Election latest: Elton John backs Labour and Starmer in general election; Farage told to 'get a grip' on party (2024)

Even by Reform's standards, the frequency and ferocity of attacks flying out from the party has stepped up today.

We've had complaints going into Ofcom, the Electoral Commission and Essex Police.

The BBC boycotted, Channel 4 reported, and a former campaigner cut adrift.

This tells you more about Nigel Farage's mindset than his decision to suspend three candidates over online posts.

So, five days from the election, will these seemingly rolling controversies shift many votes?

Much like the row over the Reform leader's comments on Russia and Putin, that probably depends on how fully signed up you are to the party’s agenda.

For the diehards, talk of an establishment stitch-up will find sympathetic and supportive ears.

But wavering Tories dabbling with Reform may be queasier about all this talk of racism and a big media conspiracy.

One final point.

A fortnight ago, Nigel Farage demanded to be treated as one of the big players in this election, citing a poll putting him ahead of the Tories.

But with more coverage comes more scrutiny.

You can construct a fair argument that that's exactly what Reform has been exposed to in the last week.

We've also had the results in from a poll carried out by Opinium for The Observer.

Similarly to the Savanta poll we mentioned in our previous post, it found Labour was still in the lead and Conservatives position remains unchanged.

However, it found support for Labour hadn't dipped and was still the same at 40%.

Reform UK were up one point to 17%, the Greens fell three points to 6%and the Lib Dems and SNP remained unchanged.

Labour has fallen four points to 38% - the party's lowest share since Rishi Sunak became prime minister - in a Savanta poll for the Sunday Telegraph.

But, it still holds a 17 point lead over the Conservatives, who were unchanged on 21%, indicating a landslide majority for Sir Keir Starmer.

"This is our lowest Labour vote share since Rishi Sunak became prime minister, and the Conservatives for their part do appear to have slowed or stopped their downward spiral," said Savanta's political research director Chris Hopkins.

"However, that's where the good news ends for the prime minister, as if this vote share was replicated on polling day, Labour would still likely have a majority of over 200."

Here's how some of the other parties did in the poll:

• Reform UK unchanged on 14%
• Liberal Democrats up one point on 11%
• Green Party up one point on 6%
• SNP down one point on 2%
• Others up one on 7%
  

Mr Hopkins said the increase in vote share for the Greens and independent candidates is "notable".

"Not because it will have an impact on this election in any significant way, but could point towards trouble for the Labour Party in government and over the coming years," he added.

Some 2,092 UK adults were polled from 26-28 June. The comparison is with an earlier poll conducted from 21-24 June.

Thank you for watching tonight's edition of Politics Hub With Ali Fortescue.

We heard from:

• Mark Spencer, Conservative candidate and farming minister;
• Sir Anthony Seldon, educator and contemporary historian.

And on the panel were:

• Max Wilson, former Labour political adviser;
• Claire Pearsall, former Tory adviser.

Scroll down for all the key moments and highlights - and stick with us here in the digital Politics Hub for the latest political news throughout the evening.

Sir Anthony Seldon is our next guest on Politics Hub With Ali Fortescue.

He has penned a new book entitled '2010-2024: 14 wasted years?', and we ask for his reflections on the Tory years in power.

He says there were some good things, such as in education where standards rose, "aspects of pensions, aspects of science, aspects of the arts, Universal Credit".

But he goes on: "Overall, growth and productivity has been stagnant since the global financial crisis of 2007-8, and if we look at health, if we look at transport, if we look at housing, if we look at the state of defence, if we look at Britain's position in the world - we don't see the different historians and academics who wrote the book... there isn't the kind of significant change in the standard of all those various areas and other that we have tended to see in long periods of Tory government in the past."

He says there have been "some progressive, important, and incremental changes, but overall a disappointing performance, frankly".

"It's hard to think of any period of single-party domination by the Conservative Party that has achieved less than the party's achieved since 2010."

Infighting has been partly to blame, and it is also a party that is "unsure what it believes in" and is "confused", Sir Anthony says.

He also says "the flip flop" of policies and ideological direction has been a problem.

"There were so many opportunities that the Conservative government could have had for consistent and thoughtful policymaking, and it simply hasn't happened."

Despite the "stability" brought by Rishi Sunak and Lord Cameron, Labour is on track for "a very significant victory" on Thursday.

He notes that no party since 1832 have ever won five general elections in a row, and adds: "It is going to be a colossal Labour victory, akin to 1945."

Celebrities endorsing political parties is not a new phenomenon, but Sir Elton John publicly backing Labour today has got people thinking - do they actually help things shift?

