Nigel Farage refuses to appear on Laura Kuenssberg show until "BBC apologises for their dishonest QT audience" Nigel Farage has refused to appear on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, describing the BBC as having “behaved like a political actor throughout this election”. In a social media post on X today, Farage wrote: I have just been invited to appear on Laura Kuenssberg. I’m refusing until the BBC apologises for their dishonest QT audience. Our state broadcaster has behaved like a political actor throughout this election. Reform will be campaigning vigorously to abolish the licence fee. A summary of today"s developments Nigel Farage has refused to appear on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, describing the BBC as having “behaved like a political actor throughout this election”. In a social media post on X on Saturday, Farage said he would be “refusing until the BBC apologises for their dishonest QT audience” and that “Reform will be campaigning vigorously to abolish the licence fee”. Reform UK has dropped three of its candidates after reports they had made offensive comments a spokesperson has confirmed to the BBC. The broadcaster reports that Edward Oakenfull, who is standing in Derbyshire Dales, Robert Lomas, a candidate in Barnsley North, and Leslie Lilley, standing in Southend East and Rochford, will still appear on the ballot paper as Reform UK candidates as it is too late for them to be removed. Sir Elton John and his husband, David Furnish, have announced in a video message they will be backing the Labour party. Actors Kit Harrington and James Norton, singer Beverley Knight, businesswoman Deborah Meaden, and Neil Basu – the former head of counter-terrorism policing in England – also pledged support for Labour in video messages. Keir Starmer hit out at “desperate” and “ridiculous” Conservative attempts to portray Labour as a risk to national security. Speaking on a campaign visit in Hampshire on Saturday, Starmer told reporters he had been granted access to sensitive intelligence by the government so it was wrong for ministers to now claim he would be a danger. Starmer said he shared Rishi Sunak’s disgust after a Reform UK campaigner used a racial slur to describe the prime minister. The Labour leader accused Farage of not doing enough after the incident, and added that it is the leader who sets the “tone, the culture and the standards” of a political party. Rishi Sunak abandoned his “legacy” policy to ban smoking for future generations amid a backlash from the tobacco industry in the form of legal threats, lobbying and a charm offensive aimed at Conservative MPs, an investigation reveals. First minister of Scotland John Swinney has warned that the public could become disfranchised with the crisis surrounding postal votes. At a rally in Glasgow’s West End on Saturday, Swinney pledged to push back against a Labour government, in particular regarding the two-child limit, and said he had warned of the risks of holding the general election in the Scottish school holidays. Swinney said he had been “inundated” with concerns from the public about this. A Conservative candidate has said that she was flashed while out canvassing with her seven-year-old son on Friday evening. Andrea Jenkyns, who is standing in Leeds South West and Morley, told the Telegraph that “a man dropped his trousers after she approached his home”. Jenkyns said she had reported the incident to police. A Conservative cabinet minister who admitted placing three bets on the date of the general election is in line for a peerage as part of Rishi Sunak’s final honours list, the Observer has been told. Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary who stood down as an MP when the election was called, had been considered for inclusion in a dissolution honours list compiled in recent weeks, according to sources familiar with the process. The list is set to be published soon after Thursday’s vote. The Conservative party deputy chair Angela Richardson called the sewage crisis a “political football” and claimed opposition parties and activists had put Tory MPs in physical danger by campaigning on the issue. Reform UK said it had reported Channel 4 to the Electoral Commission, after the broadcaster released footage of an activist campaigning for Nigel Farage using a racial slur to describe prime minister Rishi Sunak. In a letter to the Electoral Commission, the party’s secretary Adam Richardson wrote: “The Channel 4 broadcast has clearly been made to harm Reform UK during an election period and this cannot be described as anything short of election interference.” Ed Davey has announced he will embark on a 1,343-mile tour of seats from John o’Groats in northern Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall in the final days of the general election campaign. The journey will take in seats that the Liberal Democrats are hoping to take from the Tories and the SNP Keir Starmer said he wanted a “clear mandate” from the