General election 2024: Starmer ‘infuriated’ by secret Diane Abbott briefing as SNP attack ‘chaotic’ Tories

Rory Stewart has spoken of never wanting to go back into politics, saying he found being a Conservative minister “very unpleasant” and admitting: “I feel like a fraud all the time, in a whole series of ways.”

Mr Stewart ran to succeed Theresa May as prime minister and Tory leader in 2019 and came to prominence for his amusing and highly personal use of social media.

The Labour leader said last year’s 685,000 figure has “got to come down” as he vowed to “control our borders and make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first”.

Seeing the Online Safety Act as a “job done” would be a “disaster”, a bereaved father has said as he called on the next government to commit to updating legislation to tackle harms affecting children.

Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life, said bold measures are needed to reassure parents of “real change” when it comes to internet safety and their children.

In 2022, a coroner ruled schoolgirl Molly, from Harrow, north-west London, died from “an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content” in November 2017.

Mr Russell said while the Act has laid “really important” foundations, a new government will need to work out how to “keep on top” of developments in the fast-changing world of tech.

Mr Russell told the PA news agency it would be “wrong to forget about the Online Safety Act, or to think of it as a piece of legislation that only hit the statute books towards the end of 2023 and so it’s done”.

He added: “It’s not done because it’s so new, it’s not done because it will need revising, it’s not done because tech moves at such a pace that, even if we were to catch up in terms of legislation and regulation, tech would have moved on and we’d have to adapt it to catch up with tech again.

“So this is a constantly evolving thing and it would just be a disaster if the next government starts to regard the Online Safety Act as a job done. This isn’t finished, they need to complete the work and need to work out how to keep on top of it.”

Keir Starmer, the man who seemingly has everything to lose, and Rishi Sunak, the prime minister trailing in his wake, are gearing up for what could be a crucial moment in the election campaign – the first televised showdown. Kate Devlin investigates

Musician Paul Weller has said he does not “see much difference” between the prime minister and Sir Keir Starmer, whom he called “a slightly softer version of the Tory party”.

The 66-year-old, known to fans as the Modfather, reflected on the upcoming 4 July General Election, which was called by Rishi Sunak in May.

Speaking about Labour leader Sir Keir, the former singer and guitarist with The Jam told The Big Issue: “He’s just a slightly softer version of the Tory party, isn’t he?

“He’d be well served to remember who built the Labour party, trade unions and communists.

“So, I don’t see much difference between him and Sunak and all that mob. The fact that he’s a Sir puts me off a little bit in the first place.”

Weller, who recently released 66, his 17th solo album, also reflected on the issue of homelessness in London, which is explored in his new music video, I Woke Up.

He said: “With the matter of homelessness, it’s: ‘How do you fix this?’ You can’t just keep moving people off and to another area.

“It’s sweeping it under the carpet. Why don’t we try and fix it? I’m not saying it’s an easy thing to fix.

“Some of the homeless people round my way, some I chat to, it’s a mixture of things – some people have definitely got mental problems and they should be helped and looked after, some people have drug problems and could go through a programme.

“But then you need a support system so that once they go through that programme they can’t go back on the streets.

“They need work to help stop that. But that’s in an ideal world. Because of all the cuts, that’s not going to happen. It’s f***ed.”

One of the most senior bishops in the Church of England has denounced the Liberal Democrats over the way that one of their candidates was deselected over his Christian faith.

Sir Keir Starmer will pitch Labour as the “party of national security” as he seeks to switch attention to defence matters during the general election campaign.

The Labour leader is expected to meet with forces veterans and a group of his party’s candidates when he campaigns in the North West of England on Monday.

The Tories have pledged to overhaul equality laws to end “confusion” over sex in law and protect single-sex spaces and women’s sports.

The Conservatives say amending the Equality Act to define the protected characteristic of sex as “biological sex” will improve the safety of women and girls by making it simpler to draw the line on biological males.