General Election 2019

Boris Johnson has got his way and will be interviewed by Andrew Marr on Sunday, without having committed to a grilling from the BBC’s most ferocious interviewer Andrew Neil. The BBC had initially refused to invite the prime minister onto Marr’s show until he signed up to feature in a series of general election leader […]

The former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable has hit out at his party’s flagship policy to revoke Article 50 if it wins a majority. Since Jo Swinson took over from Sir Vince in July, the party adopted a policy at conference to cancel Brexit without a second referendum from the moment it would take […]

David Attenborough has branded Boris Johnson ‘shameful’ for not attending Thursday’s televised climate change general election debate. The veteran broadcaster said that the prime minister must have had something “very, very important” in his diary to have been too busy for it. In an interview to be broadcast tonight on Channel 4 News, Attenborough said […]

It was an opportunity for the major political parties to face the public and set out their vision, but who do you think performed the best? As we wait for verdicts from the pollsters we’re asking for readers to give their perspectives on tonight’s performances. Who do you think was the overall winner – was […]

Twitter was full of commentary as representatives answered questions from seven of the main political parties. https://twitter.com/GuardianHeather/status/1200491629301424134 https://twitter.com/jonoread/status/1200492545492553728 https://twitter.com/xeccar/status/1200492909885304833 https://twitter.com/TheotherNicola/status/1200494300888518657 https://twitter.com/StevenNT/status/1200497171335958528 https://twitter.com/grahamlithgow/status/1200497605538668544 https://twitter.com/nickeardleybbc/status/1200498659156275200 https://twitter.com/AngelaHaggerty/status/1200498721341026305 https://twitter.com/adilray/status/1200499361408585728 https://twitter.com/alcanlin/status/1200499995427954688 https://twitter.com/robpowellnews/status/1200500565807157249 https://twitter.com/KirstyStricklan/status/1200501979002363904 https://twitter.com/uk_domain_names/status/1200502443337027584 https://twitter.com/jimwaterson/status/1200503172235694082 https://twitter.com/AShadjareh/status/1200502429005037568 https://twitter.com/jdcairns/status/1200504119863189505 https://twitter.com/Simmy41/status/1200504609816694786 https://twitter.com/alcanlin/status/1200505872264388608 https://twitter.com/jonoread/status/1200514631325962240 https://twitter.com/Doozy_45/status/1200499417205346304 https://twitter.com/hiimginger/status/1200506961504165893 https://twitter.com/FrankGaudino/status/1200510678697725952 https://twitter.com/esbagshaw/status/1200508512985649152 https://twitter.com/redrog/status/1200509378945781760 https://twitter.com/suzannenw1962/status/1200511969792577536 https://twitter.com/joperry9/status/1200512208448491527 https://twitter.com/Moggsee/status/1200512428137517056 https://twitter.com/jdcairns/status/1200512217671749634 https://twitter.com/IainDale/status/1200509923374837761

In an attempt to defend his son from accusations of being a liar, Stanley Johnson has suggested that the ‘great British public’ does not have the degree of literacy to know who Pinocchio is. Appearing on BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show, the prime minister’s father responded to a viewer comment that Boris Johnson is like the […]

Readers express their concerns about the performance of Labour and Lib Dems during the election campaign so far. Labour are currently fighting what is being called ‘the Brexit election’ by trying their best not to mention Brexit. The only possible benefit of the inevitable large Tory majority which will soon follow is that the party […]

The BBC has stuck to its guns over Boris Johnson’s reticence to undergo an interview with Andrew Neil and has turned down No.10’s suggestion that he appear on Andrew Marr’s show instead. The national broadcaster announced earlier in the week that it had been “unable to fix a date” for the general election grilling from […]

LBC has clarified what happened on air after Boris Johnson made a hand gesture that sparked online speculation while he fielded calls from the public with host Nick Ferrari. The radio show, which is also filmed, shows the prime minister slicing his finger across his neck with a look of deep irritation as he struggles […]

The prime minister refused to apologise for misogynist and sexist comments he made about single mothers and the character of their children. He was challenged on this by a single mother from Oldham, where he was taking questions from the public. Ruth asked the prime minister about his Spectator columns from 1995, when he said […]

The prime minister was unable to say how many trade deals the UK has set up internationally for after the UK leaves the EU. A caller to Nick Ferrari’s LBC show, where Johnson was taking questions, was told by Johnson only: “We’ve got talks under way with many countries.” He said there were a number […]

The BBC has told the Tories to remove online adverts which use edited versions of its content, claiming it was ‘completely unacceptable’ to ‘distort’ its output. An edited clip of BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg saying “pointless delay to Brexit” edited by the Tories for Facebook advertising. Photograph: PA/Conservatives. – Credit: PA One of the […]

