing news, and didn’t get any better. A vote for dumping more sewage in our rivers, and a vote against a ceasefire in Gaza: two votes of Sara’s which stood out to me.”
Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, Sara Britcliffe has said that “Matthew is an estranged family member with whom I have no contact due to personal reasons.”
She said she does not believe that her cousin lives in the constituency, adding: “it is important to note that we do share the same last name and that I will be the second name down on the ballot paper.”
Veterans minister Johnny Mercer has had some combative words over those criticising Rishi Sunak’s early D-day exit, saying “I do find the faux outrage from people who’ve done nothing but make my life difficult trying to improve veterans’ affairs over the years is pretty nauseating.”
PA Media quotes him saying to the Sun that he understood the outrage and that it was a significant mistake. He told the paper:
I get the outrage. It’s a mistake. It’s a significant mistake for which he’s apologised.
But I’m also not going to join the howls of the fake veterans supporters who say he doesn’t treat veterans correctly, because it’s not correct. Obviously it’s a mistake. The prime minister on these visits receives a lot of advice on what he should and shouldn’t be doing.
I’ve spoken to the prime minister this morning and obviously it’s disappointing, but I do find the faux outrage from people who’ve done nothing but make my life difficult trying to improve veterans’ affairs over the years is pretty nauseating, to be frank.
Mercer has represented Plymouth Moor View since 2015, and is standing again at this election.
Matthew Pennycook, the shadow housing minister, was out promoting the Labour policy on the media round this morning. He told viewers of Sky News:
It’s a new policy that will allow first time buyers, through a comprehensive and permanent mortgage guarantee scheme, to get on the housing ladder.
So home ownership for far too many young people is now a pipe dream. We’ve seen rates of home ownership among the young almost half since the 1980s. Now a majority of 20 to 24-year-olds are living at home, people delaying starting families, because they can’t buy their own home. So we need to do something about that. The government’s record on this has been woeful.
The scheme, we think, will help around 80,000 people. People who can afford mortgage payments, but perhaps can’t afford that large deposit they need. Perhaps they haven’t got help from the “bank of mum and dad” to get on the housing ladder. It is part of our comprehensive plan to address the housing crisis, boost economic growth, and unlock opportunity.”
He also spoke about social housing, accusing the government of “the net loss of 14,000 genuinely affordable social rented each and every year.”
He said:
We’ve got to build more of these genuinely affordable social rented homes, as well as take action on the empty and vacant possessions if you like. And that’s exactly what we plan to do.
Senior members of the Labour team are expected to spend much of the day holed up to iron out the party’s draft manifesto ahead of publication expected next week, but for public consumption today they have been promoting their “freedom to buy” housing policy.
As my colleague Jane Croft has written:
Labour has said that, if it wins the general election, it will make permanent a mortgage guarantee scheme aimed at helping low-deposit mortgages become available for first-time buyers.
The temporary scheme, which involves the government acting as a guarantor for part of a home loan, was introduced by the Conservatives in 2021 and was extended until July next year by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt. It is aimed at encouraging lenders to offer low-deposit deals to first-time buyers.
Labour believes its plan, which will be rebranded “Freedom to buy”, will help 80,000 young people buy their own homes over the next five years.
Jim Waterson is the Guardian’s political media editor
Sunak’s decision to head home early from D-day could have been explained away by a claim to be working on official business. Unfortunately, his cover was blown after it was revealed he had spent some of the afternoon recording an interview with ITV political journalist Paul Brand.
Extraordinarily, that interview will not be shown in full until next Wednesday night. It was part of a series of pre-recorded ITV interviews with political party leaders that will be broadcast throughout the election campaign – meaning Sunak could have recorded it at any point in the next four days.
On Thursday evening ITV decided to release a short taster clip from the longer interview, in which Sunak was challenged about his tax claims, hoping to attract some coverage ahead of Friday night’s televised debate between party representatives. Instead, the clip mainly served to highlight what Sunak had been up to when he headed back early from Normandy.
Brand, whose reporting helped bring down Boris Johnson during the partygate scandal, told viewers on ITV News: “Today was the slot we were offered … we don’t know why.”
It has often been mooted there should be some kind of role for the Electoral Commission in defining a set of rules around TV debates and interviews during an election campaign to either compel participation, or to avoid the airwaves being flooded. Tonight’s seven-way debate on BBC is the third of ten so far scheduled debates.
The BBC has just now issued a press release detailing a series of interviews that Nick Robinson is carrying out with party leaders. You may recall that Boris Johnson avoiding an interview with Andrew Neil in a similar BBC series of shows became a subplot of the 2019 election.
For this time around, the BBC has announced this schedule:
Monday 10 June at 8pm – Rishi Sunak, Conservatives
Tuesday 11 June at 10.40pm – Nigel Farage, Reform UK
Wednesday 12 June at 7pm (BBC One and BBC One Scotland) – John Swinney, SNP
Wednesday 12 June at 7pm (BBC One Wales) – Rhun ap Iorwerth, Plaid Cymru
Tuesday 18 June at 10.40pm – Adrian Ramsay, Green party of England and Wales
Friday 28 June at 8.30pm – Ed Davey, Liberal Democrats
The BBC says it “has also invited Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour party, to be interviewed by Nick Robinson.”
