Election latest: Farage on defensive after supporters caught on camera making racist, murderous and hom*ophobic remarks (2024)

The general secretaries of big trade unions got their chequebooks out and handed over nearly £2m to the Labour Party as election day approaches.

Once again, cash is pouring into Sir Keir Starmer's party, with donations totalling £3.3m last week, compared to just £375,000 for the Conservative Party.

The latest weekly league table of political donations, published by the Electoral Commission, confirms that cash is rolling in to Labour and Tory donors are on strike.

Nearly half of Labour's £3.3m donations last week came in a £1.49m cheque from the public sector union Unison, the country's biggest union with 1.3m members.

The shopworkers' union Usdaw handed over a donation of £300,000 and another of £14,500. Community donated £25,000, the GMB £14,320, the Fire Brigades Union £11,725.

The most eye-catching Tory donation listed by the Electoral Commission was £18,000 from Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister with leadership ambitions.

Sources have told Sky News, however, that in fact the donation to national party funds came not from Mr Jenrick personally, but from his Tory association in Newark, where he is the candidate.

With their donors on strike, nearly half the Tories' £375,000 in donations last week came from the party's own fundraising, with £170,000 coming from proceeds from a spring lunch and a party lottery.

Donations to the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK, higher than those to the Tories the previous week, were down. The Lib Dems received £193,945 and Reform UK just £99,000, including £20,000 from Pimlico Plumbers boss Charlie Mullins.

The latest figures confirm that the Conservatives' election war chest under Rishi Sunak’s leadership is almost bare, and their finances are as dire as their opinion poll ratings.

In the previous week the Tories received £292,500 in donations, while Labour received a breathtaking £4,383,400, largely due to a £2.5m cheque from Lord Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty.

A week ago, therefore, Sir Keir's party appeared to be relying more on millionaires than union barons for its election fighting fund. That has now changed, and normal service has been resumed.

Here is the full list of candidates standing in the Newark constituency:

• Michael Ackroyd, Green Party
• Saj Ahmad, Labour Party
• Adrian Charles Amer, Independent Network
• Matthew Darrington, English Democrats
• Lyn Gailbraith, Indepedent
• Robert Jenrick, Conservative Party
• Robert Palmer, Reform UK
• Collan Siddique, Workers Party of Great Britain
• David Watts, Liberal Democrats

By Gurpreet Narwan, political correspondent

Britain could soon have its most diverse parliament ever but how will voters from ethnically diverse communities behave at the ballot box?

The voting trends of such groups are incredibly complex and varied. There is no single narrative but several themes stick out from YouGov's exclusive polling for Sky News.

Most notably, the handling of the conflict in the Middle East has damaged the two major parties in the eyes of British Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. This is something the Labour Party, in particular, is very sensitive too.

Labour have historically fared well with these voters and 53% of ethnic minority voters we polled said they would vote for the party - that's a greater lead than polls we've done with the general population.

However, the Tories fare worse among ethnic minority voters on the whole - in this poll they are neck and neck with the Green Party at 14%.

But, if we drill into the detail, 32% of British Indians said they would vote Conservative - 12% higher than the general population. This is a good reminder that there is a huge variation in voting trends among communities.

Reform UK polled much worse with ethnically diverse communities than the population at large - they're on 7% - but they're still one point above the Lib Dems.

Read Gurpreet's full piece here:

TV presenter Rylan Clark has said he would "love" to become a politician - and replace the party system with a "Power Rangers of government" model.

The TV personality, 35, joined political editor Beth Rigby and former Scottish Conservative leader Baroness Ruth Davidson for this week's Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast.

Asked if he would ever consider the career change, he said: "If I wasn't in the job that I was in, I would love nothing more."

Rylan, who won Celebrity Big Brother and also appeared on the X Factor, appeared on the podcast in place of Labour candidate Jess Phillips after tweeting his praise for Rigby on the day Rishi Sunak announced the general election.

Sharing a clip of her and Sky presenter Sophy Ridge outside a rainy Downing Street waiting for Mr Sunak to appear at the lectern, he said: "Obsessed with the Rigby."

Speaking to her and Davidson, he said his "obsession" with politics began with Brexit - "as we've seen so many promises which weren't fulfilled" since then.

He added: "I lie there at night sometimes, and I think about [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy. He hosted one of the same shows I've hosted in Ukraine."

The TV presenter also shared his idea of abandoning political parties altogether.

Read the full story here:

Our live poll tracker collates the results of opinion surveys carried out by all the main polling organisations - and allows you to see how the political parties are performing in the run-up to the general election.

With under a week to go, the Tories and Labour have taken a drop, while support for Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats is on the rise.

Read more about the trackerhere.

We've just been hearing from the leader of the Liberal Democrats, and he was asked about the Channel 4 report showing Reform activists using a racial slur about the prime minister and using hom*ophobic language.

Speaking on a campaign visit to Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire, Sir Ed Davey said: "I heard the comments on the television, and they were clearly racist, hom*ophobic and abhorrent, and I hope the party deals with these and any other people who speak like this."

We've just had a statement from Essex Police after Reform activists were heard using a racial slur about the prime minister and using hom*ophobic language.

The force said in a statement: "We are aware of comments made during a Channel 4 News programme and we are urgently assessing them to establish if there are any criminal offences."

The footage, captured by an undercover Channel 4 reporter in Clacton, where Mr Farage is a candidate, showed Reform campaigner Andrew Parker calling Mr Sunak a "P***", and suggesting migrants should be used as "target practice".

He also described Islam as a "disgusting cult".

Another canvasser described the Pride flag as "degenerate" and suggested members of the LGBT community were paedophiles.

