top story from to you. well, the top story from the gb newsroom tonight is that four men have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass at the prime minister's constituency home in yorkshire, police said officers were with the four men within one minute of them entering the grounds. the men, who are aged between 20 and 52, remain in police custody tonight for questioning enquiries. we understand ongoing. meanwhile, in the main news today, suspended labour candidate kevin craig says he deeply regrets betting against himself and taking a punt on the tories, winning in his own constituency. he says he'll fully comply with any investigation and that comes after the former conservative candidates craig williams and laura saunders, also face investigations amid allegations of betting on the date of the general election. mr williams says he committed an error of judgement but not an offence . judgement but not an offence. labouris judgement but not an offence. labour is pledging to halve knife crime within a decade if

it wins the general election. the party's plan includes creating a new cross—government coalition to work on solutions, as well as community hubs involving youth workers and careers advisers. sir keir starmer says cracking down on knife crime is his moral mission i >>i -- >> i was the chief prosecutor for five years and therefore i prosecuted many cases involving the use of knives and i've made it my personal mission to deal with this. it is a moral mission as far as i'm concerned . it as far as i'm concerned. it isn't a question of urban versus rural. in fact, i think there's more knife crime. sadly, in rural areas , or at least it's rural areas, or at least it's going up more quickly. and i think it's not fair on the families we've been hearing from this morning to simply point the finger to somebody else , a finger to somebody else, a former engineer who worked on the faulty horizon it system claims the post office tried to put words into his mouth when he attempted to disclose concerns he had about the software.

>> gareth jenkins was with fujitsu for his whole professional career and was regarded as a distinguished employee up until his retirement in 2015, he said. he's truly sorry for the wrongful convictions based on what he said, evidence he gave about the honzon said, evidence he gave about the horizon system were used in the prosecutions of many subpostmasters, which have since been quashed. but he told today's inquiry that he never had oversight on all the systems bugs, and he relied on others to supply reliable information . supply reliable information. now, of course, england have just kicked off in cologne against slovenia, aiming to secure top spot of their group in football. england, currently sitting top of the group. group c these are the pictures coming to us live from the fan zone in wembley. i believe that is in london. they are, as i said , london. they are, as i said, sitting top of group c, but victory tonight could mean they could avoid a difficult test in the round of 16. it's after a lot of criticism as well of their performances following a

narrow win over serbia and a one all draw against denmark last week . we wish them the best. week. we wish them the best. that's the news for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts. scan the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. common shirts . shirts. >> thank you polly. now welcome back to state of the nation. i'm tom harwood and it's 8:05. is the conservative party fundamentally ungovernable from partygate to gamble gate and everything in between , whether everything in between, whether it's scott benton, peter bone or william wragg, it feels as though the party has become addicted to scandal. and with this latest, incredibly frustrating and deeply boneheaded gamble, gate , perhaps boneheaded gamble, gate, perhaps there is an echo of the scandals that did for boris johnson. what did for ministers trust in the then prime minister was consistently being sent out onto the airwaves to defend a policy or a position to hold the line.

only then for that line to break, crumble, disintegrate, just hours after it was said that the minister had been using up their own political capital and respectability, trying to defend what had become indefensible u—turns , indefensible u—turns, particularly on messaging, become unsustainable because they erode the trust that any sustainable level of authority is built upon. so when the current prime minister sends party representative after party representative to say that no one is being suspended, and then the party continues to back candidates who have themselves admitted placing election bets only then to withdraw that support, we do begin to see parallels with 2022. is there something deep and structural that pushes this attitude? is this the hallmark of a too party long in power, or is there a danger of going too far the other way? today? keir starmer booted out one of his own candidates who bet not on the

date of the general election, but but against his own local political fortunes. is this the alternative of acting too late on a case that has a bad look acting to extremely over a case of someone apparently innocently betting on their own chances ? betting on their own chances? unless labour candidate kevin craig is in possession of a verifiable crystal ball, he's several weeks ago had no greater insight into whether or not he would win his seat, that seat that he's contesting than any of the rest of us did. starmer, in following his own advice to the extreme, has handed back a £100,000 donation from this candidate and shown him the door , all for having a flutter on his own chances is the alternative to the last days of rome. a new puritanism that will be just as baffling and in some ways, just as obscene. well, i'm joined now by the former conservative mp michael brown,