Euro 2024 fixtures, the split of which was agreed a while ago by BBC and ITV, are also a factor interfering with the election broadcast calendar this year, as presumably nobody wants their slot to go up against an England or a Scotland match. The tournament starts with Germany v Scotland on 14 June.
Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent
The row over Douglas Ross apparently elbowing out another candidate who is recovering from serious illness in hospital shows no sign of abating this morning.
As we reported yesterday, the Scottish Tory leader made the surprise announcement that he would be standing for another Westminster seat – having insisted he was focusing on his Holyrood duties as an MSP – and none was more surprised than David Duguid, the anticipated candidate, who had been adopted by the local branch but was then blocked by the party’s management board for health reasons.
Overnight, Duguid’s local supporters have been out in force, condemning his treatment, while opposition voices have variously described Ross’s behaviour as “tawdry”, “shamefull” and “a betrayal”.
This morning Ross gave a lengthy interview to BBC Radio Scotland in which he insisted the management board was concerned “about the rigours of the election campaign and indeed the next five years as a member of parliament”.
Ross denied this was “an insurance option” for his career, and when it was put to him that colleagues at Holyrood were unhappy about his U-turn, Ross said these were “very unique circumstances” and repeated that he “wanted to lead from the front” in a key SNP target seat.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has added to a chorus of disapproval of Rishi Sunak’s actions yesterday, saying it showed “the supreme arrogance of someone who thinks their time matters most and who doesn’t really understand what service means.”
Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Liberal Democrat leader in Scotland, has commented on Rishi Sunak’s decision to leave D-day commemorations in France early. He said:
During elections there are moments in time that don’t just punctuate the campaign, but can define or even end an entire career. Rishi Sunak’s abandonment of the D-day commemorations and the veterans we honour on the beaches of Normandy feels like one such moment.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has also commented, saying “Patriotic people who love their country should not vote for him.”
The big set-piece of the day is the seven-way BBC debate. Andrew Sparrow will be here later on to pick up the blog and cover that for you.
The BBC invited party leaders or “senior figures” to represent the parties at the debate, which is on at 7.30pm for 90 minutes. Penny Mordaunt, leader of the Commons, will represent the Conservative party in the debate tonight. You can imagine, given that she is standing in the fiercely proud port constituency of Portsmouth North, how thrilled she must be at the fact that Rishi Sunak’s D-day flit is sure to come up.
Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, will speak for the official opposition. The Liberal Democrats will be represented by Daisy Cooper, their deputy leader. They will be joined by Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s leader at Westminster.
Three party leaders did accept the invite: Carla Denyer, Green party of England and Wales co-leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru, and Nigel Farage, the freshly installed leader of Reform UK, will make up the seven.
No parties from Northern Ireland are represented.
Mishal Husain is in the chair, and in a somewhat inside baseball* moment this morning she was interviewed on the BBC about the prospect of chairing the debate for the BBC. She was asked how she was going to keep control of a seven-way debate, and rather pointedly suggested that it gives the chance to the politicians appearing to communicate to viewers in ways other than simply in what they say.
[*I suspect putting the phrase inside baseball into the live blog is somewhat inside baseball itself]
Jessica Murray is the Guardian’s Midlands correspondent
The disgraced former Labour MP Keith Vaz has announced he is standing for election in his old seat, Leicester East, for a new local party.
Vaz will be taking on Labour, as well as his successor Claudia Webbe, who is standing as an independent candidate after being expelled from Labour over a conviction for harassment in 2021.
Vaz was the MP for Leicester East for 32 years, from 1987-2019, before he stepped down as a candidate after being caught in a tabloid sting offering to acquire cocaine for sex workers.
In a leaflet distributed to voters in the seat this week, Vaz said: “It was the greatest privilege of my life to serve as MP for Leicester East for over three decades. I absolutely love Leicester.
“Today, I am shocked with what I see. Despite so many opportunities, Leicester is unrecognisable, and on the edge of bankruptcy.
“Many people have urged me to stand again. I have decided to do so and accept the nomination of Leicester’s newest party, One Leicester, to be their candidate for one more term. Although I have always held Labour values, I promise to put Leicester first and party politics second.”
Vaz told the Guardian last year that he would not stand as an MP again, saying: “That ship has sailed.”
Rishi Sunak has apologised for leaving D-Day commemorations in Normandy early to head back to the UK and return to the general election campaign.
The Prime Minister tweeted this morning: “After the conclusion of the British event in Normandy, I returned back to the UK. On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer – and I apologise.”
Mr Sunak did attend a British ceremony yesterday morning to mark the 80-year anniversary of D-Day but he did not attend an international gathering with other world leaders including Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron later in the day.
Instead, the Prime Minister returned to the UK and sat down with ITV to defend claims he had made about Sir Keir Starmer’s tax plans.
Labour accused Mr Sunak of a “dereliction of duty” while the Liberal Democrats said the premier had “brought shame” to the office of prime minister.
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