General election 2024 live: five more police officers being investigated in gambling-gate probe

Mishal Husain is introducing the start of the BBC’s Prime Ministerial debate. There are some whoops from BBC staff in the spin room. Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer flipped to choose their positions - Sunak is on the right and Starmer is on the left (fitting).

The first question of the debate is about the gambling scandal engulfing the campaign. Rishi Sunak repeats his maxim that he was “incredibly angry” and if anyone was found to break the rules he would “boot them out of the Conservative Party”. The PM gives quite a short answer and it moves over to Keir Starmer.

Starmer says: “Politics has become too much about self entitlement - MPs think about themselves. Reset politics so politics returns to public service. Convicted and fined for breaking the rules which he brought in and imposed on everything else. Suspended within minutes … PM delayed and delayed and delayed.”

Sunak says that he thinks people should be straight with people, and starts talking about taxes. He says Labour are going to put up people’s taxes by thousands of pounds.

Starmer refuses to say whether any other Labour candidates bet on themselves losing. He says his candidates know his standards. He says Labour will not put up income tax, VAT or national insurance.

There appear to be some protesters outside the debate. You can hear them in the spin room, which is near to the studio. Mishal Husain has just addressed it, saying it is an important part of democracy.

We have two questions about work. One woman says more people should be off benefits and in work. Another woman says she’s disabled and cannot work, and asks what will happen to her?

Rishi Sunak is talking about taxes again, he says: “Lower taxes and lower welfare that’s what I will deliver. If you want higher taxer and higher welfare that’s what Keir Starmer will deliver.”

Starmer hits back: “If you listen to people in the audience and across the country you might be so out of touch.” He gets a big round of applause - ouch.

Rishi Sunak is constantly talking about tax again, but we’re getting some new language from the Prime Minister. He keeps saying that you should not “surrender” your borders and taxes to Keir Starmer and the Labour Party. He’s been repeating this over and over again during during questions about migration and the Rwanda plan. It must be something that the Tories have focus grouped, and it could be effective - but is it too late?

Keir Starmer is attacking Rishi Sunak over Liz Truss. The Labour leader says that after criticising his predecessor Sunak said the Tory Party should “unite”. Mishal Husain says that Starmer should know something about falling behind a party leader, referring to Jeremy Corbyn, and gets a round of applause.

An audience member has just called Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer “mediocre” and asks is this the best we’ve got? Sunak says he’s stabilised the economy and now he can start (guess what) cutting taxes.

Starmer runs through his CV in a long and meandering way, and then says he wants to bring about change to the UK. Sunak says he’s got a plan and that’s to cut taxes.

The Labour leader says he understands why people are disaffected with politics, he talks about partygate, gamble-gate and broken promises. This is probably Starmer’s best answer of the evening.

The pair are asked how they will protect women. Keir Starmer says he’s got lots of great women in his Shadow Cabinet. Rishi Sunak says he’s a dad. Not great answers from either of them.

We’re on closing statements. Rishi Sunak says he understands people are frustrated with him, but he says this is not a by-election. He says under Labour taxes will go up and people shouldn’t “surrender” to them.

There’s a slight interruption as Starmer says he shouldn’t “lie”. Then the Labour leader says if you want your NHS back you have to “vote for it”.

Earlier in the day, the Conservatives put out a tweet which just tax thousands of times. In tonight’s BBC debate, Rishi Sunak may have said the word even more often.

Every question was rerouted to that, he even responded to a question on Brexit by saying he would lower taxes for self-employed people. He repeated his claim that Labour would put up taxes by thousands of pounds, something Keir Starmer said was a “lie”, and brought in some new language by talking about surrender.

Sunak urged people not to “surrender” their family finances, their borders and even their council to Labour. The problem is for Sunak, are people listening? He’s spent the whole campaign talking about taxes and the polls have hardly budged. In his two fiscal events before the election, the Prime Minister cut national insurance and yet again the polls did not move.

With prisoners being released early, schools crumbling and sewage flooding our waterways, its not surprise than in focus groups more people say they want investment in public services.

Starmer again was quite scholarly in his answers, often taking a while to get to the point. At one point, he almost ran through his whole CV when he was asked why he and Sunak were so “mediocre”. The Labour leader was best when he was talking about hope and aspiration. He got applause for calling the PM out of touch, and appeared to have more confidence compared with the first debate.

Overall, it was probably a score draw, however the different messages were clear. Starmer spoke more of hope, while Sunak focused on fear.

Two very different tales being spun in media room after the debate. Labour’s Pat McFadden and Jon Ashworth have just been talking to hacks. Their message is very clear, Rishi Sunak is promising more unfunded tax cuts, which Ashworth described as “Liz Truss 2.0”. While Home Secretary James Cleverly is talking about the economic stability that the Tories have brought, arguing that wages are rising and trade is increasing. The truth, as ever, is somewhere in the middle.

The Lib Dems have piped up about the debate. Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader, said: "Tonight the audience spoke for the nation when they asked: is this really the best we've got? Our country deserves so much better than what we watched this evening.

“Liberal Democrats are listening to you and fighting hard for the issues that matter to people. From the NHS to tackling the cost of living, we want a fair deal for our country.”

In the TV debate last night, Rishi Sunak repeatedly said people should not “surrender” to the Labour Party. This was a point that was picked up on in the spin room, as it appeared to imply that voting for Keir Starmer was almost unpatriotic.