as well as a member of my panel, suella steph takyi santaguida, the pr consultant and the former labour aide, michael, we'll start with you. it is extraordinary that we're seeing this lack of discipline in the conservative party. does this have echoes of when you left parliament in 1997? >> yes, a bit , parliament in 1997? >> yes, a bit, but it's not all oven >> yes, a bit, but it's not all over. it's not all over. there's eight days. and if rishi sunak can eitherjust keep quiet and let people like david davis, who used to be the party chairman and who was on your programme earlier in the day with mark and chris, chris choke , chris hope, chris, chris choke, chris hope, he made the point that, in 1997 and i looked it up, even when we lost all the opinion polls, and i've got them here from the beginning of the campaign right to the end. and then the actual result or the opinion polls show 25% on the first day, 22, 22, 20, 20, 23, 1214. on the actual

day, the actual result was 13% lead. labour 44, tories 31. so it's not all over. and if every tory mp who is now a candidate indeed every. i was always taught , indeed every. i was always taught, don't stop until 10:01 flipping it on its other side in 1979, when i stood in a safe, very safe labour seat, i didn't stop until 10:00. the labour party thought it was in the bag and stopped as they usually did at 6:00. i won by 486 votes. now this seat's the other way round this seat's the other way round this time that the tories might hold by 486 votes, but they must not give up. i know their patience has been tested by sunak, and all that's been going on in the drama. just keep him locked up in his constituency . locked up in his constituency. people think he's going to lose. well, let him save his seat by staying up there and let them just get david davis to take oven just get david davis to take over. i would send every youtube video there is of his interview on this channel about four hours

ago, that every tory candidate , ago, that every tory candidate, he was smiling. he knows he's got a difficult fight on his hands as everyone does, never mind his current majority. he is smiling, he's doorstepping and he gave two brilliant answers to the question what do we stand for? he said, there's a reason to not give labour a inverted commas supermajority immigration. they're all massing on the other side of the channel to come in on the 5th of july. if starmer were to get elected. he made the for case starmer. likely to put up taxation is everything still to play for? >> very interesting coming from you. of course. you you bookended the last 18 years of the conservative party in power from 79 through to 97, alpha and omega, the day thatcher did, the saint francis of assisi. >> i was still on my third recount, but it was decisive when i lost. but i never gave up until one minute. >> fascinating perspective, but stellar isn't it odd seeing this action from keir starmer today about this labour candidate ,

about this labour candidate, kevin craig, who didn't bet on the date of the election . he bet the date of the election. he bet on his own fortunes. >> i think it's 100% on his own fortunes. >> i think it's100% in line with the character that keir starmer has been portraying as labour leader, and what he wants the public to believe about the reformed labour party. there will be very hard discipline , will be very hard discipline, the standards will be very high and the public will be able to trust that whoever toes the line, that whoever does anything at all, that makes the public suspicious that labour mps are not taking their job seriously, that they will be dealt with as harshly as possible and i agree with you, tom. i do think it's quite harsh because it's not not harsh. >> it's baffling . >> it's baffling. >> it's baffling. >> it's baffling. >> it's you say it's baffling and i agree, i think it's too harsh. >> do you think do you think therefore that actually keir starmer's harshness his his chasing after perhaps a media headune chasing after perhaps a media headline going to the very extreme on this issue could actually not be a strength but turn into a weakness? >> i think the public will think

it is refreshing that they have a strong leader who is willing to take care of the party's, of the party's high standards , the party's high standards, because i don't think the cases are the same. there is nothing because there isn't. it's not insider trading, but a lot of people will think you're betting against yourself. this is still not okay when it comes to betting industry. >> who'd be a politician? you wouldn't go into a single betting shop at all. i must mention now, and this is breaking news that has happened in the last few minutes for have been for individuals have been arrested on suspicion of trespass on to rishi sunak's property in around his home, in nonh property in around his home, in north yorkshire, in richmond . north yorkshire, in richmond. michael brown, just take a look at this picture on screen that we're going to show you. we've blurred out one of the words there. it says eat something, rishi. and that's an individual from a group called youth demand. they do activism on, on on the climate and on palestine and just about everything else under the sun. he appears to be pulling down his trousers to

