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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow and Kevin Rawlinson

General election: Boris Johnson launches Conservative election campaign – as it happened

Closing summary

That’s all from us this evening. Thanks for reading and commenting. Here’s a summary of the day’s events:

  • The prime minister launched the Conservative party’s election campaign, saying he did not want the vote, but felt he had had not choice but to call it. Boris Johnson, whose trustworthiness has been questioned by some who have worked with him, gave a speech in Birmingham that was riddled with misleading and outright false claims. Johnson had earlier used No 10 as a backdrop for a speech in which he made several similar claims.
  • The debate about Labour’s direction under Jeremy Corbyn threatened to erupt again as the party’s deputy leader, with whom he has often clashed, announced he was stepping down. Tom Watson will leave his position within the party and will not seek reelection to the Commons. He said the decision was a “very personal” one. Read the full story on that in our splash:

Remain-backing opposition parties announce pact

The Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Greens have finalised a plan to step aside for each other in 60 seats across England and Wales in the general election, Peter Walker and Heather Stewart write.

The alliance is intended to give a free run to one pro-remain party in each constituency.

The agreement, which does not include Labour, covers 49 seats in England and 11 in Wales. It was made under the banner of a cross-party group called Unite to Remain, which has spent several months trying to broker the plan.

A so-called progressive alliance plan, also including Labour, was attempted before the 2017 election but arrangements were only made for a handful of seats – in part because of the difficulty of getting local parties to agree.

The Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, has said:

We are delighted that an agreement has been reached. We would like to thank Unite to Remain for making this possible. This is a significant moment for all people who want to support remain candidates across the country. We look forward to sharing the detail of the seats tomorrow.

Updated

Labour’s outgoing deputy leader, Tom Watson, says his decision to step down and quit parliament was a “very personal” one.

Watson, who has represented West Bromwich East since 2001 and is one of Labour’s most recognisable figures, denied the move was the result of concerns over the direction of the party under Jeremy Corbyn, with whom he has often clashed.

I want every Labour supporter campaigning for the Labour team to make sure we can get a Labour government elected.

The former Derby North MP, Chris Williamson, has resigned his membership of the Labour party and announced he will stand as an independent in the general election. The party’s national executive committee ruled earlier today that they would not endorse him.

In the letter to Labour’s general secretary, Jennie Formby, Williamson wrote:

I am dismayed that Labour party officials have enabled and executed what I believe to be a witch hunt against hundreds of socialists loyal to Jeremy Corbyn and his transformative, socialist, anti-imperialist worldview.

Many of the victims of this witch hunt have been Jewish socialists, whose anti-Zionism is anathema to the apartheid apologists apparently influencing Labour foreign and domestic policy.

Harvey Proctor, the former Conservative MP who was falsely accused of being part of a VIP pedophile ring in Westminster, has said Watson has “done his constituents a great favour” by stepping down.

Proctor, who served in the Commons in the 1970s and 1980s, has now abandoned his plans to run against Watson in next month’s general election. He said:

By standing down, Tom Watson has done his constituents a great favour. The next parliament will be a healthier place without him. He will be unable to use public office in future to promote false accusers for personal and political ends.

Although this is not the end of it for Tom Watson, I feel vindicated. I can now confirm I will not be standing in the West Bromwich East constituency at the general election.

Daniel Janner, the son of Lord Janner – one of the victims of the VIP abuse probe sparked by Carl Beech – said Tom Watson’s position had become “untenable”. Janner has been a fierce critic of Watson, whom he has previously accused of applying “pressure on the police”.

Tom Watson whipped up the post-Savile hysteria which damaged falsely accused innocent prominent figures like my late father Lord Janner. His position had become untenable. He has stood down because he would have been defeated.

Updated

Returning to Labour, here’s a little reaction to the news the party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, is standing down.

From Labour:

And from the Conservatives:

Updated

In his letter to Watson, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn has said:

Few people have given as much to the Labour movement as you have and I know that many thousands of members and trade unionists that you have inspired and worked with over the years will be very sorry to see you go.

Here’s the full letter:

Updated

Johnson has concluded his speech, thanking supporters and telling them: “I will see you at the barricades.”

The prime minister, Boris Johnson, after speaking at the launch of the Conservative party’s campaign at NEC, in Birmingham.
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, after speaking at the launch of the Conservative party’s campaign at NEC, in Birmingham. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

Updated

The prime minister repeated the claim that Corbyn has done a deal with the SNP. We covered the provenance of that here.

And he said he didn’t know what Corbyn wanted to achieve in renegotiations with the EU. Writing for the Guardian in September, the Labour leader outlined what he wanted to see in his Brexit deal:

And the party backed a motion at its conference that said:

Labour’s leave deal would include a new UK-EU customs union, a close relationship with the single market, protections of the Good Friday agreement with no hard border, securing the permanent rights of three million EU nationals in the UK and one million UK nationals in Europe, guarantees of workers’ rights and environmental protections, and membership of key bodies to ensure joint cooperation in areas like climate change, counter-terrorism and medicines.

Johnson has said Corbyn wants “unlimited and uncontrolled immigration”.

Labour has expressed support for no such thing. At its conference, the party backed a policy that would protect the current principle of free movement rights enjoyed by EU citizens and extend them; though it’s not entirely clear to what extent. It’s also committed to closing all immigration detention centres and ending “no recourse to public funds” policies.

Here’s the full motion.

Labour's deputy leader to step down

Tom Watson is quitting parliament and stepping down as Labour’s deputy leader, reopening the debate about the party’s direction under Jeremy Corbyn.

Watson, who is one of Labour’s best-known figures, has represented the constituency of West Bromwich East since 2001.

