Rishi Sunak speech: Prime Minister to give pre-election pitch claiming UK facing ‘dangerous years’ ahead

The foreign secretary criticised his former Conservative colleague over her decision to cross the floor of the House of Commons, saying: “I am not a fan of defectors. I think it leaves a legacy of upset and betrayal… I thought this was just naked opportunism.”

Rightwing Tory MP Suella Braverman has surprised many by demanding an end to the two child benefit cap to tackle poverty.

But despite internal party pressure it is not a policy Labour will pursue.

Rishi Sunak has suffered a fresh embarrassment ahead of his speech after former Tory donor Puneet Gupta has announced he has switched his support back to Labour.

Mr Gupta, who owns Scottish-based supplier PG Paper, recently gave £50,000 to the Tories and visited Downing Street.

However, he accused the government of “stagnating” describing Mr Sunak’s performance as “highly disappointing.”

Mr Gupta has previously been a Labour donor giving money to Scottish Labour MSP Anas Sarwar’s failed leadership campaign in 2017.

Former Conservative Party communications director Amy Fisher says the Prime Minister plans to “sweep away the disastrous local elections results” with his speech.

The former Tory member told Talk TV: “This is not without its dangers, Sunak is not the most charismatic of politicians!”

As Angela Rayner prepares to be interviewed under police caution, her shadow cabinet colleague says she is under attack because she is “a working class success story”.

Speaking exclusively to The Independent, Mr Streeting said that the whole saga “makes my blood boil” and he accused his colleague’s critics of attacking her because “she is a working class success story”.

Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi seems to have already moved to new pastures.

He will replace interim chair Aidan Barclay at the company which is part of the Barclay family’s business empire.

The company, which owns Very and Littlewoods, said in a statement that Mr Zahawi would work with the directors and management team to explore expanding the business in new areas.

Labour frontbencher Catherine McKinnell has accused the Conservative Party of sitting on Elphicke lobbying claims.

The shadow schools minister has called for an investigation into why the Tories didn’t address the concerns.

She told Sky News: “I am really baffled by this because this happened four years ago and he has sat on these concerns that he says are very serious to a newspaper and has not done anything about it for four years.

“So I am as baffled as anybody else by these assertions. Obviously Natalie says they are not true, it is not her recollection of the meeting and so she says it is nonsense.

“I just can’t quite understand why, if something is this important and as serious as he is alleging, why it wasn’t addressed at the time. That is very concerning to me. So I think that is something that probably does need to be looked into.”

Sir Keir Starmer has come under pressure to investigate claim Elphicke “lobbied minister to intervene in husband’s trial”.

Ms Elphicke allegedly told Sir Robert that it was unfair her ex-husband’s case was the first to be heard at Southwark Crown Court after the Covid lockdown and that it was being overseen by Lady Justice Whipple, The Sunday Times reported.

Rishi Sunak will use his speech to outline bold ideas on how to fix a country at crossroad.

In a desperate move to convince voters he will:

• Promise to tackle new threats including security.

• Outline his intention to capitalise on artificial intelligence to transform people’s lives.

• Promise to rebuild the confidence of the British public.

Shadow schools minister Catherine McKinnell has said she would welcome more Conservatives to the Labour Party.

Speaking to Sky News, she said: “I think it’s really important that we’re not tribal about politics, that we are open to people coming round to our way of saying things and our way of wanting to do things.”