electorate if he becomes prime minister. He told the Labour rally in Westminster: “We’ll need a clear mandate for this change, don’t doubt that. And if you don’t believe me, take a good look at the Tories. “Chaos under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, two politicians who never had a clear mandate.” Starmer added hope has been “kicked out” of voters as he said Labour still has to convince people to go to the ballot box. “British people want change but the hope has almost been kicked out. They need to be convinced that change is possible, and most of all they need to be convinced to vote for it. “Because change doesn’t happen unless you vote for it. “Nothing is decided, not a single vote has been won or lost, and each and every vote is out there.” Reform UK co-deputy leader Ben Habib said Andrew Parker, who was filmed using a racial slur to describe Rishi Sunak, is a “disgusting human being”. Habib said he would “absolutely abhor any racism” in the party and suggested Parker portrayed himself as a “gammon” character in the Channel 4 footage which was recorded by an undercover journalist. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, he said: “(Mr Parker) is a disgusting human being if he stands by what he said, absolutely foul language, unacceptable behaviour, unacceptable sentiments. “And we have made a complaint to the Electoral Commission and we will get to the bottom of that. It is a coincidence I think which does beg a lot of questions that he is an actor, that he used a voice when he was canvassing that wasn’t his natural voice, and he was bombastic. “Exactly the kind of character that someone – if you’ve heard the expression – might wish to attribute to what they call a gammon.” It comes as Nigel Farage announced he is boycotting the BBC, accusing the broadcaster of bias over his reception on Friday night’s Question Time. The Reform leader took part in a leaders’ special episode, a half-hour Q&A session with a live audience, in which he was heavily criticised. One audience member called him a racist and another asked why his party attracted extremists. Sir Elton John, and his husband, David Furnish, have announced in a video message they will be backing the Labour party. In the message played to activists and supporters at the party’s campaign rally in Westminster, John said it is “heartbreaking to see Britain’s next generation of creative talent downtrodden and destroyed by democracy and red tape”. He said the cultural education that paved the way for his career and success is “drying up and in danger of dying out completely”. Actors Kit Harrington and James Norton, singer Beverley Knight, businesswoman Deborah Meaden, and Neil Basu – the former head of counter-terrorism policing in England – also pledged support for Labour in video messages. The Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey said he is “really worried” about postal ballot delays ahead of the upcoming General Election. On Saturday, Davey joined Edinburgh West candidate Christine Jardine, and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton as part of the party’s campaign. Davey arrived at Cammo Estate in Edinburgh aboard the party’s election campaign bus, the Yellow Hammer 1. It was one of many stops in the party’s 1,343-mile tour of seats from John O’Groats to Land’s End in a final push to attract voters ahead of the polling date. Davey performed some circus tricks such as plate-spinning, hula-hooping and juggling with his colleagues while at the Edinburgh estate, before telling the PA News Agency he is concerned the postal ballot delays are “not fair” on Scots. He said: “I’m really worried about the postal ballot delay problem. “People are going on holiday, they’re packing their luggage, looking for their swimming trunks and sun cream and they’ve got to worry about this. It’s just not fair on people. “I’m pleased that a lot of local councils are doing emergency openings of village halls and town halls to make it possible for people to get their vote and we may even need to look at extending the deadline for proxy-voting. “It certainly has to be tackled, it’s not fair on Scottish people”. At Labour’s campaign rally, the comedian Bill Bailey said: “The Tories are now bracing themselves for a Liz Truss comeback - what is it with this ‘don’t surrender’ business? It’s a kind of mad wartime nonsense.” He referred to the Conservative Party’s latest message of not “surrendering” to the Labour Party. “To say they’ve got a grip of things is an insult to grips and things,” he added. Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has just addressed party supporters at a campaign rally in Westminster. She thanked activists for their work on this campaign so far but said there is still “a long way to go” and “millions” have not cast their vote or decided which way they will go so slowing down would be “disrespectful to them”; Rayner added: “Right now we’ve won nothing. “The past six weeks alone have shown we can’t take another minute of this chaos.” Rayner also warned that “next Friday, we could all wake up to five more years of Tory chaos”, Sky News reported. Earlier, a standing ovation greeted Kier Starmer as he joined Labour supporters at the event alongside Rayner and musician and comedian Bill Bailey during the final weekend before polling. A Conservative cabinet minister who admitted placing three bets on the date of the general election is in line for a peerage as part of Rishi Sunak’s final honours list, the Observer has been told. Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary who stood down as an MP when the election was called, had been considered for inclusion in a dissolution honours list compiled in recent weeks, according to sources familiar with the process. The list is set to be published soon after Thursday’s vote. Jack said he had placed three bets on the election date – one of which was successful – as the row over election betting engulfed the campaign last week. He made clear that he had not breached any rules and was not being investigated by the Gambling Commission. The watchdog is examining betting by Westminster figures on the date of the election. However, figures inside the party argued it would be “problematic” to press ahead with Jack’s peerage, given the anger over the betting row and its impact on the Tory campaign. Recent discussions suggest that Jack could still be in line for an honour when the list is finally published. Tory sources also warned Sunak that the dissolution honours list, traditionally published at the end of a parliament, risked provoking anger in the party if he attempted to use it to reward “arrogant” advisers and aides who have overseen an election campaign criticised as error-strewn. “It’s just quite extraordinary that, having criticised Liz Truss for giving some of her team gongs for failure, they’re going to do the exact same thing,” said one source. After the drama of election night, the more serene constitutional formalities will follow on Friday morning. In all probability it will be Sir Keir Starmer who will be driven down the Mall to be invited to form a government by the king. The so-called “kissing of hands” normally passes off without a hitch. Most prime ministers are appointed at Buckingham Palace, though one notable exception was HH Asquith in 1908, who had to take a boat and train to Biarritz in France, where the king, Edward VII, was on holiday. But the vagaries of our unwritten constitution leave room for behind-the scenes disagreements and tensions, even between the monarch and the government machine at these lofty ceremonial moments. So it has been proved by the first ever insiders’ account of a tussle after the 2015 general election between the palace and the queen on one side, and government legal experts on the other. Writing in the first edition of the Heywood Quarterly – a new free public policy journal established in honour of, and named after, the late former cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood – Edward Young, the sovereign’s principal private secretary from 2017 to 2023, refers to the incident as a constitutional “pickle”. He recalls how David Cameron’s general election victory in 2015, when he emerged with a majority of 11 after five years of coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, caught everyone rather by surprise. Young writes that as the PM’s car set off from Downing Street to see the queen, there were very different views between the palace (supported by the queen) on one side, and the government legal team on the other, about what Cameron should say when he returned to No 10. We reported earlier that the BBC had published news of Reform UK dropping three of its candidates (see 13.39 BST). A Reform UK spokesperson has now confirmed that to the Guardian. Summary of the day so far Thank you for following along with me (Amy) on the politics blog today. I will shortly be handing over to my colleague Nadeem Badshah, but first, here is a summary of the day so far: Nigel Farage has refused to appear on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, describing the BBC as having “behaved like a political actor throughout this election”. In a social media post on X today, Farage said he would be “refusing until the BBC apologises for their dishonest QT audience” and that “Reform will be campaigning vigorously to abolish the licence fee”. Reform UK has dropped three of its candidates after reports they had made offensive comments a spokesperson has confirmed to the BBC. The broadcaster reports that Edward Oakenfull, who is standing in Derbyshire Dales; Robert Lomas, a candidate in Barnsley North, and Leslie Lilley, standing in Southend East and Rochford, will still appear on the ballot paper as Reform UK candidates as it is too late for them to be removed. Keir Starmer hit out at “desperate” and “ridiculous” Conservative attempts to portray Labour as a risk to national security. Speaking on a campaign visit in Hampshire on