He has repeatedly clashed with Corbyn, including over the Labour leader’s Brexit stance and his handling of antisemitism, and the party’s conference in Brighton in September was overshadowed by a botched bid to abolish his post.

Johnson has also attacked the Brexit party leader, Nigel Farage:

And Johnson makes further claims about the number of police officers he plans to recruit. We covered that here.

The Conservative party launches its general election campaign in Birmingham
The Conservative party launches its general election campaign in Birmingham Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Updated

Johnson claims “40 new hospitals [have been] green-lighted” as part of the Tories’ policies.

This claim is false. The government has announced six hospital upgrades. Dozens of other hospitals have received money to develop plans for upgrades – but not for the actual upgrades themselves. Full Fact have a good explainer here.

Boris Johnson is now up on the stage and he opens with a joke about Andy Street’s name.

He claims he “didn’t want an election”, saying he has no choice because parliament is “paralysed” and refuses to finish the Brexit process.

In fact, the Commons voted in favour of giving the bill that would have implemented Johnson’s Brexit deal its second reading. It was Johnson who pulled it after MPs refused to allow him to ram it through parliament within days.

It must also be noted that Johnson voted against Theresa May’s Brexit deal twice, relenting only at the third time of asking.

Updated

In addition, Patel claims a vote for Labour would mean two more referendums in 2020: One on Brexit and one on Scottish independence. This echoes Johnson’s claim earlier today that Labour had done a deal with the SNP (see: 12.55pm).

In fact, Labour is opposed to Scottish independence and has ruled out a referendum on it in 2020, committing instead to a second Brexit referendum. We set out earlier how dubious the two referendums claim is. In addition, Scottish Labour has explicitly ruled out a post-election pact with the SNP.

Next on to the stage is the Tory chairman, James Cleverly, who repeats the claims Labour will hold two referendums.

Updated

Next up is the home secretary, Priti Patel, who claims the Tories have delivered their promise on a huge NHS infrastructure investment. My colleague, Andy Sparrow, covered that earlier – suffice to say, it’s not all it seems (see 12.52pm).

She also claims the party is delivering on its pledge to put 20,000 more police officers on the streets.

Labour have accused the Tories of misleading the public over this, saying their claims don’t stack up because thousands of the new officers are likely to be recruited away from frontline roles. Moreover, the total number of police officers has fallen under successive Tory governments by slightly more than the 20,000 Johnson has promised to recruit. You can read more on that here:

Updated

The Tory mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, is up on the stage to introduce the prime minister’s election launch speech.

You’ll be able to watch that and Boris Johnson’s address at the top of this page. If the video is not yet appearing for you, please refresh the page.

Updated

Correspondents in Birmingham are reporting that a small group of anti-racism and austerity demonstrators has appeared in the building where Johnson is due to deliver his general election campaign launch speech shortly:

Lady Sylvia Hermon, who was until today Northern Ireland’s only unionist remainer MP, will not contest the general election. She has announced she will not be defending the North Down seat she took in 2001.

Serving as an MP is a tremendous privilege and I remain profoundly grateful to all those who placed their trust and confidence in me in the last five general elections.

It has undoubtedly been the greatest honour of my life to serve the people of North Down as their member of parliament since 2001 and, so, it is with enormous sadness that I have decided not to contest the next general election in December.

Updated

There is some new YouGov polling out tonight, showing the Conservatives down two points since over the weekend. But a movement of this kind is within the margin of error, the Tory lead is still 11 points anyway and, as everyone knows, in 2017 opinion polls turned out to be a very unreliable guide to the final result. Here are the figures anyway.

That’s all from me for tonight.

My colleague Kevin Rawlinson is now taking over.

Corbyn refuses to confirm McDonnell's claim they will both have to stand down if Labour loses

In an interview with Sky News Jeremy Corbyn has refused to confirm John McDonnell’s claim that, if Labour loses the election, both of them will have to stand down. McDonnell said this in an interview for GQ with Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former spin doctor. But when asked if McDonnell was right to say Corbyn would stand down as party leader in the event of a Labour defeat, Corbyn refused to answer. He told Sky News:

John McDonnell got enticed into areas of discussion that I’m not prepared to get enticed into.

Updated

Yesterday my colleagues Aamna Mohdin and Ben Quinn published a Guardian story about how the Lib Dems have been accused of misleading voters after a number of candidates published leaflets featuring data from an obscure company, Flavible, that is not a member of the British Polling Council to suggest they are ahead of other parties in various constituencies.

Now Flavible itself has said that in some cases its data has been misrepresented by the Lib Dems, either unintentionally or deliberately. It says:

As many have seen, campaign material has been distributed by the Liberal Democrats, tweets have been shared by individual candidates and local parties. Most have correctly labelled this data. However, a few have either themselves misinterpreted the data or intentionally mislabelled the data for political advantage.

The full statement is here.

Updated

The Lib Dem Jo Swinson during a visit to Hinchley Wood school in Surrey.
The Lib Dem Jo Swinson during a visit to Hinchley Wood school in Surrey. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

Here is the latest Guardian Politics Weekly podcast. Heather Stewart is joined by Katy Balls, Anoosh Chakelian, and Jon Mellon of the British Election Study to discuss how everyone’s general election campaigns have gone so far. Plus, Peter Walker reports from the Brexit party’s official launch.

Updated

Corbyn says billionaires 'in very strong position to pay lot more in tax'

In his Telegraph article this morning Boris Johnson suggests that Jeremy Corbyn would persecute billionaires in the way that Stalin purged the kulaks. (See 9.06am.) Later, in his speech outside Downing Street, Johnson said the Conservatives “don’t sneer” at people who set up businesses, but “cheer for them, and do what we can to help”.

