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Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have traded blows on the first day of the general election campaign trail as parties tool up for the 12 December poll.
Mr Johnson blamed the failure to meet his “do or die” pledge to deliver Brexit today on the Labour leader, while Mr Corbyn has lashed out at the “elite” at Labour’s campaign launch. He claimed the party would “get Brexit sorted within six months”.
As the UK braced itself for a gruelling campaign, US president Donald Trump waded into British politics by claiming Mr Corbyn would be "so bad for your country".
MPs tell Facebook to adopt Twitter ban on political advertising
MPs have been urging Facebook to follow in the footsteps of fellow social media giant Twitter by banning political advertising from its platform.
Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey has announced the company had decided to stop all political advertising on its service worldwide, saying “political message reach should be earned, not bought”.
Labour’s Wes Streeting tweeted: “Facebook should follow suit”, while the SNP’s Stewart McDonald tweeted:
“Good call. Now facebook.” Lib Dem MP Sarah Wollaston added: “Now let’s hope facebook stops the big money, targeted attack ads too that distort our democracy & fuel hate.”
Labour’s David Lammy, the SNP’s Angus MacNeil and former home secretary Amber Rudd all also reacted to the announcement on Twitter. “Now remove the cesspool of hate speech on here and ban the endless stream of deliberate fake news,” said Lammy.
Labour MP Toby Perkins took aim at the PM’s closest adviser Dominic Cummings. He tweeted: “If Facebook did the same, Dominic Cummings entire strategy for General Electio2019 would be in tatters.”
Campaign against Corbyn will be ‘hard and dirty’, says Labour MP
Labour frontbencher Richard Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, says there will be a “hard and dirty” fight against Jeremy Corbyn and his party. Burgon says there will be “unfair stories” appearing over the next five weeks.
Why? “Because we stand for taking on some of these powerful vested interests,” he says, attacking the “rotten rigged system”. Burgon invites us to imagine a more positive “festival of political conversation” during the campaign.
Why where students go to vote matters
The possibility some students would have difficulty registering so close to the end of term became a big part of this week’s wrangling over the election date.
Our correspondent Benjamin Kentish has taken a look at how students can register to vote in their home town or at university. The difference could be crucial.
John Bercow arrives for his last day at work
It is Speaker John Bercow’s last day today. No really. Honestly. He’s finally leaving. It’s like So Long, Farewell from The Sound of Music, with all those kids singing “Goodbye” over and over again.
Boris Johnson told the Speaker it was “the longest retirement since Frank Sinatra,” and hailed Bercow’s ability to make time “stretch” like Stephen Hawking.
We’re expecting a business statement from Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg in the chamber very soon, and it may kick off a day of tributes.
Over 300,000 apply to register to vote in two days
More than 300,000 people have applied to register to vote in 48 hours, according to government figures. Just over 139,000 applications were submitted on Tuesday, followed by 177,000 on Wednesday.
This is well above the typical number for weekday applications, which has been averaging around 37,000 for the past month.
They are also the highest and second highest number of applications submitted on a single day this year. Nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of applications were from people aged 34 and under, while just 4 per cent came from those aged 65 and over. A third were from people under 25.
But the increase in the volume of applications can’t be treated as direct evidence of an increase in the number of people able to vote. At previous polls there have been applications from people below the legal age to vote or who are already on the electoral register.
The deadline for applying to register is Tuesday November 26. Full details on how to register are at gov.uk/register-to-vote.
Lib Dems pledge to ‘stop Brexit’ in campaign slogan
Not to be outdone by Labour’s general election campaign launch today, the Lib Dems have unveiled their own campaign slogan: “Stop Brexit: Build a brighter future.”
It’s a phrase Jo Swinson used yesterday, and it’s on a van outside parliament this morning.
Sajid Javid ‘shocked’ Hugh Grant wouldn’t shake his hand
Chancellor Sajid Javid has criticised Hugh Grant after the star refused to shake his hand at a film premiere. The politician said the actor had been “incredibly rude” at an event for Martin Scorsese’s new film The Irishman.
“I recognised him and put my hand out and said, ‘Lovely to meet you’, and you know what he does? He refuses to shake my hand. He says, ‘I am not shaking your hand’. I am completely shocked.
“He said, ‘When you were culture secretary you didn’t support my friends in (anti-media intrusion campaign) Hacked Off.’ I think that is incredibly rude.
“I think that is incredibly rude. I wonder if people like Hugh Grant think they are part of the elite and they look down on working class people no matter what station they reach in life.”
But a spokesman for the actor said Grant had a different version of events. When offered a handshake, “Grant’s words were ‘If you don't mind, I won’t shake your hand because you were rude and dismissive to the victims or press abuse when you met them as culture secretary.’”
“Hugh would like to point out that the victims in question were not celebrities. They were people with personal family tragedies who had been abused by sections of the press.”
Sajid Javid and Hugh Grant (PA)
Jeremy Corbyn launches 'anti-elite' Labour campaign
The Labour leader is speaking now at an arts centre in Battersea in south London, having got a thunderous welcome by activists and introduction by local MP Marsha de Cordova.
It’s his first major stump speech of the countdown to the pre-Christmas political clash, and Corbyn is set to hit out at the “tax dodgers, bad bosses, big polluters, and billionaire-owned media holding our country back”.
Corbyn is also expected to use the speech in London to “call out” people like the media baron Rupert Murdoch, Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley and the Duke of Westminster.
He is setting his party up against the “elite … the few who run a corrupt system”.
Jeremy Corbyn launches Labour election campaign
Corbyn vows to get Brexit done ‘within six months’
Addressing Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn has rejected criticism his party’s position is too “complicated”.
“After three long years of Brexit division and failure from the Tories, we have to get this issue sorted out,” he says.
“We need to take it out of the hands of the politicians and trust the people to have the final say.”
Corbyn explains: “Labour will get Brexit sorted within six months. We’ll let the people decide whether to leave with on a sensible deal or remain. It really isn’t that complicated. We will carry out whatever the people decide.”
He also claimed the Lib Dems “want to cancel a democratic vote with a parliamentary stitch-up”.
Labour activists chant ‘not for sale’ after Corbyn vows to protect NHS
Corbyn claims Boris Johnson is planning a “toxic Brexit trade deal with Trump” that “could hand over £500m a week of NHS money to big drugs corporations”.
He vows: “We will stop them. Labour won’t let Donald Trump get his hands on our National Health Service. It’s not for sale, to him or anyone.”
The crowd of Labour activists lead a chant of “not for sale chant” for a while. Corbyn says: “I think we’re all agreed on that.”
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