Sunak claims Labour taking victory for granted Rishi Sunak is going into the election as the underdog, and he embraced this stance in his speech to the Tory rally. He said that Labour wanted people to think “this election is over before it’s even begun”, but that “the British people are going to show Labour that they don’t take too kindly to being taken for granted”. That it not a message that a party would use if it were in a strong position. But sometimes voters punish hubris, and there may be some who are susceptible to the message that Labour is taking them for granted. Sunak did not resort to arguing that people should vote Tory to deny Labour a big majority (an argument that some Tory advisers have reportedly toyed with, and one that some Labour MPs deployed successfully the other way round early in the 2017 campaign). But this campaign has only just started. If things get desperate, it might be a line some Tories use. That is all from me for tonight. Donna Ferguson is taking over now. Closing summary Thank you for following along on this eventful day. The blog is now closing. Here is a closing summary: The prime minister Rishi Sunak has called a surprise general election, which will be held on 4 July. He said his premiership has been focused on restoring economic stability, which he described as “the bedrock of any future success”. He claimed that voters don’t know what they’re getting with Keir Starmer because he doesn’t keep promises and Labour doesn’t have a plan. The speech took place in the middle of torrential rain, and was drowned out by a protester playing a “trolling” song: ‘Things can only get Better’ by D:Ream, the anthem synonymous with New Labour’s 1997 general election landslide. Starmer declared a vote for Labour is a vote for stability, and stressed his commitment to public service. In Sunak’s first election rally, he emphasised the need for security in a world of multiple threats. “Furious” Conservative MPs are said to be plotting to call off the general election and replace Sunak as leader before parliament is dissolved next Thursday. Some political journalists are reporting that several letters of no confidence in Sunak have been submitted to the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady. That’s it from me, Donna Ferguson. If you want to continue following news on the election, head to our newly created General Election 2024 section. The former Conservative MEP for London, Dr Charles Tannock, has announced on X that he will be voting Labour for the first time in the general election. He endorsed Joe Powell, his Labour candidate in Kensington & Bayswater, for exuding an “appealing mix of competence, integrity and decency with internationalist and proEU instincts.” Tory grandee Michael Heseltine believes we are facing the most “dishonest election campaign of modern times”. The former Conservative front bencher told Sky News that both parties are deliberately avoiding the subject of Brexit. “And you can’t have a discussion about the country’s economy or its defence, or immigration or the environment and not discuss Brexit. We have cast ourselves off from our principal market, our most important partners.” That is the underlying crisis that faces this country, he said. “It’s terrifying to me that while the public opinion is moving and the younger generation is frustrated, the two major parties think they can go through six weeks of campaigning and not have anything to say about it.” Another rain-soaked front page pun has hit the newsstands. “The deluge” is the headline of tomorrow’s Spectator: Reuters reporters have been interviewing Tory politicians to try to find out why Sunak called the election today. Several politicians in the Conservative party told the news agency that the prime minister may have realised that legal challenges could jeopardise his flagship scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda and that the government might not be able to deliver on any more tax cuts as promised. On the other hand, Sunak may be hoping the first flights in the scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda could boost his party’s fortunes. The earliest possible date for those flights is 24 June, 10 days before the election. If they don’t take off, one Conservative lawmaker said, Sunak could then blame “leftist lawyers”. Overall, the mood of the Tories they spoke to was downbeat. “It was good while it lasted,” said one of them. The front pages of tomorrow’s newspapers are starting to come in and the headlines – on both the left and the right – poke fun at “rain-soaked Sunak”. “Things can only get Wetter” is on the front page of The Telegraph, below ‘Sunak gambles on snap poll’: As we reported earlier, Sky News’ political correspondent Darren McCaffrey was thrown out of a Conservative party campaign launch event on