At the Q&A after his speech earlier today Jeremy Corbyn was asked by my colleague Kate Proctor if it was true that he despised billionaires. He did not answer initially (they take questions in groups of fours at Labour events now), but later, after he had finished taking questions from journalists and when he was taking questions from activists, Corbyn remembered that he had forgotten the question, and he provided an answer. This is what he said:

My personal view on billionaires is that they’ve obviously got a great deal of money, and therefore they’re in a very strong position to pay a lot more in tax. And I think it would be a really good idea if they do.

So our tax plans will affect the richest 5% of our society, we will be chasing down tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax havens, because at the end of the day if you are doing some, what you believe to be, very clever wheeze which somehow or other is avoiding the levels of taxation that you should be paying - go further away, what happens then? You’ve got an underfunded school, an underfunded hospital, underfunded public services as a whole. It’s a moral obligation to pay your taxes, [so] that the others might get the services they need.

Because you know what? However rich, powerful and famous you are, however brilliant and clever you are, and you’ve got loads of money, one day you might have a heart attack. And then you’re going to need the ambulance, then you’re going to need the A&E, then you’re going to need the public services that we all pay for our as downpayment on our own security. There’s a moral case for paying that properly.

Jeremy Corbyn delivering his speech in Telford earlier.
Jeremy Corbyn delivering his speech in Telford earlier. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, at the launch of the Welsh Labour party campaign in Cardiff.
Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, at the launch of the Welsh Labour party campaign in Cardiff. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Scottish Labour rules out post-election pact with SNP

Scottish Labour’s campaign launch in Glasgow has just wrapped up, with Richard Leonard telling the audience that Scotland had the choice whether Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn was in Downing Street for Christmas, and warning voters that voting SNP was not a short cut to a Labour government.

He categorically ruled out any post-election deal with the SNP, rejecting i Nicola Sturgeon’s suggestions that she would be open to a confidence and supply-style arrangement similar to that reached between the DUP and the Tories in 2017, with a second independence referendum as her price for support.

It was also notable that one of the early speakers was a community activist called Sean Bailey, who had voted yes to independence in 2014 and only recently joined the Labour party, a clear signal of the kind of voters Scottish Labour desperately needs to win over in the coming weeks.

But Leonard could offer little clarity on Labour’s position on an independence referendum if the SNP should win a mandate in the 2021 Holyrood elections, saying that the party was opposed to independence but that there were too many unpredictable factors in play, including the possibility of a second referendum on EU membership offered by his own party, which he argued would remove the SNP’s main argument for another independence poll.

The Scottish Labour leader, Richard Leonard, with candidates and activists at the Scottish Labour campaign launch.
The Scottish Labour leader, Richard Leonard, with candidates and activists at the Scottish Labour campaign launch. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Updated

Sturgeon says she wants to hold second Scottish independence referendum in 2020

In his speech outside Downing Street Boris Johnson repeated his claim that a vote for Labour would amount to a vote for two referendums in 2020. “Imagine waking up on Friday 13 December and finding [Jeremy] Corbyn at the head of his technicolour yawn of a coalition and they would spend the whole of 2020 having two referendums,” Johnson said.

This has always been a dubious claim because, although Labour is committed to holding a Brexit referendum next year, it has said it would not approve a Scottish independence referendum next year – even though it would not object to holding one later in the parliament. It is also, in practice, hard to imagine Scotland holding two referendums within the space of only a few months. The last Scottish independence referendum took place almost two years after it was agreed between London and Edinburgh.

But Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister and the SNP leader, has been saying today that she would insist on holding a Scottish independence referendum in 2020. She has already said that as soon as the election is over she will ask the Westminster government for permission to hold one (which is necessary for it to have legal force). And this is what she told the Today programme:

It is my intention to have a referendum next year.

On this question of will Westminster allow it or not, we are at the start of an election campaign – this is an opportunity for the people in Scotland to have their say and make their views known.

If the SNP win this election, I think that demand becomes irresistible. This idea that for self-interest reasons Westminster politicians can stand in the way of people in Scotland choosing their own future, we already see that start to crumble.

Nicola Sturgeon with the Ochil & South Perthshire SNP candidate John Nicolson posing with an SNP-decorated cake at a Syrian bakery in Alloa, Scotland.
Nicola Sturgeon with the Ochil and South Perthshire SNP candidate, John Nicolson, posing with an SNP-decorated cake at a Syrian bakery in Alloa, Scotland. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

Ofcom may investigate Kay Burley’s “empty chairing” of James Cleverly (see 9.56am), PA Media reports. The media watchdog has received numerous complaints about the Sky News presenter’s actions. Complaints are understood by the news agency to relate to Burley’s claims and the empty chair gesture. A spokeswoman for Ofcom said: “We are assessing these against our broadcasting rules before deciding whether or not to investigate.”

Updated

Chris Williamson, Stephen Hepburn and Roger Godsiff blocked from standing as Labour candidates

Labour’s governing body has decided that the party will not endorse Chris Williamson, Stephen Hepburn and Roger Godsiff as candidates in the election, the Press Association reports. The PA story goes on:

The national executive committee (NEC) ruled that the three former Labour MPs would not be able to stand as candidates for Jeremy Corbyn’s party in the December poll.

Instead, the party will select other candidates to stand in their former constituencies.

Williamson, who represents Derby North, was suspended from the party in February after he claimed that Labour had been “too apologetic” in response to criticism of its handling of antisemitism allegations.

He was readmitted to the party and issued with a formal warning following a hearing of an NEC antisemitism panel in June – prompting an outcry from MPs, peers and Jewish groups.

But he was suspended again in July after a second panel reviewed the decision to reinstate him and found it “cannot safely stand”.

Hepburn, who represents Jarrow in Gateshead, had the whip withdrawn last month following a complaint of sexual harassment.

