to update us cherry is on hand to update us on all the other candidates and sir keir starmer doubles down on his nuclear triple threat, it's been reported. angela rayner, though, has has an anti—nuclear position and that hasn't changed. plus, as we approach the 80th anniversary of d—day , the 80th anniversary of d—day, we'll be telling the untold story of those working behind the scenes at bletchley park. those who cracked the german enigma code. state of the nation starts now . starts now. i'll also be joined by my panel. former brexit party mep annunziata rees—mogg, now a conservative, i should add , and conservative, i should add, and the author and broadcaster amy nicole turner. that's all coming up after the latest headlines . up after the latest headlines. >> tom thank you. good evening

to you . well, as you've been to you. well, as you've been hearing, nigel farage has said he'll stand as the reform uk parliamentary candidate for clacton in essex at the next general election. speaking at a news conference in london this afternoon to confirm his change of heart, mr farage also announced he'll take over as leader of the party. >> so i am going to stand in this election. i'll be launching my candidacy at midday tomorrow in the essex seaside town of clacton, so midday tomorrow, clacton, so midday tomorrow, clacton at the end of the pier and in other news today, rishi sunak has denied he's stoking a culture war with his pledge to amend the equality act. >> the prime minister wants to make clear sex means biological sex rather than gender, and he says the current confusion over the legal definition can't be allowed to continue. the proposals would allow organisations to bar men who identify as women from

single—sex spaces, including hospital wards and sports events. labour has called the policy an election distraction. the liberal democrats say there's no need to unpick the act, and first minister, snp scottish national party leader john swinney says the conservative plans to change the act are a deliberate attempt to undermine the scottish parliament. kemi badenoch disagreed the problem we're solving is, for many organisations like rape crisis centres, prisons, for instance , centres, prisons, for instance, where people may identify as a woman even though they're biologically male and they don't know what to do. >> and we are clarifying what, pubuc >> and we are clarifying what, public authorities need to do. what perhaps individual private institutions rights are a lot of them are worried about being sued, even when they're doing the right thing . the right thing. >> business secretary kemi badenoch speaking there now, sir keir starmer says labour is totally committed to the security of the nation and to the uk's nuclear deterrent . he

the uk's nuclear deterrent. he described the trident nuclear programme as a fundamental and vital part of our defence. labouris vital part of our defence. labour is pledging to build four new nuclear submarines and increase defence spending to 2.5% of gdp. when he says economic conditions are right, the conservatives are saying they'll meet that target by 2030. and sir keir has dismissed concerns that his shadow foreign secretary voted against the uk having nuclear weapons, and that angela rayner told labour's cnd in 2020 that she wanted the party to work towards a world without nuclear weapons . the lib without nuclear weapons. the lib dems have vowed today to tackle water pollution as part of their election manifesto . they've election manifesto. they've announced plans for a new protected blue flag status for rivers with legally binding targets to prevent sewage dumping and special protection for swimmers and wildlife. it would include the expansion of the marine protected areas to cover at least 50% of the uk

territorial waters by 2030. that's the news for the latest stories, do sign up to gb news alerts. scan the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. common alerts. >> good evening and what a day it's been. nigel farage has announced his candidacy in the general election, so i have decided i've changed my mind . decided i've changed my mind. >> it's allowed you now. it's not always a sign of weakness. it could potentially be a sign of strength. so i am going to stand in this election. i'll be launching my candidacy at midday tomorrow in the essex seaside town of clacton . town of clacton. >> the new leader of reform uk delivered to the nation a scathing verdict of the past 14 years of conservative eaves in office. >> it doesn't work . nothing

office. >> it doesn't work. nothing in this country works anymore. the health service doesn't work. the roads don't work. none of our pubuc roads don't work. none of our public services are up to scratch. we are in decline. this will only be turned around with boldness. we will only recover our position through economic growth. that will only come when we get away from just half a dozen multinationals dominating the thought of our politicians and allowing real entrepreneurship to flourish . entrepreneurship to flourish. >> well, i spoke with the defence secretary, grant shapps , defence secretary, grant shapps, earlier today within the last houn earlier today within the last hour, and i began by asking him , hour, and i began by asking him, has this blown the race wide open since tree.7 thank you for joining us today, it's been a monumental day in the election campaign. is it fair to say that this is pretty much rishi sunak's worst nightmare coming to bear .7 to bear.7 >> i don't think the idea that there are other candidates in an election is that at all, other than to say, if people care

about some of the things that rishi sunak passionately cares about, including, for example, ensuring that we can control our own borders, and we spent many months, legislating to be able to do exactly that against tooth and nail resistance from keir starmer and the labour party, voting against us 136 times, then the worst thing possible for somebody to do, if they care about those sort of things is to revoke a vote for reform, because it would lead to starmer , absolutely undoing all of that. he's no intention of, tackling an illegal migration, through legal through changing the law at all, so that would be the law at all, so that would be the worst thing possible if you care about those things , i care about those things, i suppose many people will think that keir starmer might not be the toughest on migration matters, but they might find it hard to believe a conservative party that hasn't been able to stop the boats. they were down by a third last year, of course,