defecate in rishi sunak's pond . defecate in rishi sunak's pond. >> look how the hell did he get there in the first place. i cannot believe that the prime minister, whether it's keir starmer, rishi sunak, david cameron or whoever does not have proper police security around their house, this has happened six months ago. if you remember, they draped black blankets over they draped black blankets over the house and there were no police on site. i mean, it is a serious breach of security by the north yorkshire police. and for the second time, for that to happenis for the second time, for that to happen is an absolute disgrace. this should never happen to whoever is the prime minister and for that matter, the leader of the opposition. yes, they should be. their premises should be secured. >> and keir starmer has been a targeted. his private home has been targeted before as well. >> i'm sure the question i have is rishi sunak has a pond. >> he has a pond in his house. i think that's what viewers will be. >> and a swimming pool. >> and a swimming pool. >> yeah, yeah, he's he's a wealthy man. he's done well. i understand he's one of the richest men in the uk in the country. >> but he has a pond. i mean, i

don't know, i mean guys, you know, don't don't try to defecate in the, in the ponds of politicians. >> but on the other hand, you know, i think maybe a pond is a bit unnecessary, but seriously, i mean, it could be far worse. >> it could be far worse. it could, in all seriousness with you, that is like this is a this is a very this is a very silly show of disrespect towards him. >> but you are quite right. we need to take the security of politicians seriously. >> okay. well, stella, and indeed michael, thank you very much for joining indeed michael, thank you very much forjoining us. in talking much for joining us. in talking through those large issues. well, after the break, we'll be diving into the row that unfolded this morning as the home and shadow secretaries were both the home secretary and the shadow home secretary, i should say, went head to head amid reports that many more channel migrants are cooped up in calais waiting until after the election to set sail

welcome back to state of the

nafion welcome back to state of the nation . at 8:17. my name is tom nation. at 8:17. my name is tom harwood . now, reports from the harwood. now, reports from the telegraph suggest that illegal migrants are awaiting a change in government before making the dangerous channel crossing to the united kingdom in an immigration debate this morning, the home secretary, james cleverly , said that migrants are cleverly, said that migrants are queuing up in calais waiting for a sir keir starmer led labour government to scrap the rwanda asylum policy . asylum policy. >> there's a cohort of people currently in france who are waiting for rwanda to be taken off the table before coming over here, and these quotes in the telegraph make it will really clear i will not go until the day they make the right decision to destroy rwanda. i am looking forward to a new government. even if things change, i will go. that is a direct quote. even >> well, now to be clear, the numbers of migrants arriving in the uk after crossing the channel not just those queuing up to, has hit a new record for the first six months of a

calendar year. this despite the uk giving france £500 million to police. the beaches and kerb the crossings. well joining me to discuss the entire situation is the immigration lawyer fadi farhat, and the panel. my panel, a former labour adviser, stella santaguida, and the former editor of the sun, kelvin mackenzie. fadi, we're going to start with you . i mean, is there start with you. i mean, is there any evidence to suggest that people are queuing up that when individuals make the choice to cross the channel, they think about what particular policy, landscape in the uk will be that they're arriving to? >> yes. tom there's very little evidence on that particular front. there's very little fieldwork, very little precise case studies on that point, my personal view is that asylum seekers are like like you and i, they conform various aspects of society. they come from differing socio economic status. some are even in the middle class in their own country. some are doctors, surgeons, others will come from a different

background. so it might from my point of view, it can be expected that some would be, aware of certain policies. indeed, those that the telegraph contacted, to have the confidence to reply to the telegraph to actually make their voices heard would have been okay or conversant with the policy. so there is an element of that. we also know that there are certain patterns. why do people , why do asylum seekers people, why do asylum seekers choose certain countries? they choose certain countries? they choose certain countries because of connections, perhaps other family members are already here. a common language or being more, comfortable with the english language. for example , or having language. for example, or having little snippets and insights into life in the uk , on that into life in the uk, on that basis, they may have very well heard of the rwanda policy. they may very well have been sort of conversant with it to some extent. so there is an element of truth into that. but we can't draw broad brush conclusions and i think yvette cooper in that debate actually said, well, they're not queuing, they are arriving. and statistically she