Under party rules, individuals suspended from the party are not eligible to be Labour candidates.

Godsiff, who was reprimanded by Labour’s chief whip Nick Brown in the summer for his stance on LGBT rights, was undergoing a reselection process by his local party when the election was called.

It is understood the chief whip recommended that Godsiff, who represents Birmingham, Hall Green, should not be endorsed by the NEC to stand in the election.

Updated

Corbyn says Alun Cairns should stand down as Tory election candidate

Jeremy Corbyn has said that, following his resignation from cabinet, Alun Cairns should also stand down as a Tory election candidate. Corbyn told journalists:

Obviously, legally [Cairns] can stand as a candidate but does he have a moral right to stand as a candidate?

If he’s stepping down as a minister because of his involvement then I would have thought the very least the Conservative party can do is not put him up as a candidate in the next election.

Plaid Cymru has also said Cairns should stand down as an election candidate. (See 12.41pm.)

Cairns is the candidate in Vale of Glamorgan, where he had a majority of just 2,190 over Labour in 2017. At the moment Cairns does want to fight the election as a candidate although, as the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg points out, that might change.

This is from Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader.

Nigel Farage in Workington, where he was campaigning fo the Brexit party this morning.
Nigel Farage in Workington, where he was campaigning fo the Brexit party this morning. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

On the BBC’s World at One Stephen Crabb, the former Conservative Welsh secretary, said that the story about how a former Tory aide in Wales had sabotaged a rape trial had caused considerable damage to the party in Wales. Crabb said the Tory response reflected badly on the Welsh party. He said:

A number of us who are fighting very, very tight marginal seats in Wales have felt increasingly anxious about the story – not just from a PR point of view, the story not going away – but the perception that the party itself isn’t addressing the issue in the correct way.

The nature of the story demands a far better response from the party … It shines a light on the party in Wales. It’s problematic we don’t have a woman in a senior position in Wales, we’ve never had a female Welsh conservative member of parliament and I think that reflects poorly on us in 2019.

Stephen Crabb
Stephen Crabb Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Updated

The National Union of Students (NUS) has launched its election manifesto, which is built around three priorities - an education system that is “accessible, funded and life-long”, an end to Brexit and “a healthy society for the good of everyone”, with affordable housing and action to tackle the climate crisis.

With the student vote expected to play a significant role in a number of constituencies, the NUS has been working hard on campuses to ensure that as many students as possible are registered to vote, despite the awkward end-of-term election date.

The NUS’s recent financial troubles mean it is not the campaigning force it once was but its leader, Zamzam Ibrahim, issued a suitably stirring rallying cry to students up and down the country at the manifesto launch at Brunel University today, calling the 12 December vote “the election of our lives”. She said:

Investment is falling, in our education, in our health, in our businesses. Crises are growing; climate change, social care, and more. Our society is failing, and students across the UK have told us, loud and clear, that this isn’t the future they want.

The views of young people have been ignored for too long, so we’re calling on all parties to listen and commit to the action needed to create a future in which everyone can thrive.

Updated

Commenting on Alun Cairns’ resignation, the shadow Brexit secretary, and former director of public prosecutions, Sir Keir Starmer, said:

[Cairns] is right to resign but he has got to face an investigation. This is a very, very serious issue. It goes well beyond a ministerial investigation. Resigning was right to do but it is not enough on its own.

Updated

Green party launch - Summary and analysis

The Green party campaign launch took place in Bristol, where the local party believes it has a good chance of ousting Labour’s Bristol West incumbent Thangam Debbonaire, in the 79% remain-voting constituency.

Bristol also has a high student population, an acute affordable housing problem and at least 10,000 Extinction Rebellion members, according to local estimates. It has just become the first British city to ban diesel vehicles from parts of the centre.

More than 100 activists crowded into a small room in the We The Curious science museum on Wednesday morning to hear Siân Berry, co-leader and London mayoral candidate, announce plans to borrow £100bn a year to spend on measures to cut emissions and protect against the impacts of climate chaos.

She shared the platform with the Bristol West candidate, Carla Denyer, a mechanical engineer who designs wind farms, and Amelia Womack, deputy leader and candidate for Newport West, also high on the Green’s target list.

Several activists noted with approval that there were three women on the platform, unusual in British politics. A majority of the members gathered for the launch were women, with many veteran activists and a large number of younger people – the youngest of all a baby and a toddler. Locally the Green party has about 1,400 members.

The biggest cheers were for calls for more social housing, greener transport and action on the climate emergency. “The time is now,” activists shouted as they gathered to be photographed. “Climate change is the most urgent problem we face” was a common theme among the activists gathered, who hope to frame this election as one of the last chances to avert climate chaos.

Lauren James, of Newport West, who works as a freelance virtual assistant, said:

This needs to be the climate election – climate change is knocking on our door. We have been Labour and Tory forever and it doesn’t change. You can vote Labour but sooner or later you get another Tory government.

The electoral system was another top concern. Dominic Tristram, prospective candidate for Bath, argued that Labour’s opposition to proportional representation meant that a vote for Labour just meant “another Tory government eventually”, as governing swung back and forth among the two main parties under first-past-the-post.

The Greens hope that their clear anti-Brexit policies will also distinguish them from Labour. Denyer believes that Debbonaire, who increased Labour’s vote in 2017 while the Greens fell back from their strong showing in 2015, benefited from voters mistaking Jeremy Corbyn’s party for remain-supporters. Local Green activists also point to what they see as divisions within the Labour ranks in Bristol.

All who talked to the Guardian were happy for the party leadership to seek a pact with the Liberal Democrats and potentially other parties that would involved dropping candidates in some seats. They also noted wryly that other parties were keen to follow the Green’s lead in proposals for climate policies such as a “green new deal”, which mirrored policies pioneered by the Green party. “We are the thought leaders, they are trying to catch up,” said Jude English.