Saturday, Starmer told reporters he had been granted access to sensitive intelligence by the government so it was wrong for ministers to now claim he would be a danger. Starmer said he shared Rishi Sunak’s disgust after a Reform UK campaigner used a racial slur to describe the prime minister. The Labour leader accused Farage of not doing enough after the incident, and added that it is the leader who sets the “tone, the culture and the standards” of a political party. Rishi Sunak abandoned his “legacy” policy to ban smoking for future generations amid a backlash from the tobacco industry in the form of legal threats, lobbying and a charm offensive aimed at Conservative MPs, an investigation reveals. First minister of Scotland John Swinney has warned that the public could become disfranchised with the crisis surrounding postal votes. At a rally in Glasgow’s West End on Saturday, Swinney pledged to push back against a Labour government, in particular regarding the two-child limit, and said he had warned of the risks of holding the general election in the Scottish school holidays. Swinney said he had been “inundated” with concerns from the public about this. A Conservative candidate has said that she was flashed while out canvassing with her seven-year-old son on Friday evening. Andrea Jenkyns, who is standing in Leeds South West and Morley, told the Telegraph that “a man dropped his trousers after she approached his home”. Jenkyns said she had reported the incident to police. The Conservative party deputy chair Angela Richardson called the sewage crisis a “political football” and claimed opposition parties and activists had put Tory MPs in physical danger by campaigning on the issue. Reform UK said it had reported Channel 4 to the Electoral Commission, after the broadcaster released footage of an activist campaigning for Nigel Farage using a racial slur to describe prime minister Rishi Sunak. In a letter to the Electoral Commission, the party’s secretary Adam Richardson wrote: “The Channel 4 broadcast has clearly been made to harm Reform UK during an election period and this cannot be described as anything short of election interference.” Ed Davey has announced he will embark on a 1,343-mile tour of seats from John o’Groats in northern Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall in the final days of the general election campaign. The journey will take in seats that the Liberal Democrats are hoping to take from the Tories and the SNP. Keir Starmer said he wanted a “clear mandate” from the electorate if he becomes prime minister. He told the Labour rally in Westminster: “We’ll need a clear mandate for this change, don’t doubt that. And if you don’t believe me, take a good look at the Tories. “Chaos under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, two politicians who never had a clear mandate.” Starmer added hope has been “kicked out” of voters as he said Labour still has to convince people to go to the ballot box. “British people want change but the hope has almost been kicked out. They need to be convinced that change is possible, and most of all they need to be convinced to vote for it. “Because change doesn’t happen unless you vote for it. “Nothing is decided, not a single vote has been won or lost, and each and every vote is out there.” Reform UK co-deputy leader Ben Habib said Andrew Parker, who was filmed using a racial slur to describe Rishi Sunak, is a “disgusting human being”. Habib said he would “absolutely abhor any racism” in the party and suggested Parker portrayed himself as a “gammon” character in the Channel 4 footage which was recorded by an undercover journalist. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, he said: “(Mr Parker) is a disgusting human being if he stands by what he said, absolutely foul language, unacceptable behaviour, unacceptable sentiments. “And we have made a complaint to the Electoral Commission and we will get to the bottom of that. It is a coincidence I think which does beg a lot of questions that he is an actor, that he used a voice when he was canvassing that wasn’t his natural voice, and he was bombastic. “Exactly the kind of character that someone – if you’ve heard the expression – might wish to attribute to what they call a gammon.” It comes as Nigel Farage announced he is boycotting the BBC, accusing the broadcaster of bias over his reception on Friday night’s Question Time. The Reform leader took part in a leaders’ special episode, a half-hour Q&A session with a live audience, in which he was heavily criticised. One audience member called him a racist and another asked why his party attracted extremists. Sir Elton John, and his husband, David Furnish, have announced in a video message they will be backing the Labour party. In the message played to activists and supporters at the party’s campaign rally in Westminster, John said it is “heartbreaking to see Britain’s next generation of creative talent downtrodden and destroyed by democracy and red tape”. He said