would be right there because up to the six months this current this year , 2024 is a record of this year, 2024 is a record of 12,000 plus, which is higher than last year and higher than the record year, which was 2022. so she she can point to that to say, well, she can, but but in turn, the government can point to the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have made the journey from africa to lampedusa , the number of lampedusa, the number of individuals turning up in, in greece, in italy, in france and then making their way through other countries is far higher this year than it has been on any other year. so potentially as a percentage term, might it be that the growth isn't as extreme? >> yes. that's certainly a point, but if we're suggesting whether the policy is in place is acting as a deterrent, we know that, for example, lampedusa has had a problem with arrivals , for the last couple of arrivals, for the last couple of years. but that's in the eu. and

within the eu you have its own sort of deterrent, which is the dubun sort of deterrent, which is the dublin regulations, whereby you could be sent to the first eu country that you arrived in. that hasn't deterred anything from happening within the eu. so if we sort of follow the trend in the eu and try to extrapolate that to the uk, it would suggest that to the uk, it would suggest that many will arrive. having made that decision, irrespective of what the policy agenda. >> and yet now 15 eu countries want to have offshore processing and be able to remove people to safe. third countries. >> indeed, they've obviously the uk has opened the sort of the cat's out of the bag on that particular template, and others have decided to listen and follow it and see what lessons they can draw from it, in a bid to, sort of, reshuffle the regulations in those member states. yes. >> right. kelvin, what do you make of it all? >> well, i imagine the telegraph sent a reporter to a camp in dunkirk. i think, and the they

seem to they seemed pretty intelligent. the people, one was a student. one was an older lady who was selling iraqi lady selling stuff. i imagine it's true, if you're given the choice of hanging for on ten days. the truth about the matter is that that many of them actually said, look, if we get chosen, if we get offered a boat, we're going to grab that boat anyway. however, you could claim that if you were, if you were, if you'd come from africa and the idea of being sent back to rwanda, that could have been a disincentive, l, could have been a disincentive, i, i can see nothing but an absolute nightmare from. if the polls are correct, the polls are correct. i can see nothing but an immigration nightmare from july the 5th. first of all, on the basis that the july and august are always the heaviest of the months . because the of the months. because the weather is the channel is calmer, and secondly, because the word will go out across the world. it's okay. they're all on

our side. and by the way, come on down. and honestly, i can see a surge a mile long. the way to test this is to wait and see what this looks like on august the 5th. once we look at the august this is to change the government. >> is that an advocation of voting for labour? >> colvin do you know what in some ways i am in favour of a nightmare scenario to prove to the half wits in this country who intend to vote socialist. what? how disgraceful it's going to be for the next five years. so they can join me at terminal five at around about 8:30 on, on friday morning. >> stella, what do you make of it? >> i'm sorry. kelvin, are you saying that that we've had a conservative government for the last 15 years and the immigration has tripled and so tell me exactly, kelvin. >> how so? are you suggesting that if the conservative party was re—elected, once again, for another five years in government, that the immigrants who are it would still be a nightmare ? nightmare? >> no. i agree with you that it

would be a nightmare. >> oh, maybe we should stay here in the refugee camps. it's actually very comfortable here in calais. we should stay here. if it's if it's . if it's if it's. >> i agree with you. >> i agree with you. >> if the tourists go in, it would be a nightmare. nobody. nobody, with the exception of quite. i quite like what farage is saying today. we should send the marines in and push them back to france. that rather. >> how did the french respond to that then? >> no, he said no. i give him his due. he described that he said there'd be a hell of a row. i agree with that. we've been having a hell of a row with france for a thousand years. >> certainly. so your solution, kelvin's solution is that we ask our royal marines to go and brutalise refugees. >> have you asked? have you asked? >> no. brutalise them. just turn them round and send them back to a send them back to a sophisticated country. >> i'm going to have to press the pause button here before we reignite another 100 years war. but, thank you, fadi, for introducing the topic and indeed to my panel as well. now we mentioned nigel farage and the reform uk leader has certainly had some momentum in the polls

since his declaration for parliament. but for days now, nigel farage has been seen to be talking more about ukraine than migration, doubling down on his stance that the eu and nato expansion provoked putin. though, said any suggestion of sympathies for mr putin are wrong. well, today a new poll by savanta sees a dip for reform for the first time, putting them seven points behind the conservatives now, just a check here. that being said, another poll from redfield and wilton yesterday had reform in second place at 19, one point ahead of the conservatives. so a mixed picture. but the question is, have mr farage's comments made a difference to reform's momentum? well, joining me now is my panel well, joining me now is my panel, former labour adviser stella santos. and of course kelvin mackenzie as well. stella it seems odd that nigel's been talking about for ukraine so long, when he could have been talking about the issue that he wants this election to be about.