Green party co-leader Sian Berry (left), deputy leader and Candidate for Newport West Amelia Womack (right), and Bristol West candidate Carla Denyer (centre) at the launch of the party’s general election manifesto in Bristol.
Green party co-leader Siân Berry (left), the deputy leader and candidate for Newport West, Amelia Womack, (right), and Bristol West candidate, Carla Denyer, (centre) at the launch of the party’s general election manifesto in Bristol. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Updated

As Johnson finishes, and heads back into No 10, Sky’s Adam Boulton, who is presenting Sky News from Downing Street, shouts at him to ask if people can trust him. But he does not get a reply.

Johnson tells nation he will get parliament working 'for you' if Tories win majority

Johnson says: if he comes back with a majority, he will get parliament working “for you”.

Parliament would come back in December, so it could get Brexit done in January.

He thanks his staff in No 10. And he says he is now going out to campaign, and to get Brexit done.

Updated

Johnson says the choice is “come with us”, a government that believes in a dynamic economy, or go with Labour, the only alternative.

Labour would ban Ofsted.

And Labour would also have an uncontrolled immigration system.

He says his government would stand up for Britain in the world. Or you can go with Labour, who sided with Putin over the Salisbury poisoning attacks.

He says Labour would have two referendums in 2020: one on Scotland, because Corbyn has done a deal with the SNP, and one on Brexit.

He says people do not know what Corbyn’s Brexit deal would contain.

And would it then be “best of three” with referendums, or “call it quits”, he says.

Updated

Johnson says his deal delivers everything he wanted from Brexit.

He says if parliament had its way, the UK would not even leave on 31 January.

If Brexit is delivered, there will be a surge of investment into the UK, he says.

He says he is very proud of what he has achieved so far as PM; the biggest investment in the NHS, 40 new hospitals.

(Actually, it is six.)

He says he is championing an enterprise economy.

When people take risks, and have the guts to find a new market, he does not sneer at them, he says. He does what he can to help.

Only by having a dynamic economy can you have a successful market economy.

UPDATE: To clarify, the government has announced six hospital upgrades, not six new hospitals. Full Fact have a good explainer here.

Updated

Boris Johnson's speech outside No 10

Boris Johnson is speaking outside No 10.

He says he has just been to see the Queen, and she has agreed to dissolve parliament.

He does not want an election, he says.

But he says there has to be one because parliament is frustrating Brexit.

He says it has been so frustrating he has been tempted to chew off his tie.

Updated

Speaking following an election visit to a factory in Watford, the Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, said:

It’s right that [Alun Cairns has] resigned. The allegations that were made are incredibly serious and I think there are real questions to be asked about why it’s taken him so long to come to this conclusion, and why he said the things he did before. I imagine as time goes on we’ll find out the answers to some of those questions.

Updated

From ITV’s Paul Brand

From the broadcaster Michael Crick

And this is from Liz Saville Roberts, who has been leader of Plaid Cymru at Westminster.

I hope that Alun Cairns’ resignation as secretary of state proves to be some solace to the woman at the centre of this case, who still has received no apology from the Conservative party.

Mr Cairns’ conduct proved unquestionably that he is not fit to hold ministerial office. You simply cannot be complicit in the attempted cover-up of sabotaging a rape trial and hope to get away with it.

Such conduct is neither befitting of a government minister, nor of a member of parliament. Mr Cairns should do the honourable thing and withdraw from the election – and if he doesn’t, the Conservative party should insist he withdraws.

Updated

The Welsh Conservatives have put out this statement about Alun Cairns’ resignation from Paul Davies, leader of the Conservative group in the Welsh assembly:

I am sorry to see Alun resign today as the secretary of state for Wales. However, under the circumstances this was the right decision for him. Alun has rightly stated that he will cooperate fully with any investigations.

I would like to thank Alun for his service to Wales as our secretary of state where he brought an end to the Severn Bridge tolls which will leave a lasting legacy on the Welsh economy.

Updated

This is from Christina Rees, the shadow Welsh secretary, on Alun Cairns’ resignation.

Bercow describes Brexit as 'biggest mistake' by UK since war

John Bercow, who stood down as Commons Speaker last week, has been speaking at the Foreign Press Association this morning.

He has described Brexit as the “biggest mistake” by the UK since the war, and said that the Brexit crisis will not be resolved any time soon.

These are from La Repubblica’s Antonello Guerrera.

And Bercow is writing a book, too.

Alun Cairns says he is resigning over 'speculation', but is confident he will be cleared of wrongdoing

Here is Alun Cairns’ resignation letter.

Alun Cairns
Alun Cairns Photograph: No10

Updated

Here is the exchange of letters between Boris Johnson and Alun Cairns.

Alun Cairns resigning as Welsh secretary over claim did not tell truth about discredited aide

These are from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

Alun Cairns, the Welsh secretary, is quitting in the light of the BBC Wales story yesterday saying that he had not told the truth when he said that he did not know an aide, who he had backed as a Welsh assembly candidate, had previously sabotaged a rape trial.

Boris Johnson has posted this video of himself on Twitter discussing why he is holding an election ahead of his meeting with the Queen this morning.

How do we know for certain that the election campaign is under way? Because I’m on a battle bus – the Lib Dem bus, which has a huge picture of the party leader on the side and the slogan “Jo Swinson’s Lib Dems”. It’s all quite presidential.

As an aside, this is a Chinese-made electric bus, one of two the party has in service. The electric one, for obvious reasons, does the briefer trips.

The bus is currently between Golders Green in north London and Watford, on a trip which will see Swinson visit three Conservative-held constituencies where the Lib Dems came a pretty distant third in 2017.

