Steerpike

Another day, another campaign disaster. Now it's the turn of the Green party's co-leader Adrian Ramsay, who was this lunchtime interviewed by Andrew Neil for Times Radio. Ramsay's first mistake was to turn up late to the interview — while his next was to, er, not fully answer his interviewer's questions. Introducing the Greens as an 'anti-growth or no growth party', Neil first asked Ramsay whether he was in that case 'pretty pleased with this government', given the UK has had almost no economic growth since Covid.

Back to Scotland, where the SNP's Dear Leader is back in the news — literally, this time. It transpires that Nicola Sturgeon will be one of ITV's election night pundits during the overnight vote count. The former first minister will appear alongside Ed Balls and George Osborne to provide expert analysis while the election results come out, with Sturgeon billed by the broadcaster as a 'political insider'. You can say that again... But where Sturgeon goes, drama is never too far behind. Predictably the former FM's critics have been quick to lambast the ex-SNP leader, with charges of hypocrisy levelled at Sturgeon for accepting a gig her party once blasted Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson for.

Oh dear. The first clips of Rishi Sunak’s now infamous ITV interview have started to surface ahead of the full programme, to be broadcast on the channel at 7pm this evening. And if the Prime Minister thought his camera charm offensive might help soften hard feelings about his early departure from D-day commemorations last week, he was sorely mistaken. The PM’s critics have been quick to blast Sunak for telling ITV that the 80th anniversary events for D-day were ‘incredible’ but they ‘just ran over’. And it’s a question from seasoned interviewer Paul Brand about Sunak’s relatability that has really got viewers’ goat.  ‘When you are wealthier than the King, what do you do to make sure you’re still in touch with the kind of struggles ordinary viewers face?

Oh dear. While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak struggles to fend off criticism about leaving Thursday's D-day commemorations early, another party leader is causing controversy elsewhere. A video of George Galloway of the Workers Party of Britain is doing the rounds in London WhatsApp groups. In a heated campaign speech, Galloway blasted Sir Keir Starmer's Labour party in an angry tirade: Anybody who considers themselves to be a religious believer, who intends to vote for Keir Starmer, the genocide agent, should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves, should forget about the Eid, should forget about fasting, should forget about praying. You think God is listening to someone who's praying one day and voting for Keir Starmer the day before? What kind of a believer would that be? Good heavens.

With only four weeks to go until the general election, party campaigns are rapidly ramping up. Politicians and staffers are desperately searching for more creative (and crazy) ways of getting voters' attention — and north of the border the Nats have mobilised the musical wing of their party. Taylor Swift is in town for the start of the UK leg of her Eras tour and the SNP’s Swift-mania is in overdrive.

Oh dear. The story of the day may well become the story of the election campaign as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak struggles to explain why he missed part of Thursday's D-day commemorations in Normandy to film a pre-recorded ITV interview. On Friday morning, Suank apologised on Twitter for snubbing aspects of the 80th anniversary events — which were attended by a number of international leaders including France's Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Olaf Scholz and President Biden — and at lunchtime the PM eventually faced the cameras. A solemn Sunak told journalists: I've participated in a number of events, in Portsmouth and France, to honour those who risked their lives to defend our freedom and our values 80 years ago.