is it a tactical error on his part? >> massive, massive strategic error on his part. >> massive, massive strategic error on his part . and the error on his part. and the reason why he did that, of course, is because genuinely, he is suspicious of the eu. he's suspicious of the american intention. she obviously has sympathies with donald trump, who doesn't recognise the very important role that the west plays when it comes to challenging putin. he made a massive error in the language that he used. he said that the west provoked vladimir putin and now he's nigel farage his deal and his appeal is that he's a patriot and he's someone who say, who is saying, don't talk down on our country and defend western values. so his voter base is broadly people who want you to defend western values. now, when you go out and say, actually, you know , vladimir actually, you know, vladimir putin may have a point, actually, you know, vladimir putin may have a point , then putin may have a point, then you're alienating those voters. we know that 75% more in common did a poll in may this year, 75% of british people think that it

is important for the uk that ukraine wins the war. and i agree with them because i think it is very important that russia is seen by the international community to not be tolerated. we cannot be should be seen to tolerate russia's actions , tolerate russia's actions, because what is this going to inspire in other countries ? inspire in other countries? >> kelvin, of course, polls tell different stories, but it is notable that there is a poll that shows a dip in support for reform. do you think that has anything to do with maybe not even the message, but the message focus, right. >> so if you take somebody like me, i'm a i know this is an enormous surprise to you. i mean, a natural tory, right? who was veering towards, reform because of the migration issue . because of the migration issue. i he to my mind, raising that issue . i find that massively issue. i find that massively challenging . i can't i can't in challenging. i can't i can't in all honesty vote for a somebody who has that view about putin. i share everybody's view. we need

to see putin defeated. we need to see putin defeated. we need to defend ukraine. they are defending the uk . they're defending the uk. they're defending the uk. they're defending france. they're defending france. they're defending poland. it is massively important. and to try and say, look, look , mate, do and say, look, look, mate, do a deal and say, look, look, mate, do a deal, give up, give up a bit of your land. imagine if you're a pole and you're and you're listening to a major political figure in the uk who is sitting alongside thinking, those guys are heading my way shortly, i, i thought it was an error. i have, ihave thought it was an error. i have, i have been friendly with and nigel farage for 30 years. i honestly feel he has made an error in that, in that, but he believes in it and i agree with your point. he he sides with trump on this issue and we must all be concerned by the way, that if trump gets in, of course, boris johnson said something similar back in 2016 about eu expansion, risking war in ukraine. >> but you but you supported bofis >> but you but you supported boris johnson. >> yes i did and it was his was a different tone to the tone that this was adopting, which

sounded as though actually what nigel was saying was , yeah, nigel was saying was, yeah, yeah, look, he may be a bad guy, but honestly , i think we should but honestly, i think we should accommodate him in some way. honestly anybody who had been around hitler in the late 30s might have been tempted to have said the same thing. and what a mistake that would be. the idea that a putin type figure is in any way wants to accommodate the west and wants to be friendly with us, has been totally disproved. after all, putin sent somebody over here to kill one of our people, you know, i mean, i mean, he's a murderer, you know, and these people are all being done by the international criminal court right now. you know, the former defence, they he is a thoroughly bad guy. and anything he says is not to be believed. he has ambitions to he sees himself as today's stalin, right. and 20 million of their own people suffered there. there'll be 20 million of our people who suffered every 10s. he's saying, i'm going to drop a nuclear bomb on you if you say anything like that. it's

honestly, nigel, i think that was an error. and i believe that middle ranking tories will agree with me. well thank you very much. >> kelvin and stella and indeed fadi , for being with us through fadi, for being with us through that whole segment. my goodness me, what a lot to digest. well, after the break, we'll be looking at reports around former top civil servants turned keir starmer's top adviser sue gray suggesting she wants to shut down all the parliamentary bars. bold plan or puritanism