The first stop was a cafe in Golders Green run by a mental health charity – mental health provision is one of the day’s themes. Luciana Berger, once of Labour, is the candidate, and local activists were bullish about her prospects, despite the party winning fewer than 3,500 votes in 2017. After Watford we head to the Esher and Walton seat of Dominic Raab, who has a 23,000 majority.

Are the party being ambitious or delusional with such campaigning? Only time will tell. I shall ask Swinson when we get a promised chat with her soon.

The Liberal Democrat battle bus in Golders Green, North London.
The Liberal Democrat battle bus in Golders Green, North London. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

Updated

Q: Do you think renegotiating a Brexit deal with the EU will be undermined by five of your shadow cabinet saying they will vote remain?

Corbyn says his policy has always been to bring people together. He says people who voted leave and people who voted remain are likely to face the same problems, for example on housing. They have the same interests.

He says he will negotiate a customs union with the EU, with protection of consumer and workers’ rights and environmental standards. And he will hold a referendum. A special conference of the party will decide Labour’s stance.

He says all frontbenchers during the election are behind this policy.

He says this is sensible, and “grown-up politics”.

Q: In your speech you talk of holding open the door. Is this to a future leader? Rebecca Long-Bailey has posted an interesting video on Twitter.

Corbyn says he was elected leader of the party, and will carry on leading it. At some point, “in the long distant future”, there will be another leader, he says.

He says he has a very talented frontbench team.

He says Labour does genuinely represent people all over the country.

Q: Would the A&E unit in the Wrekin stay open under Labour?

Corbyn says there should be an A&E department in Shrewsbury and in Telford.

Jeremy Corbyn speaking at an event in Telford this morning.
Jeremy Corbyn speaking at an event in Telford this morning. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

Updated

Corbyn's Q&A

Corbyn is now taking questions.

Q: You say leaders must allow others to play their part. But aren’t your poll ratings so bad you are part of the problem?

Corbyn says he never comments on polls. He says he has been elected twice to lead this party, and he will be campaigning for it in the election.

He says his message to people in the campaign is that people should register to vote.

He says at the start of the 2017 campaign people were writing off Labour. But his party will be bringing people together, he says.

Q: Are you worried the Tory attacks on you personally will have an impact on voters?

Corbyn says he does not do personal abuse. When they go lie, he will go high, he says.

Q: In your list of benchmarks for a Labour government, you did not mention abolishing private schools. Has that been dropped?

Corbyn says the manifesto will be launched in due course. It is not finished. Conference policy has been passed. Some of it will go into the manifesto. On private schools, the main point is for them to pay tax.

He thinks schools should be properly funded.

Q: Do you think Chris Williamson and Keith Vaz should be allowed to stand as Labour candidates?

Corbyn says Labour’s national executive committee is meeting at this moment to consider this. He does not dictate to his party, he says. He leads it. He wants to have the greatest level of democracy in the party.

Here is the broadcaster Michael Crick on the NEC meeting.

Q: What will you offer on freedom of movement under your Brexit plan?

Corbyn says EU nationals who have made their home in the UK have made a fantastic contribution. The insecurity and uncertainty they have been put through has been horrendous, he says.

He says, after the referendum, he put a motion to parliament saying EU nationals should have a right to remain in the EU. Boris Johnson voted for it, he says.

So, yes, there has to be that movement of people, he says. He says he wants young people to be able to continue to take part in the Erasmus scheme.

He ends by saying he wants EU nationals to continue to live here and to be able to come here.

Corbyn is now on his peroration.

I’ve spent much of my life travelling around the country and the world listening to people.

That’s how you learn about the world as people actually experience it – their struggles and their hopes, their dreams and their frustrations.

And that’s why I believe that good leadership is about compassion and understanding not ego.

I want to lead a government that’s on your side.

That puts power and wealth into your hands.

I want to lead a government that works for you.

And Corbyn turns to the controversy about Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments about Grenfell Tower.

Actually there is one more thing you need to know. They shamefully seem to think the victims of the Grenfell fire died because they didn’t have the common sense to save themselves.

I’ll tell you what’s common sense:

Don’t put flammable cladding on people’s homes. That’s common sense.

Don’t close fire stations and don’t cut fire fighters. That’s common sense.

And don’t ignore residents when they tell you their home is a death trap.

Corbyn refers to yesterday’s Guardian story about what pledges Tory candidates have been allowed to sign.

Corbyn says:

And isn’t it telling that Conservative candidates in this election have been told by Tory HQ that they’re not allowed to pledge to tackle the climate emergency?

They’re not allowed to pledge not to privatise our NHS.

They’re not allowed to pledge not to sell out our NHS in a trade deal with Donald Trump ...

But you know there is something that Conservative candidates are allowed to pledge.

Tory HQ says they can pledge to defend shooting animals for sport.

Doesn’t that tell you all you need to know about the Conservatives?

Corbyn sets out 10 goals for Labour government

Corbyn says he wants to lead a Labour government judged by whether it has made a difference to people’s lives. And he sets out 10 benchmarks for success.

Here’s how you’ll be able to judge the success of the next Labour government:

Judge us on whether in-work poverty still exists in five years’ time.

Judge us on whether people are still sleeping rough after five years of a Labour government.

Judge us on whether proud women and men are still having to depend on food banks in five years’ time.

Judge us on whether 1.4 million older people are still not getting the help they need after five years of Labour.

Judge us on whether tuition fees have been scrapped for all students so that no one is priced out of education.

Judge us on whether we’ve built hundreds of thousands of genuinely affordable homes, so that decent and secure housing is within the reach of everybody.

Judge us on whether patients are still waiting more than four hours in A&E, and tens of thousands are waiting months for cancer treatment.