but this year they're back up again by a third. and of course , again by a third. and of course, we've seen record high legal migration, too. why should people believe you.7 >> people believe you? >> well, we know for a fact that keir starmer says he doesn't even want to use a scheme like the rwanda scheme. in fact, he'd scrap it even if it was working. and the point here is that we've painstakingly legislated for always with the objection of labour voting against us 136 times, we put a scheme in place which is ready to go. so we've got a scheme ready to operate, and the danger is now . and the danger is now. >> yet your prime minister called an election before that scheme could get going. doesn't that perhaps betray his lack of confidence in his own scheme? >> well, no, i think i mean, look, the prime minister be able to give the detail, but you call it an election for a whole bunch of reasons, not just on a single policy, obviously, and to give people the choice. and i think the thing that i do know that the thing that i do know that the prime minister felt very strongly, and this does seem to

me to be self—evidently true , is me to be self—evidently true, is you've got starmer standing on the sidelines , sniping the sidelines, sniping constantly, never telling you what labour would do, even today, for example, has gone out and said , don't worry, you can and said, don't worry, you can trust us on defence. well that's odd tonight his deputy, his shadow deputy prime minister angela rayner, has come out and said she hasn't changed her mind on defence at all. in other words, she's still basically against trident , against our against trident, against our nuclear deterrent. so, you know, i do not know. i simply don't know what keir starmer really believes in. it isn't stopping the boats. it isn't being soledar has said that she's in favour of long term disarmament, but is backing the policy of renewing trident in the short term. to be fair, well hold on, you can't just walk away from the fact that 12 or 13 members of the shadow frontbench . so of the shadow frontbench. so that's keir starmer's top team voted against, including angela raynen voted against, including angela rayner, but also david lammy. that actually also, by the way,

all three of the most recent shadow foreign secretaries. so all the labour shadows have all voted against brighton. now we're supposed to believe that they've had this, inkling version. suddenly they highly believe in our nuclear defence and it just won't wash because we know most of them were members of cnd , many of them members of cnd, many of them members of cnd, many of them members of cnd, many of them members of cnd. we know that they've campaigned against our nuclear deterrent. i don't feel it's safe in their hands as a result , many voters might feel result, many voters might feel that the nuclear deterrent isn't safe in the hands of many opposition mps, but they might not also believe the conservative party. >> clearly, there is a rift on the right of politics. it's been a growing gap that's definitely deepened today with nigel farage's candidature. i want to ask you a question that jacob rees—mogg, the regular host of this programme, posed two weeks

ago. >> let's listen to this help of nigel farage in a conservative government as a conservative minister, with boris johnson probably returning as foreign secretary and welcoming the likes of ben habib and richard tice into our party as well as pursuing genuinely conservative policies, winning the next election suddenly becomes within reach. >> grant shapps was the prime minister wrong to not take jacob rees—mogg's advice, to not seek a deal with reform uk? >> oh look, it's very simple actually. >> the conservative party, i've been chairman of it in the past, so i know the rules, which is anyone can be a member, but you cannot be a member party whilst you belong to a different political party whilst you stand candidates in elections to compete. so i mean, it's a very, very simple principle. i was asked this question by the way, numerous times ten years ago when i was party chairman and i was always being asked, why don't we just somehow, you know,

allow people who were not, currently members of the party and are a member of a different party into the party. and the answer is, of course, you can't. you can't do that in a political party. you have to have boundaries, and now people are free to join, but they can't join whilst they belong to a different party at the same time i >> -- >> now, i me >> now, i want to ask you about some of the polls that have been released in the last few days. they show a historic defeat for the conservative party. some indeed show you losing your seat and there was a journalist on another channel who, was was taking a call from you live on television in a quite extraordinary way. how did you respond , firstly to the idea of respond, firstly to the idea of you losing your seat, but secondly to that journalist, you put the phone down on him . put the phone down on him. >> and so, first of all, on my seat, look, every time i'm up for election, i accept that, you know, i fight for every single vote. and interestingly, there was a vote just last month in

welwyn hatfield, which my seat , welwyn hatfield, which my seat, where if that had been a general election, most likely i would have won the seat. so actually, rather than looking at opinion polls , i'm rather more minded to polls, i'm rather more minded to look at actual votes cast in the ballot box, which is to say, i think based on that would have had me returned. and then secondly, i wasn't aware that, that, you know, calling , the sky that, you know, calling, the sky had turned into which was that other broadcaster, a sort of version of michael mcintyre's big show, where you call in and you're suddenly live on air. i'm not quite sure what ofcom would have to say about that. i actually happened to be on that programme later. anyway, so i look forward to catching up with them , but, i didn't think that them, but, i didn't think that was, entirely appropriate way to handle a phone call. i have to ask, will you be taking his calls in the future, only if he calls in the future, only if he calls whilst i'm on gb news. >> and i can put him straight on air with you . air with you. >> grant shapps, defence secretary, thank you very much for joining us. thank you. a