Wednesday live on air. (See 8.08pm.) McCaffrey was manhandled by the event’s security as he attempted to explain, walking backwards while broadcasting, why he was being forcibly removed. McCaffrey said the party claimed the event was being covered by a pool camera which was supporting broadcasters with footage and therefore he wasn’t authorised to be there. Reuters’ deputy editor-in-chief, Barry Malone, reacted to the fiasco on X, posting: “That’s some fine TV journalism-ing from @darrenmccaffrey.” Conservative MPs are feeling baffled and furious about the election, and some are submitting letters of no confidence in Sunak, the New Statesman reports. “To say Westminster did not see this coming was an understatement,” writes editor Rachel Cunliffe. “Up until this morning, No 10 had sent very strong signals that an election would not be called until the autumn.” There is “widespread fury” in the party from MPs, candidates, grassroots activists, advisers and parliamentary aides, who will lose their jobs if the people they work for lose their seats. One texted Cunliffe to tell her the decision was cruel. Another described it as heartbreaking. There is still no understanding of why Sunak chose to make the announcement, she writes, but MPs have told her “it’s a terrible idea”, “I don’t get it”, “really odd”, “he’s given up” and “we deserve to lose”. Another called the day’s proceedings “a shitshow”. “It’s hard to imagine a less united party heading into a six-week election campaign,” she concludes. The government is poised to scrap a milestone sale of shares in NatWest Group to the general public, due to the surprise election, Reuters reports. The election now places the decision in the hands of the next government, sources told the news agency, declining to be named pending official confirmation. Things can only get wetter. The humiliation. Even when Rishi Sunak is totally down on his luck, he can’t buy an even break. This was meant to be his last hurrah. The prime minister’s final act of pomp and circumstance. The lectern outside Downing Street to inform an ungrateful nation that he was calling a general election for 4 July. Only it wasn’t just raining. It was chucking it down. Soak the Rich. Soak the Rish!. Sunak was determined to front it out. To not give in and miss out on his photo op. But he looked fed up even as he appeared from the front door. Five minutes later he looked thoroughly miserable. Borderline catatonic. His suit drenched, his speech in rags. And all the while Steve Bray played Labour’s 1997 election theme song, D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get Better, at full volume. “Furious” Conservative MPs are plotting to call off the general election and replace Sunak as leader before parliament is dissolved next Thursday, according to Christopher Hope, a political editor on GB News. He tweeted on X that a rebel Tory MP told him he believes “several” more letters of no confidence in Sunak have been submitted to the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady. The senior Conservative MP reportedly told Hope: Today has clearly been an absolute disaster but the election is NOT irrevocable; up until the point of the Dissolution of parliament - when the writs are moved to begin the contests, it can still be aborted. “In other words, if enough Tory MPs, who are clearly going to lose their seats in this already utterly shambolic campaign, write to Sir Graham Brady, tomorrow , the election could still be revoked.” The Green party is aiming to get a “handful” of Green MPs elected, the party co-leader Carla Denyer has told Sky News. “We had had phenomenal success in the last five elections and increased our councillors fivefold,” she said. “We’re aiming to make similar gains in parliament and we have reason to believe that might be possible.” She pointed out that in Canada, which also has a first-past-the-post electoral system, the number of Green MPs in parliament “jumped up” in the most recent election – after being “stuck” on one Green MP for a while. “We’re aiming to get a handful of Green MPs elected,” she said, adding that a team of Green MPs would “push” a Labour government to be a “little bit bolder” on the areas they have been “backsliding”. The election expert John Curtice says Sunak has taken “an enormous gamble” in calling for an election in early July. Writing in The Times (pay wall), Curtice said the Conservative part was – on average – 21 points behind Labour in the polls and that Labour’s average lead has never been fewer than 15 points ever since Sunak took over as prime minister. Even if Starmer proves a “poor campaigner”, that should not “comfort” Sunak. A 10-point fall in Labour’s lead – similar to the fall Theresa May suffered after an “inept” campaign in 2017 – would still leave it 11 points ahead. “If the electoral system