Judge us on whether we’ve got Brexit sorted within six months so we can get on with delivering the real change that Britain needs.

Judge us on whether primary school children – including more than 2,500 children here in Telford – are still learning in class sizes of larger than 30 after five years of a Labour government.

Judge us on whether we’ve unleashed a green industrial revolution, created hundreds of thousands of green energy jobs in the communities that need them most and significantly reduced our greenhouse emissions.

Corbyn says he will be different kind of PM, 'not kind who thinks politics is a game'

Corbyn says being an MP is not meant to be a glamorous job.

He says his view of leadership is different from the conventional one. That has led to him being criticised in the papers, he says.

You know my view of leadership is different from the one people are used to. Yes, I believe leaders should have clear principles that people can trust, and the strength and commitment not to be driven off course.

You have to stand for something. But leaders must also trust others to play their part.

Think of it like this: a good leader doesn’t just barge through a door and let it swing back in the faces of those following behind. A good leader holds open the door for others to walk through because everyone has a contribution to make.

And when I talk about real change, that isn’t something that will be done to you. It’s something that can only be done with you.

So if you, the British people, elect a Labour government on December 12, I will be proud to be your prime minister. Because I will be a very different kind of prime minister. Not the kind of prime minister who believes he was born to rule. Not the kind who thinks politics is a game

Updated

Corbyn says real politics, for him, is not about shouting abuse in parliament. He does not do personal attacks, he says.

He says he is interested in bringing about real change.

He says the Labour candidate in Telford has been campaigning against the downgrading of the A&E unit. For him, that is real politics.

Corbyn says he started campaigning in Telford for a better society. And he has never stopped, he says.

The Labour party is united, and determined to win this election, he says.

He says this election is a once in a generation chance to transform society, “by taxing those at the top to properly fund the services for everyone else”.

And he says it is also a chance to tackle the climate emergency. Labour is proposing a green industrial revolution, he says.

Jeremy Corbyn's speech

Jeremy Corbyn has just started delivering a speech in Telford.

There is a live feed at the top of the page.

Corbyn grew up in Shropshire and he says this feels like coming home for him.

Updated

The Facebook live feed from the Green party launch has gone back to the beginning. But a colleague is at the event, and so I will be posting more from it soon.

This picture shows (left to right) Sian Berry, Carla Denyer and Amelia Womack.

Sian Berry, the party’s co-leader, is speaking at the launch now. She says this election is about far more than Brexit.

This must be the climate election. The future won’t get another chance.

Updated

Back at the Green party launch Amelia Womack, the party’s deputy leader, has just finished speaking. She said voters should accept no imitations. The Greens were the only party truly serious about tackling the climate emergency, she argued.

According to the Press Association, Boris Johnson spent just over 25 minutes with the Queen at Buckingham Palace this morning.

Boris Johnson in Downing Street this morning.
Boris Johnson in Downing Street this morning. Photograph: POOL/Reuters

Carla Denyer, the Green party candidate in Bristol West, is speaking at the launch now.

She says ordinary people all over the country are demanding climate action.

The Greens will galvanise the country during the campaign with the most ambitious green new deal proposed anywhere in the world.

My colleague Fiona Harvey has written up the Greens’ plans here.

Updated

The Green party election launch has just started.

There is a (rather shaky) live feed on the Green party’s Facebook page.

Boris Johnson due to give speech outside No 10 after audience with Queen

Boris Johnson’s audience with the Queen is over. He is now heading back to No 10.

He is due to give a speech outside Downing Street at 1pm.

Updated

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen apologises for how he defended Rees-Mogg's Grenfell Tower comment

Yesterday afternoon, long after Jacob Rees-Mogg had apologised for his comment about the Grenfell Tower victims lacking the sense to ignore the advice to stay put, the Tory MP Andrew Bridgen (a Brexiter, and hence a natural ally of Rees-Mogg’s) went on the PM programme and in part defended what the cabinet minister had said. Bridgen suggested that Rees-Mogg may indeed have been cleverer than the Grenfell Tower victims.

This morning Bridgen himself has apologised for what he said.

Updated

Boris Johnson has tweeted this.

The PM’s audience with the Queen is little more than a pointless photo opportunity.

In the past prime ministers who wanted to hold a general election had to ask the Queen to dissolve parliament, and so a trip to Buckingham Palace was always part of the election ritual.

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act means that the timing of an election is no longer in the gift of the Queen. This election is happening because, in order to get round the FTPA, parliament passed legislation, the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019.

But since the passing of the FTPA prime ministers have continued to insist on driving up the Mall to the palace at the start of an election, as if they believe that voters won’t believe it’s a real election unless they have seen the Queen somehow sanction it.

Boris Johnson has just left Downing Street to drive to Buckingham Palace for an audience with the Queen.

Ed Vaizey, the Conservative former culture minister, has announced that he is standing down. He was one of the 21 Tories who had the whip removed in September after rebelling over Brexit, but he was also one of the 10 from that group who recently had the whip restored.

In an open letter to the PM, he says that he remains an “enthusiastic supporter” of Johnson and of Johnson’s “one-nation agenda”.

Johnson claims to be committed to one-nation Conservatism, but many of the most prominent supporters of this brand of Toryism (centrism, as they would call it in the Labour party) have either had the whip removed, or are leaving parliament, leading many to conclude that Johnson’s administration would be better described as firmly rightwing.

Updated

Broadcasters are often reluctant to “empty chair” politicians. They worry that it makes them look confrontational and partisan, in breach of their impartiality obligations – even though not highlighting a party’s refusal to answer legitimate questions could arguable be seen as conferring some sort of advantage.

