Category Archives: Conservatives

With two days to go, Boris Johnson is in his comfort zone

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Target seats such as Grimsby have not been blue for decades. To win here will require more than giant cod and snappy slogans

Boris Johnson does not look like a prime minister who believes he is just about to lose the office he has coveted since boyhood.

Brandishing a giant cod and joking with fishmongers, he is in his campaign comfort zone. It is the mode of the Vote Leave tour bus: eye-catching photo ops, a snappy slogan and informal stump speeches that play fast and loose with the facts about Brexit.

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General election: Labour sets out plan for first 100 days in office – live news

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John McDonnell to outline agenda for Labour government as general election campaign enters its final days

Good morning. We’re here, in the final stretch of the campaign. The country will go to the polls on Thursday, but before that happens, the parties are giving their pitches one final push.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell will outline the party’s plan for the first 100 days of a Labour government, while the party focuses on the benefit of its policies to the bank balances of voters, promising the public that a Labour government would put “money in your pocket”.

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Calls grow to stop Boris Johnson with tactical voting as race tightens

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Eleventh-hour appeal to anti-Tory voters as poll shows Conservative majority halved

A cross-party alliance of opposition politicians has launched an 11th-hour appeal to anti-Tory voters to consider switching allegiance in Thursday’s general election, amid signs that a late surge of tactical voting in a few swing seats could deprive Boris Johnson of a majority in parliament.

The calls from senior Labour, Liberal Democrat and SNP figures come as a major poll suggests Johnson’s likely majority has been cut in half in the last two weeks – from 82 a fortnight ago to just 40 with four days to polling day.

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BBC debate: Corbyn hits out at Johnson’s ‘racist remarks’

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Labour and Conservative party leaders clash over racism and NHS in final before polling day

Jeremy Corbyn accused Boris Johnson of having made “racist remarks” as the pair clashed over Islamophobia and antisemitism in their parties in a crucial head-to-head debate less than a week before polling day.

Corbyn made the allegation during the BBC One leaders’ debate on Friday as he defended himself against Johnson’s charge that his handling of antisemitism complaints within Labour was a “failure of leadership”.

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Boris Johnson vows to ban all-out strikes on public transport

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PM says sorry for describing Muslim women in veils as ‘letterboxes’ and promises EU trade deal by end of 2020

Boris Johnson has claimed that all-out strikes on public transport will be made illegal under a new Conservative administration following major disruption on UK train routes.

On a day when the prime minister also apologised “for any offence caused” by his comments about Muslim women and refused to concede it could take more than a year to agree a trade deal with the EU, he said it was “absurd” that rail workers could bring the system to a halt.

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Trump denies interest in NHS even if it was handed to US ‘on a silver platter’ – video

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Donald Trump has said he would not be interested in putting Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) on the table during trade talks with the UK even if it was ‘handed on a silver platter’.

Trump, who is in London for a Nato summit, said: ‘We have absolutely nothing to do with [the NHS], and we wouldn’t want to. If you handed it to us on a silver platter, we’d want nothing to do with it’

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General election: Swinson condemns Johnson over Trump friendship ahead of London visit – live

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Lib Dem leader said leaders should be ‘very careful’ about relationship with US president, ahead of his arrival for Nato

Morning, Amy Walker here, I’ll be taking over the politics liveblog for the next hour or so.

The former head of the parole board, Nick Hardwick, has criticised government changes to the criminal justice system after London Bridge attacker Usman Khan was released from prison under licence.

PA Media reports a vigil will be held to pay tribute to the victims killed in the London Bridge terror attack and to honour the emergency services and members of the public who responded to the incident.

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London Bridge attack: Boris Johnson ignores family’s plea not to exploit victims’ deaths

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PM accused of ‘distasteful’ attempt to turn London Bridge attack into election issue

Boris Johnson has been accused of twisting the facts of the London Bridge terror attack in a “distasteful” attempt to turn it into an election issue, as he tried to blame Labour for the release of the terrorist who stabbed two people to death.

Despite one of the victims’ families pleading for their son’s death not to be used as an excuse for kneejerk political reaction, Johnson claimed that “a lefty government” was responsible for Usman Khan being freed.

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Johnson dodges LBC radio host’s questions about his children

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PM refuses to comment when asked how involved he is in his children’s lives

Boris Johnson has refused to disclose how many children he has or whether he is involved in their lives, in an appearance on a radio phone-in show during which he was questioned over past comments about single mothers.

Answering listeners’ questions on LBC, Johnson was challenged by one caller about an article he wrote in 1995 in which he blamed single mothers for “producing a generation of ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate children.”

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Revealed: Tory candidates issued with attack manuals on how to smear rivals

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Party’s dossier contains dubious and outdated claims about Lib Dems and Labour

Conservative candidates in the general election have been issued with a detailed dossier on how to attack Labour and Liberal Democrat rivals which contains numerous rehashed and potentially misleading claims, the Guardian can reveal.

The documents accuse the Liberal Democrats of pushing “pro-pimp” policies and sex work as a career for schoolchildren.