treats Labour as unkindly as it did in 2019 – and one of the messages of the local elections this month is that that looks unlikely – Starmer would still be better placed to form a minority government in a hung parliament,” Curtice writes. Sunak told his party’s first campaign event of the general election that “uncertain times call for a bold plan” as he heavily emphasised the need for security in a world of multiple threats. The Tory leader also sought to evoke an underdog status by suggesting that Labour already believed it had won but that “the British people are going to show that they don’t take too kindly to being taken for granted.” Flanked by most of the cabinet, Sunak took a small stage in a backroom of the Excel Centre in east London in front of a crowd of about 100 Conservative party members who were swiftly ushered out afterwards. Keir Starmer came under repeated attack in a brief warm-up speech delivered by the home secretary, James Cleverly, as the Conservatives sought to put security front and centre of their offering. On the back of figures showing that inflation was back to 2.3%, Sunak said the government had delivered on his first priority of “driving inflation back to normal” and the economy had turned a corner. The Tory leader name-checked the war in Ukraine, Putin, China and what he said was a moment when “migration is being weaponised by hostile states”. “These uncertain times call for a bold plan. It is only we Conservatives, we are prepared to take that bold action,” said Sunak, who told the room that Labour wanted the public to think the election was a done deal. Celebrities have been poking fun at Sunak’s decision to announce the general election outside No10 during torrential rain. “Can’t he afford an umbrella?” Sue Perkins posted on X. The author and journalist Caitlin Moran wrote: “Rishi now having to strip down to his pants and sit in front of the three-bar fire while his mum makes him a cup of Bovril.” The satirical Larry the Cat account wrote: “I was inside, because it was raining. Only an idiot would have gone out in that...” The presenter Loraine Kelly replied: “Larry – he knows.” The protester who played Things Can Only Get Better during Sunak’s election speech did so to “troll” the Conservatives. Anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray said he selected the D:Ream song for its association with the Tory landslide defeat in the 1997 general election rather than as a show of support for Labour in the upcoming campaign. “I didn’t do it for Labour. I did it because it was the top trolling song for the Conservatives,” he told PA news. He added that his protest outside Downing Street was paused when his two amplifiers became soaked and stopped working during heavy rain in Westminster. Responding to complaints that people could not hear the speech in Downing Street because of his protest, Bray said: “Look at the damage Sunak’s done to the country. “If they couldn’t hear the speech, it’s still reported. They’ll know what he said.” Bray said he was banned from protesting outside parliament and Whitehall on Wednesday afternoon after the police received two complaints. He added: “Of course, the police are trying to shut us down all the time. Both of the amps got soaked and they blew anyway. “It was just so wet today. Water got into them and they were just gone. “I’ll just buy some more.” Wearing a hat in the blue and yellow colours of the EU, Bray said that he would be continuing his protests during the election campaign, adding: “Protest is all about sound and vision.” Sunak claims Labour taking victory for granted Rishi Sunak is going into the election as the underdog, and he embraced this stance in his speech to the Tory rally. He said that Labour wanted people to think “this election is over before it’s even begun”, but that “the British people are going to show Labour that they don’t take too kindly to being taken for granted”. That it not a message that a party would use if it were in a strong position. But sometimes voters punish hubris, and there may be some who are susceptible to the message that Labour is taking them for granted. Sunak did not resort to arguing that people should vote Tory to deny Labour a big majority (an argument that some Tory advisers have reportedly toyed with, and one that some Labour MPs deployed successfully the other way round early in the 2017 campaign). But this campaign has only just started. If things get desperate, it might be a line some Tories use. That is all from me for tonight. Donna Ferguson is taking over now. Rishi Sunak pictured at the Tory rally at the ExCel in London Sky’s Darren McCaffrey is back on air. He tells viewers that, not only was he excluded from the room at the ExCeL centre in London where Rishi Sunak was speaking, he was thrown out of the whole building. (See 8.08pm.)