forjoining us. thank you. a good sport is the defence secretary, but with me now is my boss. gb news. political editor christopher hope and the former labour adviser , scarlett labour adviser, scarlett mccgwire, scarlett has the race fundamentally changed today? >> no, i don't think it has , actually. >> i mean, i think it'll it'll get more fun. nigel will say outrageous things that aren't necessarily true, i know that here @gbnews. you do fact checking as well. and so he's going to be caught out quite a lot. but actually, you know, i'd be surprised if he won his seat. really? yeah. well. well why? i mean, there's a there's a perfectly good tory. i mean , perfectly good tory. i mean, there's the thing about reform is they're not going to win very many. i mean, if they win any seats, it's going to be remarkable. they're going to get quite a lot. but i mean you know them the lib dems, the greens, all of them are going to are going to be quite high. but with very few seats. and actually the problem is, is what people have

to know is it's a two horse race. and if you put if you if you don't vote, if you don't vote tory, then if you vote reform, you're letting labour in. i mean, it's just that easy, christopher, do you i mean, there is that strong squeezing argument under a first past the post system. >> i mean, giles watling is the current tory mp there. you do hit on a point which is often raised with nigel farage's data. he has no idea where any voters live now. i've been following him through , goodness knows, him through, goodness knows, elections going back to 2010, by elections going back to 2010, by elections with with his candidates. and you'd knock on doors and he wouldn't know where the voters live. now, what the legacy parties know about is where they previous voters have lived. they they know they can knock up mrs. miggins. she'll vote and they always vote. and that's like your guaranteed. right. next, let's work out where the where the undecideds are. but he doesn't know where they are and we are. he came across i asked him i think in the press conference today, you don't know where they are, nigel. he thinks his force of personality. i'm a celebrity. get me out of here. he's big on

tiktok, social media. that'll be enough to get him over the line. but i wonder if our system means he won't get there. as you suggest, scarlett. >> earlier this year, however, there was a constituency level poll. these are incredibly rare , poll. these are incredibly rare, but someone did fund a constituency level poll. arron banksin constituency level poll. arron banks in ukip itself. yes, and he he did it. >> and the he was trying to say to nigel, look, it's there on a plate and the point. >> but the interesting point there was they pulled two questions. yes. the first questions. yes. the first question was just the generic tory labour reform. reform came third. then they pulled the question of nigel as a candidate and he wins and he wins by 12 points. >> and it was a big win. that was that was all part of the effort. behind the scenes. arron banks was trying to get farage to stand back again and in parliament, i suppose, i think i mean, i think what's interesting is, is that the other parties, they they have a lot of different ways of, of winning is, is they use the media, they use social media. >> and then they have they have the people out there knocking, knocking, knocking. and what nigel farage is, is, is aiming to do is to do it through

basically through the media. and actually, i mean , well, but actually, i mean, well, but people like you are going to send him out . clacton suddenly send him out. clacton suddenly is in the headlines as. so maybe the people go because i think i mean one of the reasons reform does well in by elections of course, is it's all about the media, right? >> it's an air war rather than a ground war. >> precisely. >> precisely. >> and you need you never win those. there is there is entirely the prospect that nigel farage will be a one man band alone on the backbenches after this general election, perhaps with millions of votes behind his party, but with just him on the green benches. >> yeah . and then what will he >> yeah. and then what will he do? he'll get bored. no no, he'll get a pulpit. >> he'll do a george galloway, he'll start, he'll he'll do. he'll be storming out of budgets. he'll be, he'll have a little band of people around him. you wait. i mean, he can make it work. the tory party is saying. by the way, the hanley doing this hands keir starmer a blank check to rejoin the eu, imposed a retirement tax on pensions and hike taxes for hard

working brits. they see it as a problem. don't don't don't, don't, don't give starmer the bigger majority. >> i mean i think i think as always, the tories slightly hype up the problems. i mean, i think that if labour wins that we'll have a much better country. but go on, tom. well, i was just going to ask you, when did keir starmer find this magic lamp with the genie that he's been exploiting since around september 2021? >> he couldn't have picked a better set of circumstances . better set of circumstances. his. the snp is imploding. the tories are having a civil war now. nigel farage enters the fray. he just gets wish after wish after wish. >> i know, i mean i mean actually that's what i've been talking to a lot of labour people about is, is , is it's people about is, is, is it's amazing. and you sort of you sort of knew it even at the when he first came in and, and it wasn't great. and you know, it wasn't great. and you know, it was the pandemic and everything was the pandemic and everything was hartlepool happened. >> i mean it really wasn't it was awful. >> hartlepool was, was a yeah it was the lowest point. >> it was losing the seat to even jeremy corbyn kept. >> yeah. yeah. they, they, you know they chose the wrong candidate. they did. they did