Today, the Prime Minister has released a new poster which says “don’t surrender your family’s future to Labour”. It has an old man, a woman and a child holding their hands up as if they’re facing a firing squad. Sunak appears to be getting desperate.

The poster has received a lot of criticism online, with Ashley saying: “Fighting for this country? Didn’t you abandon those who fought for our country in France for an interview?” While Nicholas Lissack said: “You offer nothing but empty promises. We're not falling for it, Rishi.”

In other social media news, the Conservative Party’s press office Twitter account rebranded to “Tax Check” last night. Full Fact, a fact checking company, wrote to the Tories last night urging them to change it. They appear to have changed the name back, but have kept the image.

The Metropolitan Police is going to investigate some of the bets that form the gamble-gate scandal, the force has said. Scotland Yard explained that the majority of bets would still be probed by the Gambling Commission.

These are suspected of breaching Section 42 of the 2005 Gambling Act, which prohibits cheating. The maximum sentence for this offences is two years in prison.

The Met’s Specialist Crime Command will investigate a small number of cases, which could encompass wider offences such as misconduct in public office. This could include the seven police officers who have been accused.

A PC attached to the Royalty and Specialist Protection Command was arrested on 17 June on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The officer has been bailed and is subject to restricted duties.

A further six officers have been identified as having placed bets on the timing of the election, the force said. Andrew Rhodes, chief executive of the Gambling Commission, said: “We are focussed on an investigation into confidential information being used to gain an unfair advantage when betting on the date of the General Election.

“Our enforcement team has made rapid progress so far and will continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police to draw this case to a just conclusion.

“We understand the desire for information, however, to protect the integrity of the investigation and to ensure a fair and just outcome, we are unable to comment further at this time, including the name of any person who may be under suspicion.”

Det Supt Katherine Goodwin, who is leading the Met investigation, said: “We have agreed a joint approach with the Gambling Commission, who are the appropriate authority to investigate the majority of these allegations.

“There will, however, be a small number of cases where a broader criminal investigation by the police is required. We will aim to provide updates at key points as our investigation progresses.”

Two Conservative candidates - Craig Williams and Laura Saunders have been suspended by the party after being accused of placing bets on the election date. Williams was Sunak’s close aide and Saunders is married to the Conservatives’ campaign director Tony Lee. Lee and the Tory Party’s data chief Nick Mason have taken a leave of absence after similar accusations.

Labour has suspended a candidate, Kevin Craig, for betting against himself to lose the election. When asked by NationalWorld last night, Labour could not guarantee that no other candidates had placed bets relating to the election, however a party spokesperson said that no other cases had been raised by the Gambling Commission.

Rishi Sunak is on the campaign trail today, doing pottery in Derbyshire. While he was there, he was interviewed by Sam Coates for a pool clip (which is distributed to all media). Coates repeatedly asked him whether he had told his Personal Private Secretary Craig Williams about the election - who appeared to admit putting a bet on it three days before it was made public.

The Prime Minister refused to answer over and over again, instead saying: “You’ll recognise that while there are ongoing independent investigations… it’s just not right for me to say anything more about that.” When pressed by Coates that he will not compromise the investigation, he still refused to say. Does he protest too much? You decide for yourself.

Are you a general election nerd? Well I’ve got the perfect tool for you to play with. Peter Inglesby has put together a aggregator which shows how every pollster has predicted each constituency. It’s colour coded so is great for looking at the toss ups and marginal seats.

Check it out here.

Former Newcastle owner Sir John Hall has backed Nigel Farage and Reform UK. He said: “I supported both personally and financially the Conservative Party in the North East for decades but now, I see the only party, and the only politician to have the interests of Great Britain at its heart is Reform UK and Nigel Farage.” Sir John has also donated to the party, Reform UK said.

A Channel 4 News undercover investigation has filmed a Reform UK canvasser in Clacton calling Rishi Sunak a “f*****g p**i”. An undercover investigator went on the campaign trail with activist Andrew Parker, who boasted he knew Nigel Farage.

Speaking to the investigator, he said: “The immigration thing, use the word ‘illegal’. Emphasise ‘illegal’ especially if you open the door and there’s a bunch of p****.”

Talking about muslims, he said: “Sick mate. Sick m*****f****** ... it’s a cult. I tell you what, if you don’t know about Islam, it is the most disgusting cult out ... We’re f****** kicking all the Muslims out of the mosques and turning them into Wetherspoons.“

In the same conversation, he describes Sunak as a “f****** p***”. “I’ve always been a Tory voter but what annoys me is that f****** p*** we’ve got in,” he said. “What good is he? You tell me, you know. He’s just wet. F****** useless”.

When speaking to a voter, Parker said the army should shoot dead migrants. He said: “Get the young recruits there, yeah, with guns on the f****** beach, target practice. F****** just shoot them. That is what the Greeks done… You know about that. The Greeks shot a load… Ringfence Bradfordstan. Round the f****** up. Do that f****** lot as well. And you’ve got these bastards running our country. You must be f****** joking mate.”

In a separate instance, the undercover investigator was at a pub in Clacton with George Jones, a veteran of UKIP and the Brexit Party who is now running events for Farage. When a police car with a rainbow flag went past, Jones said: “You see that f****** degenerate flag on the front bonnet? What are the old bill doing promoting that crap? They should be out catching nonces not promoting the f******.” 

He later says “our police officers will be paramilitaries, they won’t be police” and that Reform UK should “bring back the noose”.