the cultural education that paved the way for his career and success is “drying up and in danger of dying out completely”. Actors Kit Harrington and James Norton, singer Beverley Knight, businesswoman Deborah Meaden, and Neil Basu – the former head of counter-terrorism policing in England – also pledged support for Labour in video messages. The Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey said he is “really worried” about postal ballot delays ahead of the upcoming General Election. On Saturday, Davey joined Edinburgh West candidate Christine Jardine, and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton as part of the party’s campaign. Davey arrived at Cammo Estate in Edinburgh aboard the party’s election campaign bus, the Yellow Hammer 1. It was one of many stops in the party’s 1,343-mile tour of seats from John O’Groats to Land’s End in a final push to attract voters ahead of the polling date. Davey performed some circus tricks such as plate-spinning, hula-hooping and juggling with his colleagues while at the Edinburgh estate, before telling the PA News Agency he is concerned the postal ballot delays are “not fair” on Scots. He said: “I’m really worried about the postal ballot delay problem. “People are going on holiday, they’re packing their luggage, looking for their swimming trunks and sun cream and they’ve got to worry about this. It’s just not fair on people. “I’m pleased that a lot of local councils are doing emergency openings of village halls and town halls to make it possible for people to get their vote and we may even need to look at extending the deadline for proxy-voting. “It certainly has to be tackled, it’s not fair on Scottish people”. At Labour’s campaign rally, the comedian Bill Bailey said: “The Tories are now bracing themselves for a Liz Truss comeback - what is it with this ‘don’t surrender’ business? It’s a kind of mad wartime nonsense.” He referred to the Conservative Party’s latest message of not “surrendering” to the Labour Party. “To say they’ve got a grip of things is an insult to grips and things,” he added. Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has just addressed party supporters at a campaign rally in Westminster. She thanked activists for their work on this campaign so far but said there is still “a long way to go” and “millions” have not cast their vote or decided which way they will go so slowing down would be “disrespectful to them”; Rayner added: “Right now we’ve won nothing. “The past six weeks alone have shown we can’t take another minute of this chaos.” Rayner also warned that “next Friday, we could all wake up to five more years of Tory chaos”, Sky News reported. Earlier, a standing ovation greeted Kier Starmer as he joined Labour supporters at the event alongside Rayner and musician and comedian Bill Bailey during the final weekend before polling. A Conservative cabinet minister who admitted placing three bets on the date of the general election is in line for a peerage as part of Rishi Sunak’s final honours list, the Observer has been told. Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary who stood down as an MP when the election was called, had been considered for inclusion in a dissolution honours list compiled in recent weeks, according to sources familiar with the process. The list is set to be published soon after Thursday’s vote. Jack said he had placed three bets on the election date – one of which was successful – as the row over election betting engulfed the campaign last week. He made clear that he had not breached any rules and was not being investigated by the Gambling Commission. The watchdog is examining betting by Westminster figures on the date of the election. However, figures inside the party argued it would be “problematic” to press ahead with Jack’s peerage, given the anger over the betting row and its impact on the Tory campaign. Recent discussions suggest that Jack could still be in line for an honour when the list is finally published. Tory sources also warned Sunak that the dissolution honours list, traditionally published at the end of a parliament, risked provoking anger in the party if he attempted to use it to reward “arrogant” advisers and aides who have overseen an election campaign criticised as error-strewn. “It’s just quite extraordinary that, having criticised Liz Truss for giving some of her team gongs for failure, they’re going to do the exact same thing,” said one source. After the drama of election night, the more serene constitutional formalities will follow on Friday morning. In all probability it will be Sir Keir Starmer who will be driven down the Mall to be invited to form a government by the king. The so-called “kissing of hands” normally passes off without a hitch. Most prime ministers are appointed at Buckingham Palace, though one notable exception was HH Asquith in 1908, who had to take a boat and train to Biarritz in France, where the king, Edward VII, was on holiday. But the vagaries of our unwritten