Mr Farage has sought to distance himself from the inflammatory comments,saying he was "dismayed"by the "appalling sentiments" expressed.

By Megan Harwood-Baynes, digital investigations reporter

Reform and Labour have bought up advertising on two major national news sites in a bid to sway voters in the remaining days before the general election.

When looking at MailOnline, Nigel Farage's stern face beams down from both the main banner and the left of the site.

Their manifesto - which have they been calling their "contract" with the public - is pasted down the side of the news website.

Meanwhile, Labour, perhaps in a bid to emulate 1992's "It's the Sun Wot Won It" front page, have pasted their advertising all over The Sun online.

With a countdown to 4 July, they also bemoan "14 years of Tory chaos".

Crucially, neither of these papers have openly endorsed a candidate, although a regular reader may be forgiven for not noticing this nuance.

In 1992, The Sun claimed credit for the victory of the Conservative Party, after openly campaigning to drive voters away from the then-Labour leader Neil Kinnock.

It is regularly cited as demonstrative of the influence the tabloid press could have over politicians and elections.

So far, the Daily Telegraph has come out in support of the Tories, while the Guardian, Daily Mirror, Economist, New Statesman and Daily Record have all backed the Labour Party.

The Times, The Sun and the Daily Mail have not endorsed anyone, and the Daily Star has taken the unusual (but perhaps unsurprising) approach of supporting Count Binface, labelling him the "most sane politician in the UK".

And while the Mirror has already backed Labour, and despite - at first glance - appearing to be plastered with advertising for the party, the red banners promising "change" are actually for coffee brand Nespresso.

Sky News has been looking at the advertising as part of the Online Election project - a Sky News initiative to cover how the campaign is playing out online, led by Tom Cheshire, Online Campaign correspondent.

We also foundone party has been dominating social media- but it's not the one spending the most.

Reform UK has been dominating, with its page growing by more than 32,000 followers over the course of the campaign.

Meanwhile, the Tories have only seen 596 new followers.

Sixteen of the top 20 most-loved posts were also from Mr Farage.

And for some Tories, the only brand has been seen as so bad, thatsome have ditched it altogether.

There has been uproar today about comments made by Reform UK supporters.

So what do we know?

Channel 4 publishes expose

On Thursday evening, Channel 4 publish an article about racism and hom*ophobia being used by Reform UK canvassers.

This included undercover footage of a man called Andrew Parker in Mr Farage's constituency, who used a racial slur about Rishi Sunak.

He also said young army recruits should be sent to "f****** just shoot" migrants arriving on the beach in Kent.

Another Reform supporter made hom*ophobic comments, describing the Pride flag as "degenerate" and suggesting members of the LGBT community were paedophiles.

Party leader Nigel Farage said he was "dismayed" by the comments.

Allegations of impropriety

By Friday morning, Mr Farage and his deputy Richard Tice were challenging the reporting, alleging that Mr Parker was an actor and insisting the whole thing "stinks".

Sky News spoke to Mr Parker. He says that while he has worked as an actor, he was volunteering for Reform.

He denied taking money, and said he supported Mr Farage.

Channel 4 also said they did not pay anyone and stood by their reporting.

Sunak reacts

At 1pm, Mr Sunak reacted to what had been said.

He repeated the word used by Mr Parker - "P***" - and said it "hurts" and makes him "angry".

He also said his two daughters had to hear it being said.

Sir Keir Starmer earlier declined to say that Mr Farage was racist - but said the words used were.

Farage doubles down

Fifteen minutes later, Mr Farage appeared on ITV show Loose Women.

He doubled down on his suggestion that the incident had somehow been staged, without providing details.

The Reform leader says he had previously met Mr Parker - and claimed the man was putting on "an act right from the start".

Mr Farage said: "I have to tell you, this whole thing was a complete and total set-up, I have no doubt about that."

By Darren McCaffrey, political correspondent, in Teeside

I've spent much of the last five weeks with the prime minister, dozens of visits, dozens of questions. But I've never seen him as angry as today.

The broadcast last night of a Reform canvasser making a targeted racist slur against the prime minister has left Rishi Sunak not just angry - but hurt too.

When asked why he had deliberately decided to repeat the slur itself in an interview, he said it was not something he wanted to do.

"I hate it, I hate having to do it, I choose my words deliberately, I hate it, but I have to call it out for what it is," he said.

On a personal level, this clearly matters to the prime minister and his desire to protect his family.

He has mentioned his daughters having to hear racism like this several times.

Politically, the Conservatives are hoping that this will also make voters think twice about Reform and about Nigel Farage.

When I asked Mr Sunak if he would now describe Reform as a racist party - he wouldn't go that far, but suggested "Nigel Farage has questions to answer".

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is appearing on ITV's Loose Women.

He doubles down on the suggestions that Channel 4 - or a production company - paid a Reform supporter to say racist things about the prime minister.

Andrew Parker, referred to Rishi Sunak as a "P***" and said young army recruits should be sent to "f****** just shoot" migrants arriving on the beach in Kent.

Mr Parker has spoken to Sky News and denied he took any money, while praising Mr Farage.

He has worked as an actor but says he was volunteering when he was caught on undercover camera making the remarks.

Mr Farage claimed "no one speaks" how the man spoke in the footage and that he was putting on an accent.

Mr Parker used the same voice as he did in the Channel 4 video when he spoke to Sky.

The Reform UK leader adds that the whole thing was "a set up" - and that "something is wrong here".

Asked about other Reform supporters who were seen making hom*ophobic comments, Mr Farage says the group were "drunk" after watching the football, and were "vulgar" and "wrong" and "gone" from the party.