Max Wilson, former Labour political adviser, tells the Politics Hub With Ali Fortescue that endorsem*nts from the famous are a "good thing".

But, he says that they are unlikely to "shift the dial" or increase the number of votes.

"It is a nice thing to have, but I don't think it is a prerequisite to winning," he adds.

Former Tory adviser Claire Pearsall feels the idea has "really gone out of fashion".

"It has sort of slid away over the years... I would be more impressed if it was sort of Margaret from Burnley telling us exactly why she's voting for whichever party," she adds.

"We're now in the realms of understanding that real people want to see people like them."

It is the final weekend before the election, and parties have been making the most of it with leaders out campaigning.

Here's where they've been focusing their efforts today:

Rishi Sunak has been marking Armed Forces Day by meeting veterans at an event near Catterick in North Yorkshire.

He hailed the "duty, dedication and selfless personal sacrifice" of servicemen and women, before embarking on a community visit in Neasden in northwest London.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey promised to reverse cuts to numbers in the armed forces as he set off on a 1,300-mile battle bus tour from John O'Groats in Scotland to Land's End in England.

The SNP's leader John Swinney has been campaigning in a couple of areas in Scotland, including Glasgow, where he told voters a Labour government is a foregone conclusion.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has been at a veterans' coffee morning in Hampshire, where he has pledged to "lead a government of service" if elected.

This evening, he has held a rally in Central London - where there was an endorsem*nt from Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish -and a warning that the Tories could still win the election.

We are now hearing from our panel about the racism row engulfing Reform UK - and the intensification of the Tories' attack.

Asked if the party should have been more on the attack from the start, Claire Pearsall, former Tory adviser, replies: "Yes."

She says it is "unsurprising" that Nigel Farage leading a party on an anti-immigration platform would be "loud, and brash, and against the Conservative Party".

"Why anybody would tip toe round saying 'we need to be nice to him' is absolutely beyond me."

She also notes that this is an election, so "surely you need to go out there and tell everybody why you're the best".

Considering doing a deal with Reform at the start of the campaign was "the wrong approach".

Max Wilson, former Labour political adviser, says the Tories got too close to Reform, with some candidates suggesting at the start of the campaign that Mr Farage could join the party after the election.

"It seems a bit mad to me that in a short campaign, you're actually entertaining the idea that your rival might actually join the party," he says.

He goes on to say that the Tories needed to hold back on Reform because of the party's supporters have, in their view, "strayed from the true faith" - but the comments that have come out over the last few days mean that the Tories can go on the attack.

Ms Pearsalladds that Mr Farage "whether you love him or loathe him has bought in a sort of dynamism to what was a pretty dull campaign".

She says there needs to be more scrutiny on his policies as well if he wants to be the new opposition and a major political player.

As a former supporter of Boris Johnson, Mark Spencer has been asked if he thinks the former prime minister would be doing a better job than Rishi Sunak in the Conservative's election campaign.

"I think that's unfair actually," he says, saying that voters understand the "big issues" and the "big challenges".

He goes on to say that the nation has been "unlucky" with global events, and Rishi Sunak has started to get that disruption "under control".

Mr Spencer has previously found himself facing criticism for saying people do not care about lockdown parties, which took place during the COVID pandemic.

Ali asks him how he feels about the comments now.

He says there were "huge challenges" facing the government at the time, and he's "sure mistakes were made along the way".

The first guest on tonight's edition of Politics Hub With Ali Fortescueis Mark Spencer, the farming minister.

We start by putting to him that the Tory party seems to be intensifying its attacks on Reform UK and Nigel Farage, and put to him the question that many of his colleagues are asking privately, which is why it didn't happen sooner.

He replies: "I think the mask has slipped a bit, hasn't it, really. And we sort of see what some of these Reform candidates are like, and it must be pretty scary, actually, for people who have heard those comments, who are affected by them - they are pretty abhorrent."

He goes on to say that Rishi Sunak's response was "very powerful", talking about the impact on his daughters of them hearing him being call racist terms.

The minister dodges the question of whether racism in Reform came as a surprise to him, speaking about "how shocking it is that someone in this country judges other people by the colour of their skin".

"In this age, the fact that we're having this conversation is pretty sad," he says.

Ali puts to the minister that some in the party have said they would welcome Mr Farage in the party, and today the party is on the attack.

But he replies that many supporters of Reform "do actually share the Conservative Party's concerns about the Labour Party", adding that "the sad thing is" that voting for Reform would see Labour in power.

His message to voters is that if they want tax cuts, for example, they should vote Conservative.

Warning again that voting for Mr Farage's party would let Labour into power, he says: "I think those who are minded to vote for Reform should stop and think about that, stop and think about what they will deliver and for how long."