Key events
Veterans minister Johnny Mercer acknowledged the Tory campaign had been “up and down” but warned voters against giving Labour “unchecked” power, reports the PA news agency.
On Sky News he said:
This election is tough, right? And it was always going to be tough after 14 years in power, and clearly the campaign’s been up and down as well.
But I don’t see those polls reflected on the doorsteps. I think people are focusing in and as we get closer to that election, they’re really starting to see that clear choice, if you like, between [Keir] Starmer, who every time he goes on TV just refuses to rule out serious things like capital gains tax, like he did last night, and Conservatives, who are dealing with a tricky situation, but actually if you look at the manifesto, there’s a real bold plan there.”
In a message to would-be supporters of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK he said:
If you vote for Reform, you’re going to get a Labour government, you’ll get unchecked power from a Labour government to come in and change the face of this country into something that I don’t believe it is, I don’t think it is a left-wing country.”
Tory leadership hopefuls ‘already lobbying’ to replace Sunak
Kiran Stacey
Conservative leadership hopefuls are already lobbying for support to take over from Rishi Sunak amid widespread fears the party is heading for a disastrous defeat on 4 July, the Guardian has learned.
The manoeuvring comes as one poll put the Conservatives behind Reform UK for the first time, on 18%; a position that would lead to a historic wipeout for the Tories at next month’s election.
The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, claimed on Friday the poll showed he was now in effect the leader of the opposition, though that job is likely to fall to one of up to a dozen senior Conservatives after the election.
The early favourites for leader include former secretaries of state Priti Patel, Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt and Grant Shapps. Several of those, however, are fighting to retain their seats, leaving their contention highly uncertain.
One Tory adviser said: “There is quite a bit of manoeuvring going on already. Members of the cabinet are texting candidates regularly just to ‘check in’, while others are already lining up their leadership teams.”
They added: “It can be quite annoying – sometimes you wish they would focus more on the general election campaign.”
A senior party member said: “There is a sense now that a Labour victory is inevitable. We went into the campaign hoping for a hung parliament, but now the central assumption is we are trying to minimise their majority.”
You can read the full piece by Kiran Stacey and Rowena Mason here:
Opening summary
Good morning, and welcome to our continued coverage of the 2024 general election campaign.
Rishi Sunak has committed to staying on as an MP for the full five-year term if the Conservative party loses the general election.
Speaking to journalists in Puglia, Italy, where he was attending the G7 summit, the prime minister said he intended to serve a full parliamentary term regardless of the overall result on 4 July.
Meanwhile, Tory leadership hopefuls are already lobbying for support to take over from Sunak, the Guardian has learned.
With three weeks to go before the general election, candidates and advisers had begun lining up behind their preferred contenders, sources said, with some Tory campaigners complaining they were being inundated with messages from potential leaders.
The manoeuvring comes as one poll put the Conservatives behind Reform UK for the first time, on 18%; a position that would lead to a historic wipeout for the Tories at next month’s election.
In other news, here are some of the events we can expect politicians to be attending today:
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Prime minister Rishi Sunak will be attending the trooping the colour to celebrate the official birthday of King Charles.
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Later in the day Sunak will be jetting off as he is billed to attend a Ukraine peace summit at a lakeside resort in Switzerland. He will be joined by the foreign secretary, David Cameron, at the event that will be hosted by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