So it was surprising – and refreshing, if you approve of these tactics – to see Sky’s Kay Burley pillory the Conservative chairman James Cleverly this morning, in his absence, for ducking out of her TV interview. Do watch it. It’s quite a moment, not least because Burley’s summary of all the awkward questions facing the Tories is hard to fault.

Updated

Conservatives are not all like Rees-Mogg, says former Scottish secretary David Mundell

Former Scottish secretary David Mundell believes Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments about the Grenfell victims were “inappropriate” but insists it is “totally without foundation” to infer that they show Conservatives do not understand how the majority of people in the UK live their lives.

Interviewed on BBC Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland, Mundell said:

Most Conservative MPs are very well grounded, they come from a huge variety of backgrounds and the caricature that everybody is like Mr Rees-Mogg is wrong.

Meanwhile, the SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, has released an open letter to Scotland’s remain voters, urging them: “Don’t sit back and let the Tories decide your future.”

This early message not to “sit back and do nothing” on 12 December indicates how focused the party are on former SNP voters who did not turn out in the 2017 general election, leading to significant losses. In 2017, analysts also suggested that independence supporters were not convinced of the need for a second independence referendum so soon after the 2014 vote; SNP strategists are banking on the fact that two more years of Brexit chaos has substantially increased their appetite.

Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Jacob Rees-Mogg. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

Updated

Cleverly says no-deal Brexit remains 'default setting' for Tories, though he hopes it won't happen

The Conservative chairman, James Cleverly, has been doing a round of interviews this morning. Here are the key points from his interview on the Today programme.

  • Cleverly defended the Conservative party’s decision to post a doctored video on social media edited in such a way as to imply that Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer could not answer a Brexit question. Asked about it, Cleverly said:

What we also did, and this is not unique to us, is we did a lighthearted satirical video, obviously so with a comedy soundtrack, highlighting the Labour party’s chaotic position on Brexit.

Asked whether his party had “posted a lie” online, Cleverly replied: “I disagree with your assessment of it.”

  • Cleverly said he accepted that the comment from Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, about Grenfell Tower residents not having the sense to ignore advice to stay put “caused a huge amount of hurt and distress”.
  • Cleverly said a no-deal Brexit at the end of the transition period was still an option, because no deal was the “default setting”. But it was not what the party wanted, he said. Asked whether a no-deal Brexit was still possible, in the light of Boris Johnson’s decision to rule out extending the transition and to abandon a promise made two weeks ago to give MPs a vote on this, Cleverly said:

Ultimately, the default setting has always been no deal. That is not what we want.

The prime minister has demonstrated, as have the EU, that, when you are focused and both trying to get a good outcome, it can be done.

This is a comment that the candidate themselves recognised was unacceptable. People often tweet in haste and regret what they have done afterwards.

But, asked whether O’Brien should be replaced, Cleverly said:

I think there are always things that people do which they regret. They say foolish, sometimes insensitive things. We do take very seriously the language we use and sometimes we recognise that people make a mistake and, when they do so, if they recognise what they have done wrong and they apologise, I think that is taken into consideration. I think that’s a balanced approach.

James Cleverly.
James Cleverly. Photograph: Yara Nardi/Reuters

Updated

Corbyn dismisses Boris Johnson's 'Stalin' slur as 'nonsense'

Almost every general election in Britain in living memory has started with pundits predicting that the campaign is going to end up being the nastiest and dirtiest ever. In truth, those claims are probably often wrong, but it is going to be hard to pretend otherwise in 2019 when Boris Johnson is formally launching the Conservative general election campaign by comparing Jeremy Corbyn to Stalin. The prime minister has said so in an article (paywall) in the Daily Telegraph, a few hours before he goes to Buckingham Palace for an audience with the Queen. (She is a Telegraph reader, but quite what she makes of this diatribe is anyone’s guess.)

Here is the key quote from Johnson’s article, which the Telegraph has plastered all over its front page.

The tragedy of the modern Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn is that they detest the profit motive so viscerally – and would raise taxes so wantonly – that they would destroy the very basis of this country’s prosperity. They pretend that their hatred is directed only at certain billionaires – and they point their fingers at individuals with a relish and a vindictiveness not seen since Stalin persecuted the kulaks. In reality they would end up putting up taxes on everyone: on pensions, on businesses, on inheritance, on homes, on gardens.

And here is Corbyn’s response on Twitter.

It goes without saying, of course, that, whatever you think about the rights and wrongs of Labour’s tax plans and its attitudes to business, any comparison with a dictator responsible for mass slaughter is preposterous.

In his London Playbook briefing for Politico Europe, Charlie Cooper suggests that Johnson’s Stalin reference could be a classic Lynton Crosby “dead cat” , intended to distract attention from the multiple mishaps that hit the Tory campaign yesterday. Perhaps. But a more likely explanation is that Johnson wanted today’s Telegraph front page to be dominated by claims based on the Treasury costing of Labour’s spending plans, and that he had to rustle up something else after Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, kiboshed that plan.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10am: Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, visits Golders Green. Later she will be in Watford on another campaign visit.

Morning: Boris Johnson goes to the palace to formally notify the Queen about the election. On his return he is due to make a statement in Downing Street.

10.30am: The Green party launches its election campaign at an event in Bristol.

11am: Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech in Telford.

11am: Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, visits Workington.

12pm: Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister and SNP leader, visits Ochil and South Perthshire

12pm: The National Union of Students launches its manifesto for the election.

1.20pm: Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, launches the Welsh Labour party campaign in Cardiff.

1.30pm: Richard Leonard, the Scottish Labour leader, launches the Scottish Labour party campaign.

7.30pm: Johnson formally launches the Conservative election campaign at a rally in the West Midlands.

Unless there is some major non-election news, I will just be focusing on the election campaign, covering breaking news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. We plan to publish a summary at the end of the day.

You can read all the latest Guardian election coverage here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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