The Labour Party has compiled a list of 60 questions it says Boris Johnson must answer. The party has accused the prime minister of “hiding from scrutiny” after he snubbed the Channel 4 leaders’ debate on climate change and is yet to sign up to an interview with Andrew Neil. The questions are on a […]

Labour has accused the prime minister of ‘trying to restrict the free press’ by threatening Channel 4 after it empty-chaired him with a block of ice. A Tory source suggested the party may review Channel 4’s public service broadcasting position after it replaced the PM with an ice sculpture when he refused to take part […]

A teacher has hit out at a Tory minister over the party’s pledge for 50,000 more nurses in the NHS, claiming that even his eight-year-old could see through the lie. Brandon Lewis appeared on Question Time to defend the Conservative Party pledge in its manifesto, but faced fierce criticism from the audience. To laughter, one […]

The Lib Dems have calculated that 6,000 criminal could evade justice if Boris Johnson’s plans for Brexit goes ahead. UK police forces and prosecutors have used the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) to bring over 6,600 criminal fugitives to justice over the past five years, the analysis for the party reveals. This includes 140 for murder […]

Jo Swinson has opened up about her late father in an interview, describing how his memory drives her on as she campaigns in the general election. In an ITV interview set to be broadcast in full this evening, the Liberal Democrat leader had to pause and take a breath when her father Peter, who passed […]

A Conservative candidate has insisted a vote for him was still valid despite his name being spelled incorrectly on the ballot papers. Jack Gebhard’s middle name of Alexander was missing an ‘N’ when his nomination papers were submitted for him to stand in Wansbeck, Northumberland, against the Labour chairman Ian Lavery. The town councillor in […]

Musician Martin Kemp says he fears for young people growing up in the current political crisis surrounding Brexit. Appearing on the Jeremy Vine on 5 programme Kemp was asked about what he thought of Jeremy Corbyn’s warning that the NHS was now up for sale in a post-Brexit trade deal with America. He hit out […]

Several Conservative general election candidates appear to be following Boris Johnson’s lead on environmental issues and are not attending climate change-themed hustings nationwide. The prime minister has received much criticism for deciding not to take part in Channel 4 News’ climate change-themed general election debate. But campaigning media organisation DeSmog have found that at least […]

Nigel Farage has posted a tweet aimed at making fun of Jeremy Corbyn, but has ended up the butt of the joke instead. Disappointing choice. Past its best, now leaves a bitter taste. pic.twitter.com/1RKIxwX21y— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) November 27, 2019 The Brexit Party leader posted a picture of himself holding up a bottle of wine […]

Neither the Conservatives nor Labour is being honest with the electorate or are offering a ‘properly credible prospectus’ in their general election manifesto spending plans, a leading economic think tank has said. “Neither Labour nor the Conservatives is being honest with the electorate,” said Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) director Paul Johnson at a presentation. […]

Channel 4 is to host a climate change debate this evening which will focus on how party leaders will tackle one of the key issues for voters in the general election. But Boris Johnson and the Brexit Party’s Nigel Farage look set to snub the hour-long Emergency On Planet Earth debate. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, […]

YouGov’s MRP modelling has suggested that politicians that defected to the Liberal Democrats could lose their seats in the general election. The analysis highlighted four former Conservatives said to be trailing in their respective constituencies – Sarah Wollaston, who is 19 points behind in Totnes, Antoinette Sandbach who is trailing by 33 points in Eddisbury, […]

A raft of misogynistic and sexist comments by Boris Johnson have come to light, adding to the prime minister’s reputation of being contemptuous of women. In a series of articles written for the hard-right Spectator magazine, Johnson attacked single mothers and unmarried women and suggested they should be taken control of. Johnson described children of […]

Health secretary Matt Hancock became the latest Conservative minister to give an agonising performance as he tried to explain how the Tories would introduce 50,000 nurses into the NHS. The Tories have been criticised throughout the week for the pledge, which mostly appears to revolve around trying to convince the nurses to stay working for […]

A Conservative general election candidate has been accused of racially abusing his Labour competitor at a hustings last night. Labour supporters have demanded former Tory defence minister Philip Dunne step down after he told Labour’s Kuldip Sahota “he’s talking through his turban”. Sahota, who is challenging the seat of Ludlow that Dunne has held for […]

Much-anticipated polling analysis from YouGov, which most accurately predicted the outcome of the last general election, predicts Boris Johnson could win a majority. YouGov’s multilevel regression and post-stratification poll is commonly known in the industry as ‘MRP’ and seeks to predict the outcome of Britain’s general election on December 12. The MRP polling attempts to […]