everything wrong. and then you know he got rid of one team. he brought in another team. but actually then boris started imploding and what's so interesting is these people like jacob rees—mogg say, you know, bnng jacob rees—mogg say, you know, bring boris, boris back as foreign secretary. yeah. just talk to some foreign countries about that. talk about, you know, nasreen . what's it? know, nasreen. what's it? ratcliffe, who was in jail in iran and stayed there because of him. but actually, i mean , there him. but actually, i mean, there is probably an argument, though, that the amount of media attention that it got as a result of his comments probably freed her earlier than otherwise. no no no no no no no. his comments meant that that basically he said that she was guilty, right? oh no. basically he said that she was guilty, right ? oh no. what? guilty, right? oh no. what? >> he misspoke at a select committee, but i'm not sure we can put the actions of the iranian regime on. >> she certainly feels she certainly is on holiday. >> he's not around. he's literally not even taking part. >> that's another can of worms. and we do have to move on agreeing with you? >> yes. no agreeing with you that that boris imploded. then we got liz truss, which you know. >> yeah, well, i'm afraid we have run out of time on this

conversation. but scarlett and chris really appreciate your time. thank you very much. i should say that there are other candidates standing in clacton. giovanni nepal is labour's candidate. giles watling is the conservative. matthew bensalem is the liberal democrat. nigel farage is standing for reform uk. natasha osborne is the green party candidate. now. after the break, we'll be continuing our coverage of latest announcement from uk plus what it means for the other

welcome back. it's 823. my name is tom harwood, and this is state of the nation. now, joining me now to continue our coverage of today's bombshell announcement from nigel farage is the liberal democrat, former conservative minister steve dorril. stephen, first of all, why are the lib dems not seemingly making a huge splash in this general election ? in this general election? campaign reform uk is polling

higher than the liberal democrats. >> well, in the literal sense, i think ed davey has made a bigger splash of water, than, than nigel farage. i think the key thing that we the key conclusion i draw from today's announcement , though, is that it's important. obviously, if you're an elector in clacton, that you have a candidate that you recognise from reform , what's recognise from reform, what's important to the rest of us is that nigel farage made it crystal clear in his announcement today that he was standing in this election, and was going to be around throughout the period of the next parliament as leader of reform. now, i think he stands a good chance of winning in clacton, in which case he'd be a member of parliament, representing millions of people likely to support reform in this election. and he will, perversely, although i disagree with nigel on virtually everything else, i suspect be joining the liberal democrats in

making the point that our electoral system that gives them one seat for millions of votes doesn't allow the next parliament to reflect the views of the electorate. this election is so far been a stale debate between two stale parties, with other parties unable to get their voice heard in the national debate that should be taking place. >> that is a hugely interesting point, because i suppose there is a world in which the conservatives are reduced to a disproportionate small number of seats proportionate to their vote share, thanks to the particulars of the voting system, can you envisage a world where nigel farage, a long standing proponent of voting reform, the liberal democrats, are long standing proponent of electoral reform and perhaps even a conservative party back some form of electoral reform. >> well, there's an interesting swallow in the in the first swallow in the in the first swallow of the summer on this

subject, because the last time the conservative party showed any serious interest in electoral reform was in the 19705. electoral reform was in the 1970s. and i met somebody quite recently, the last fortnight who was a representative of the conservative group for electoral reform that was founded in the 19705, reform that was founded in the 1970s, which was the last time the conservative party felt itself to be under threat . the itself to be under threat. the kind of threat that i think it's likely to feel itself under in the next parliament. >> but stephen, isn't that the interesting point? the only parties that bang on about bonng parties that bang on about boring issues like changing the voting system, are the losers . voting system, are the losers. >> no, i think i'll put it the other way round. to voters, what voters care about is seeing their views represented in political argument, and that's why they fall out of love with the labour party and the tory party, because they don't actually see in either the labour leader or the tory leader, somebody who expresses views that they feel they can

share. they do see that in nigel farage. i disagree profoundly with what farage says, but he ought to have an electoral system that allows his support to be expressed in the next house of commons. well stephen dorrell, that will be certainly an interesting debate after this election. >> we'll have to have you back and talk through the results of course, and how proportional they are. i think it was i think i'm right in saying 2015 were the least proportional in the history of general elections in this country. but, stephen dorrell, now a liberal democrat, conservative, former conservative, former conservative minister, really appreciate your time . thank you. appreciate your time. thank you. i'm joined now by my panel, former brexit party mep turned conservative annunziata rees—mogg, and the author and broadcaster amy nicole turner, well , i was broadcaster amy nicole turner, well, i was watching your reaction during that interview almost winced at the prospect of electoral reform. >> i think that there are very differing opinions on this, and my personal view is that i want the person i for to vote be answerable to their constituents, to the people who