constitution leave room for behind-the scenes disagreements and tensions, even between the monarch and the government machine at these lofty ceremonial moments. So it has been proved by the first ever insiders’ account of a tussle after the 2015 general election between the palace and the queen on one side, and government legal experts on the other. Writing in the first edition of the Heywood Quarterly – a new free public policy journal established in honour of, and named after, the late former cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood – Edward Young, the sovereign’s principal private secretary from 2017 to 2023, refers to the incident as a constitutional “pickle”. He recalls how David Cameron’s general election victory in 2015, when he emerged with a majority of 11 after five years of coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, caught everyone rather by surprise. Young writes that as the PM’s car set off from Downing Street to see the queen, there were very different views between the palace (supported by the queen) on one side, and the government legal team on the other, about what Cameron should say when he returned to No 10. We reported earlier that the BBC had published news of Reform UK dropping three of its candidates (see 13.39 BST). A Reform UK spokesperson has now confirmed that to the Guardian. Summary of the day so far Thank you for following along with me (Amy) on the politics blog today. I will shortly be handing over to my colleague Nadeem Badshah, but first, here is a summary of the day so far: Nigel Farage has refused to appear on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, describing the BBC as having “behaved like a political actor throughout this election”. In a social media post on X today, Farage said he would be “refusing until the BBC apologises for their dishonest QT audience” and that “Reform will be campaigning vigorously to abolish the licence fee”. Reform UK has dropped three of its candidates after reports they had made offensive comments a spokesperson has confirmed to the BBC. The broadcaster reports that Edward Oakenfull, who is standing in Derbyshire Dales; Robert Lomas, a candidate in Barnsley North, and Leslie Lilley, standing in Southend East and Rochford, will still appear on the ballot paper as Reform UK candidates as it is too late for them to be removed. Keir Starmer hit out at “desperate” and “ridiculous” Conservative attempts to portray Labour as a risk to national security. Speaking on a campaign visit in Hampshire on Saturday, Starmer told reporters he had been granted access to sensitive intelligence by the government so it was wrong for ministers to now claim he would be a danger. Starmer said he shared Rishi Sunak’s disgust after a Reform UK campaigner used a racial slur to describe the prime minister. The Labour leader accused Farage of not doing enough after the incident, and added that it is the leader who sets the “tone, the culture and the standards” of a political party. Rishi Sunak abandoned his “legacy” policy to ban smoking for future generations amid a backlash from the tobacco industry in the form of legal threats, lobbying and a charm offensive aimed at Conservative MPs, an investigation reveals. First minister of Scotland John Swinney has warned that the public could become disfranchised with the crisis surrounding postal votes. At a rally in Glasgow’s West End on Saturday, Swinney pledged to push back against a Labour government, in particular regarding the two-child limit, and said he had warned of the risks of holding the general election in the Scottish school holidays. Swinney said he had been “inundated” with concerns from the public about this. A Conservative candidate has said that she was flashed while out canvassing with her seven-year-old son on Friday evening. Andrea Jenkyns, who is standing in Leeds South West and Morley, told the Telegraph that “a man dropped his trousers after she approached his home”. Jenkyns said she had reported the incident to police. The Conservative party deputy chair Angela Richardson called the sewage crisis a “political football” and claimed opposition parties and activists had put Tory MPs in physical danger by campaigning on the issue. Reform UK said it had reported Channel 4 to the Electoral Commission, after the broadcaster released footage of an activist campaigning for Nigel Farage using a racial slur to describe prime minister Rishi Sunak. In a letter to the Electoral Commission, the party’s secretary Adam Richardson wrote: “The Channel 4 broadcast has clearly been made to harm Reform UK during an election period and this cannot be described as anything short of election interference.” Ed Davey has announced he will embark on a 1,343-mile tour of seats from John o’Groats in northern Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall in the final days of the general election campaign. The journey will take in seats that the Liberal Democrats are hoping to take from the Tories and the SNP.