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Jeremy Corbyn reveals dossier ‘proving NHS up for sale’

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Labour leader says documents leave Boris Johnson’s denials on post-Brexit US trade deal ‘in tatters’

Labour has obtained official documents showing that the US is demanding that the NHS will be “on the table” in talks on a post-Brexit trade deal, Jeremy Corbyn has said.

The Labour leader said the uncensored papers gave the lie to Boris Johnson’s claims that the NHS would not be part of any trade talks, and revealed that the US wanted “total market access” after the UK leaves the EU.

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Johnson tax pledge to ‘put money back in pockets’

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At launch of manifesto, PM says he will not raise income tax, VAT or national insurance for five years

Boris Johnson will commit a Tory government to not raise income tax, VAT or national insurance for five years as he promises to “put more money back in people’s pockets” after Brexit.

Launching the Conservatives’ general election manifesto on Sunday, the prime minister will also pledge to protect the value of state pensions, boost spending by £1bn on childcare during school terms and holidays, and cut energy bills by up to £750 a year for those in social housing.

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Conservatives open up 19-point lead with 47% share of the vote

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Latest Opinium/Observer poll shows Tories capitalising on retreat of Brexit party as manifesto is unveiled

The Conservatives have taken a commanding 19-point lead over Labour with less than three weeks to go before voters head to the polls, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

Related: Poll models fail to spot voting variation in similar seats

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General election 2019: Corbyn vows to take on wealthy elite during Labour’s manifesto launch – live news

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Party promises record investment blitz and to scrap tuition fees and universal credit

Corbyn is now responding to questions from students at the venue, Birmingham City University.

He says young workers will benefit from the living wage.

Q: Some voters do not see you as patriotic. Is that fair?

Corbyn replies:

Yes, I do support this country. I am patriotic about this country.

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UK growth will dip to 1% even if no-deal Brexit avoided, warns OECD

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Prospect of crashing out of EU leaves UK more exposed to global financial risks, thinktank says

The UK’s GDP growth rate will slip to 1% next year even if a no-deal Brexit is avoided, according to the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation.

The OECD said the economy would slow down from growth of 1.2% this year if parliament passes Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal before the 31 January deadline, before returning to 1.2% in 2021.

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Boris Johnson lets slip manifesto pledge to cut national insurance

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PM’s apparent blunder over £12,500 threshold could benefit him amid ‘factchecking’ row

Boris Johnson has said he wants to raise the national insurance threshold to £12,500, letting slip a major Tory tax cut from the manifesto as he was speaking to workers in Teesside.

The prime minister blurted out the key announcement as he was pressed by an employee at a fabrication yard about whether he would help “people like us”, not just the rich.

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Election debate: Johnson and Corbyn clash over NHS future

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Labour leader claims service will be sold by PM, who keeps repeating Brexit mantra

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have clashed over which of them is best placed to safeguard the NHS if they win the general election, with the Labour leader accusing the prime minister of being ready to sell it off to US corporations.

In a testy live debate on ITV, during which the prime minister repeatedly returned to the claim that he would “get Brexit done”, both men lavished praise on the NHS, but Corbyn said Johnson would put it up for sale.

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General election live: Corbyn should not resign immediately if Labour loses election, says McCluskey – live news

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All the day’s developments on the campaign trail before Johnson and Corbyn’s first TV debate

Boris Johnson has gone for some Rocky Balboa-type posturing ahead of tonight’s ITV debate. (See 2.33pm and 4.50pm.) As you would expect, Jeremy Corbyn’s warm-up routine is rather different.

Labour leader @jeremycorbyn has arrived for the #ITVdebate, saying he hopes for a respectful debate and prepared by eating a Caesar salad#GE2019 #Leadersdebatehttps://t.co/itw9efaa2W pic.twitter.com/Z2PVqCmgEd

And here is another useful Twitter thread on the likely impact of the debate tonight, from the academic Prof Tim Bale. It starts here.

THREAD: Did a @SkyNews bit today on debates. Here's (some of) what we think we know from research in the UK and elsewhere. 1/8

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Scientists and climate advisers condemn Tory environmental record

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Party under pressure on climate crisis as Corbyn says Johnson can not be trusted

The Conservative party’s record on tackling the climate crisis was condemned by leading scientists and former government advisers on Sunday, as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned that the forthcoming election was the last chance to halt the escalating emergency.

Experts accused the Conservatives of copying rightwing politicians in the US by deliberately weakening environmental protections. Meanwhile, new analysis by Labour reveals that environmental policies put forward since 2017 and opposed by the Tories would have led to emissions reductions of over 70m tonnes a year by 2030 – more than the annual emissions of Portugal.

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The view from Uxbridge: young voters battle to oust Johnson from his own seat

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A coalition of campaign groups is galvanising under-25s. Will they succeed in making this PM the first to lose his constituency at a general election?

Youth campaigners have stepped up efforts to oust Boris Johnson from his constituency with grassroots organisations increasingly hopeful they can make history by ensuring he is the first prime minister to lose their seat at a general election.

Despite speculation that Johnson might have relocated to a safer seat, it was confirmed on Thursday that he would stay put, ignoring an internal assessment from the intelligence agency GCHQ that he is potentially at risk.

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