choose to put them there. i've been elected on a list system proportional system myself, and i still profoundly disagree with it , because you do not have the it, because you do not have the direct answerability to the people whose votes you have won. and to answer the promises you have given them. and i think that directness gives our system a huge power and would be massively undermined . massively undermined. >> and yet we're talking about this, amy, in the context of the labour party winning perhaps 400 plus seats, a majority that they have not seen before in the history of the labour party. >> well, that is the most optimistic polling. >> but what is certainly for sure is that they're going to give, they're going to give rishi sunak an absolute thumping, aren't they. >> and but this is interesting. that piece you just did, because for the first time, i think that nigel farage, the greens and carol vorderman all have something in common because they're all backing proportional representation . and i think it's representation. and i think it's interesting because when you actually look at the numbers , it actually look at the numbers, it is never the case that the majority of the country voted for hardly any of our

governments in recent history. but of course, a plurality of people in each seat must and in some ways that is a sort of counter extremist system , counter extremist system, because in european legislatures you get people with very extreme views elected on a small percentage of the vote. >> i suppose the advantage of first past the post is that people have to win in each local area, meaning that people with fringe views are less palatable. >> equally, we already struggle to get things done, to get laws passed, and i do feel that if we have even more coalitions that could get even more tricky and people don't end up getting governments they don't vote for, but nichi hodgson want to get back to the bigger issues here, because clearly, one of the reasons nigel farage has decided to stand today is that there is a big, answer in every poll that is done that people don't like rishi sunak, but they're also not so keen on keir starmer. >> the labour campaign has not got the huge support behind it that i got the huge support behind it thati can got the huge support behind it that i can remember from 1997. you two are both probably far too young . i was alive, i was

too young. i was alive, i was voting, for john major, unusually, but there was a huge upswell of support for tony blair, and i'm not feeling that in this election. >> i don't know if that's completely true, though, because labour won by what, 12 points? now it's looking that labour are going to win by up to 20. so it's going to actually put that 90. >> i agree that the polls are looking like that, but there's just not that sentiment on the streets. there's not when you're knocking on doors. but, the big worry is that people just won't turn out and vote, that we will have a huge number of the undecideds who decide none of the above. and i think that's where the votes are there to be won. and it's really important to actually appeal to those people and bring them into the democratic process. yeah. >> is keir starmer simply winning by default? >> i think that the ladies in the labour party are gaining popularity at quite a speed. they're such a swell of support at the moment for angela rayner. you know, the conservative party, they tried to put out that social media post regarding angela and diane abbott and all

it did was gain her more traction. she looked phenomenal in that, so—called like shady post. similarly, rachel reeves is incredibly popular at the moment. bridget phillipson, those labour ladies are taking all the credit at the moment. >> interesting how keir starmer taking a bit of a back seat there. well, we'll be discussing, angela rayner and her views on the nuclear deterrent in just a moment. but, thank you for now to my panel and of course, after the break, we'll be speaking to gb news reporter adam cherry live in clacton. after nigel farage made his announcement this afternoon. plus, you'll want to stick around for a look ahead to d—day, our a98 year a 98 year old second world war

good evening. welcome back. it's 834. this is state of the nation. now, before we move on, we wanted to get a sense of the febrile atmosphere in clacton.

following nigel farage's election announcement. gb news reporter adam cherry joins me now. adam, what's the mood ? now. adam, what's the mood? >> evening, tom. yeah, i'm standing here in clacton in front of clacton pier, where nigel farage will officially launch his campaign tomorrow . launch his campaign tomorrow. and i've been speaking to voters all afternoon since the announcement . and the impression announcement. and the impression i get is it's really a plague on all your houses. so giles watling is the conservative candidate here in in this in this seat for 2024. he won this seat by an absolute landslide in 2019, 70% of the vote. so he has a huge majority to defend here. and naturally ever since nigel announced this morning a nigel farage announced this morning he's already gone on with launch. his opening salvo saying while i'm happy for nigel to show nigel farage the local area, i quote, i will not allow him to sacrifice the constituency at the altar of his ego or his his vanity. i

believe. so already you get a sense that this is a serious contest for him. and if you take a look back at the vote share in previous elections , you can get previous elections, you can get a feeling for why that is. and taylor, the tape is this. so as i say 2019 massive conservative majority 2017 giles watling also won. but if you look even further back, you get a deeper understanding of what's happening here. so in 2016, this constituency voted overwhelmingly for leave. it voted 70% to leave. and in 2015 and in 2014, when there was a by—election, douglas carswell won again with very comfortable margins for ukip, not for conservatives, for ukip, he was the only conservative or the only ukip candidate, to ever be elected to parliament. so as i spoke to people today, they said you know what? the promises of the 2019 election and the brexit referendum simply haven't been delivered. so there's a real a real sense of anger and, as you say, a febrile mood, giles watling is, of course, not the

only candidate standing. there's also, labour's candidate now he is a local. he's a trade unionist. and he has he launched in just over a month ago and they would have hoped to chip away at the, the conservative majority here wouldn't necessarily be their natural terrain, but this result or this announcement today certainly throws a spanner in the works. the liberal democrats and the greens have also announced their candidates. the final selection here will be announced on friday, and we'll show the graphic of all the candidates names on the screen. and as i say , a huge mood of say, a huge mood of disillusionment here. >> well, adam cherry, thank you very much for joining >> well, adam cherry, thank you very much forjoining us live from clacton . now, today, the from clacton. now, today, the labour party has been talking about defence, specifically our continuous at sea nuclear deterrent , trident. keir starmer deterrent, trident. keir starmer is very keen to distance himself from his predecessor's cnd stance on nuclear weaponry , so

stance on nuclear weaponry, so much so that he's invented an entirely new triple lock . but entirely new triple lock. but does this mean that labour has had a damascene conversion on the issue? if that's the case, how strange for the deputy leader, angela rayner, to say today she hasn't changed her mind since voting to get rid of our nuclear deterrent. she said i haven't changed my mind. what i haven't changed my mind. what i feel is really important for the long term is that globally we should look at looking disarmament of nuclear weapons, but that has to be done in combination with other countries. so so still a long term goal of nuclear disarmament . are angela and keir singing from the same hymn sheet, and could this be a problem for the labour party? as the campaign, orindeed labour party? as the campaign, or indeed as their government might progress? well with me to discuss this is the former brexit party turned conservative mep annunziata rees—mogg and the author and broadcaster amy nicole turner. amy angela author and broadcaster amy nicole turner . amy angela rayner nicole turner. amy angela rayner is being a bit bold in this election campaign, first with diane abbott, second with nuclear deterrence. she's a showing keir up .

showing keir up. >> not at all. have you read that quote in full, she makes it clear whilst the threat exists, we are fully committed to our trident programme. but in the future the aim would be international, multilateral designer that with her saying nothing has changed, who wouldn't want to aim for multilateral disarmament in a in in a utopian world? of course we all would. but she's saying for now it's very clear that labour have a complete commitment to defence, that a nuclear deterrence that is quite clearly a change, because in 2016, along with roughly 40% of labour mps, she voted against renewing trident. be fair, she would face disciplinary action had she not. >> there wasn't a whip. she got to choose because it was not. it was jeremy corbyn realised he couldn't whip his mps to vote against trident, so he left it as a free vote. she chose to vote against renewing trident. have you must have changed or we're not being told the truth?

the truth is that your intro wasn't really the truth because you're trying to be fair. >> to be fair, a fair minded voter might think it's completely legitimate to have decided one thing in 2016 and changed your mind and think that actually, we do need a nuclear deterrent. that's a completely legitimate point of view. it's also a legitimate a legitimate point of view to be a disarmament person and think that we shouldn't have one. what you can't do is say , yes, you can't do is say, yes, i voted to scrap it and i haven't changed my mind and now i want to keep it. >> she voted to scrap it because the leader of the party was jeremy corbyn, who was committed to it. so she was showing loyalty to the party at the time with no whip to do so. >> but now she says she hasn't changed her mind, she's saying she hasn't changed her mind in the future of disarmament, the future, everyone would surely agree with that. but currently, while the threat exists, while we are vulnerable, they have a triple lock on nuclear deterrence. they couldn't be clearer. the real risk to our security has been the conservative party. even ben wallace admitted that the army has not been this small since the napoleonic era. if anyone

has done a damage to our defence, it's the tories we haven't discussed one of the other front benches in the labour party who voted against trident in 2016, which is david lammy. >> and if you don't have influence as the foreign secretary, then you're not a very good foreign secretary. should labour win the election? of course, there are rumours about his future, but i think those questions really deserve to be asked. and how much control does keir starmer actually have over this party that is, in fact still made up of an awful lot of hard core socialist supporters from the jeremy corbyn days that after only five years ago. >> i mean, that's definitely not true currently with the state that keir starmer is leaving the party that keir starmer is leaving the party by that keir starmer is leaving the party by literally removing anyone slightly to the left. >> starmer is trying, but how much is he succeeding and how many are there by default ? many are there by default? >> they have made their position on this completely clear, and i think this is another attempt to scrape around for something to have against angela rayner, because really, if she's going

to be an amazing deputy prime minister, in your view, she's probably going to be as popular as she could have changed her mind, though. well, but she hasn't changed her mind. >> she's changed her position. so unclear on groups . so unclear on groups. >> what do you mean? >> what do you mean? >> she voted to scrap the nuclear deterrent with the party leader. she could say that. she's changed her mind. >> you know how these votes work. you know that voting records don't necessarily. a majority of labour mps did not vote with jeremy corbyn because she was with jeremy corbyn. same as david lammy. if you can get two mps who voted with the leader at the time, that's not a scoop. now they have a commitment to nuclear deterrence. it's very clear they're the party of defence. far more than the conservatives. out of 230 labour mps voted to scrap trident, they were in the minority in their own party, she clearly believed it then. >> she's clearly changed her mind. is absolutely unrecognisable and in fact would still disarm. >> i think there is a question to ask. i'm talking about the about party and their commitment. there's a question to ask about influence because of course we did see last week, an attempt to remove diane

abbott as a candidate. and it wasn't until angela rayner stepped in that suddenly that was rowed back. will angela rayner be an effective check on the uncontrolled power of, keir starmer? >> well, you wouldn't welcome that. >> well, you wouldn't welcome that . isn't it good? that. isn't it good? >> i'm not making a value judgement. >> i think it's i think it's a positive thing to have a strong deputy pm. surely to keep him in check. >> well, on that note, i think before we move on to any more discussion about nuclear proliferation , i want to, proliferation, i want to, declare an end to the proliferation of the phrase triple lock. it's now referring to nuclear submarines and pensions. i don't know what on earth it'll be used for. >> i really get that. >> i really get that. >> but, see what. but, annunciator. and amy nicole turner, thank you very much for joining us. now, after the break, we'll be hearing from one of few living bletchley code breakers who was on the

welcome back. it's 8:46. my name

is tom harwood, and this is state of the nation. now, as we approach the 80th anniversary of d—day , the day that changed the d—day, the day that changed the course of the second world war, we pay respect to those who gave their lives in battle. but few knew about those who fought the axis powers behind the steely gates of bletchley park . gates of bletchley park. >> operation overlord , the >> operation overlord, the unprecedented allied campaign to liberate western europe and defeat the nazis, has long been immortalised in films, books and documentaries by august 1944, over 2 million soldiers had landed in northern france to fight the germans. their story is well known, much less well known is the crucial role. hundreds of thousands of women from all walks of life played in d—day and the vast military mission that followed. they occupied numerous vital roles, including at bletchley park, where the majority of recruits were female, working around the clock to deliver ultra

intelligence on enemy movements intelligence on enemy movements in france for the allies . among in france for the allies. among their number was ruth, born . their number was ruth, born. nowadays she's 98, but then she was a young rennes, fighting the same war as the men on the beaches , but from a north london beaches, but from a north london outstation as part of bletchley's codebreaking nexus, ruth operated one of alan turing's bombe machines that helped decrypt enigma encoded communications . you were just a communications. you were just a teenager when you were recruited into the wren. yes, i just done my a levels. what they called matric and that would have enabled me to go to london. >> so i decided that i'd like to join up . we were initially told join up. we were initially told the work we were doing was specialised , and it was to be

specialised, and it was to be quite hard work. there was no promotion and, we were never to tell anybody what we had seen or what we had done or what we had heard. >> i think we often think of even the code breaking story. even the bletchley park story is often told through the great inventors like alan turing. but actually, by the time you arrive live in 1944, it's effectively a code breaking factory, isn't it? >> it was a factory. it's a really highly organised from a to b to c to this, that hut and into the bombe room back and then decrypts it. and then it had to be paraphrased and somebody picking it up wouldn't know that it was the original message . message. >> that's a really important point. so you are the coalface

of the decryption with the bombe machine. but once this ultra rich material is being harvested, you then have to translate it differently from the original german. you have to rewrite it. yeah. so the germans don't know that you've been reading their hand. >> yeah, like the good old fashioned rac that we used to do at school. >> could you spend what it was like to first meet a bomb? and what those bombs did? >> well, we met the bomb . it was >> well, we met the bomb. it was a little bit surprising. it was a little bit surprising. it was a very tall. i think it was seven feet high, six foot wide, about two foot deep. and it made about two foot deep. and it made a chugging noise . all these a chugging noise. all these wheels were going round and round. it's the noise that stayed in your ears when you first became a bomb operator, and you went to bed, closed your

eyes and the vroom vroom vroom . eyes and the vroom vroom vroom. went round and round in your head until you fell asleep properly asleep , you could hear properly asleep, you could hear it. >> what about the work itself? do you have any idea of the bigger picture of what you're doing? >> absolutely not. it was another job where women went and operated the machinery while the men went to war. >> every man who can fight is needed for fighting and it is up to the women of britain to take over the non—combat duties. >> for many, many years. you weren't aware of the impact of what you were doing. and i know really interesting. >> it was only after 30 years when the security blanket was lifted and the first book came out . there was nothing about out. there was nothing about bombs, as far as i remember in

it. but then i read the importance of the enigma secret, which was , quite surprising, which was, quite surprising, really. i was surprised was a wonderful anecdote. >> didn't you turn round and say to your husband something at the time, yes, yes. >> he was always involved in secret work . well, not always. secret work. well, not always. most of the time it was in the ministry of defence and a lot of the work he said, well, i can't tell you because it's secret and so i thought, well, it's my turn now. and i did some secret work. so i said, this is what i did in the war. and he said, oh, that's very interesting, dear. what's fatigue? and, it was more or less a non—event. i think it was a little surprised . a little surprised. >> he takes a long time, not just for women's war effort to be recognised, but more

specifically the secret work that women did . and i wonder, i that women did. and i wonder, i know you've got a collection. i've bullied you into getting those medals out of your bottom drawer because you're far too modest to show them off. naturally ruth didn't get a bletchley park medal until the late 1990s, and then the piece de resistance her legion d'honneur in 2019, aged 94. >> now i know how important the work was. yes nice to have a medal. the family can always pawn them later on, can't they ? pawn them later on, can't they? emily hand . i pawn them later on, can't they? emily hand. i never pawn them later on, can't they? emily hand . i never would have emily hand. i never would have thought , you know, when i went thought, you know, when i went to gravelly hill high school in birmingham at the age of five and i had my school report on. and there are a few things that said very good and other things you could do better . and, my you could do better. and, my life would have been completely

different if it hadn't been for not just doing something in the war didn't make my life different . but when it all came different. but when it all came out, what we the importance of what we'd done, i was very privileged to have been chosen. no and very privileged , i think no and very privileged, i think we're lucky to have you . thank we're lucky to have you. thank you. ruth, thank you for sharing i >> -- >> what a wonderful way to end tonight's state of the nation. i'll be back here at the same time tomorrow . time tomorrow. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on .

solar, sponsors of weather on. gb news. >> hello again. very good evening to you. here's your latest gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. whilst it is going to stay dry for many of us, as we go through the rest of today, we can expect some wet weather pushing its way in as we go into tomorrow. that's an association with a feature currently out in the atlantic, and it's heading its way towards the uk. for the time being though, we are going to have a lot of dry weather as we go through the rest of this evening and overnight. some places will see some clear skies developing, but many areas sticking with largely cloudy skies and then rain pushing its way in initially across parts of northern ireland but reaching far western parts of scotland, england and wales later on. because of the largely cloudy skies. temperatures not dropping a huge amount, but some places under the clear skies could just about drop into single figures . about drop into single figures. if we take a closer look at what will be happening first thing tomorrow morning, and it's a generally fine picture across many southern southeastern parts. yes, a bit of cloud across east anglia , but on the across east anglia, but on the whole a dry story here. different picture further north and west though. rain across

northern ireland, northwest england parts of wales and also a large chunk of scotland as well. waking up to a pretty wet start as that wet weather pushes its way in eastern scotland may be clinging on to some fine weather for a little bit longer, but across far northern parts of scotland here there will be some hefty showers around and some of these could turn pretty heavy, possibly even thundery. as we go through the day, the rain is gradually going to make its way south eastwards, but southeastern parts of the country likely to stay pretty dry by the time the system arrives here, it will have broken up so much that i'm only expecting 1 or 2 spots of rain, if anything. and in the southeast , temperatures still on southeast, temperatures still on the warm side. highs of around 2223 celsius, but something markedly fresher towards the northwest behind the front. as we look into wednesday , it is we look into wednesday, it is going to be a showery day, particularly towards the north and west. that's where the showers are coming from. some of them could be heavy, possibly even thundery, maybe even a little bit of snow over the highest ground of scotland. but further south it's looking dry and brighter. a similar picture on thursday, but i think by friday the showers are going to

be a bit more widespread by by looks like things are heating up boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> it's 11:00 here with gb news news. in a moment. headliners. but first, let's take you through the latest news headunes through the latest news headlines and the top story tonight, nigel farage has said he will stand as the reform uk party candidate for clacton in essex in the general election . essex in the general election. speaking at a news conference this afternoon in london to confirm his change of heart, mr farage also announced he'll take over as leader of the party. >> so i am going to stand in this election. i'll be launching my candidacy at midday tomorrow in the essex seaside town of clacton. so midday tomorrow , clacton. so midday tomorrow, clacton. so midday tomorrow, clacton at the end of the pier and we'll rishi sunak for the

conservatives has denied that he's stoking a culture war today with his pledge to amend the equality act. >> the prime minister wants to make clear sex means biological sex, rather than gender, and says the current confusion over the legal definition can't be allowed to continue. the proposals would allow organisations to ban men who identify as women from single—sex spaces, including hospital wards and sports events. labour has called the policy an election distraction . policy an election distraction. ian.the policy an election distraction. ian. the lib dems say there's no need to unpick the equality act, and first minister and snp leader in scotland, john swinney says the conservatives plans to change the equalities act are a deliberate attempt to undermine in the scottish parliament. meanwhile, sir keir starmer says labouris meanwhile, sir keir starmer says labour is totally committed to the security of the nation and to the uk's nuclear deterrent. he described the trident programme as a fundamental and vital part of our national defence. labour is pledging to

build four new nuclear submarines and