welcome back to state of the nafion welcome back to state of the nation at 834, i'm tom harwood. now we all remember sue gray, the former cabinet secretary, who , after she completed her who, after she completed her report into those whitehall parties under various covid restrictions , became sir keir restrictions, became sir keir starmer's chief of staff. it was, of course, at the time a controversial appointment, given that the party political nature

of her new role, well ahead of the general election next week, it's been reported that miss grey is considering shuttering all those watering holes in parliament in a bid to keep the potential swathe of new labour mps from entering the commons. less than under control. it comes as the drinking culture in parliament has long been under scrutiny, after a watchdog report last year said that bars in the commons sometimes led to incidents involving intimidating behaviour. well, still with me is my panel, stella santacruz and kelvin mackenzie, kelvin . and kelvin mackenzie, kelvin. parliament has had a drinking culture for a long time. hum. but it doesn't always have to lead into intimidation or some of the nastier elements of politics and the sleaze that we've seen in recent years. what do you make of the idea of just closing all the bars? >> well, if they did close the bars, they could open up betting shops and make it, make it, make

it rather easier for both, for both sides to put the bets on how long, how long a speech was going to last. who was the biggest rat in in in the house of commons? look they are supposed to be hugely intelligent people, right? they should. the idea of getting smashed every night while they're hanging around, why don't they just why don't they just just change the manner in which, votes take place so that people . why don't they just end? people. why don't they just end? why don't they do what everybody else does? why don't they just end the day at, say, 6:00 or something like that and just let people vote for another day? >> no, you can't take away late night sittings. that's. >> yeah, but that's the only reason why everybody goes on the sauce all the time. because there's hours to kill and therefore they all turn to drink. >> isn't this just looking at people precisely the wrong way? stella, what does it say about what sue gray thinks? the new intake of labour mps will be like? if she expects inevitable scandal . if they enter a bar, scandal. if they enter a bar, she doesn't expect inevitable scandals. >> it just looks at partygate and says okay, nobody wants to

see a repeat of that. we need to make sure it doesn't happen again. having said that, sue gray is not doesn't have any actual power over the bars in parliament and she didn't say that she's going to do that. she said it was a bit of a flippant comment. >> she's likely the next chief of staff to the next prime minister. i don't think she's going to do that. >> i think that what she said was i would close down all the bars because she wanted to show what the priority is going to be, which to be fair, look, i don't want the bars to close because i do want to have some space where parliamentary staff can socialise with each other, they can network and, you know, they can network and, you know, they can, they can, they can speak to mps in a more relaxed and calm manner. having said that, do i think people need to dnnk that, do i think people need to drink less in westminster and frankly, in the country more generally? yes, absolutely. please drink less. stop getting drunk. the country needs you to work. >> yes, you see the whole point about parliament? it's supposed to be a working a factory, right? it's a political. that's what it's supposed to be there for. it's not. it's not there to entertain. so you can go out with your mates and go on the sauce. >> no it's not, but i think so.

>> no it's not, but i think so. >> there is there is a fundamental contentious issue here. at the core of what this is, is parliament an office, is it a workplace or is it a place of legislation? are mps employees or are they members of what was originally a sort of gentlemen's club? >> they are employees. they're our employers. they're our employees. they are the country's employees. and on that basis, let them go outside, let them go outside. who else do you know ? you run, you're running know? you run, you're running the ford motor company and you know, they they they've shut down all forms of drinking. i can remember when the daily mirror used to have a butler type used to go around the journalists with a whole load of dnnk journalists with a whole load of drink on their and saying, would you like one? and all? the editors were completely smashed. why? until the daily mirror in my day it was 5 million a day. today it's selling 200,000. that's what happens if you go on the. you can't blame that on alcohol. >> that's probably more to do with tim berners—lee and the world wide web. but stella, i to some extent this has already

happened. there have been bars. john bercow closed down one of the bars in parliament and turned it into a nursery . there turned it into a nursery. there was a bar up in the press gallery in parliament that has been shut down for two decades now, so i'm told i've been to where it is now. >> desks automated, more expensive. it used to be so cheap. >> well, that that is a point about the sort of alleged subsidies that go into all of this. but fundamentally, there are workplaces around the country that do have a moderate , country that do have a moderate, sensible level of drinking, we work as a as a sort of modern interpretation of this has, beer taps in their communal working spaces. >> and there how did that end up? well, it wasn't a very good example , didn't it? example, didn't it? >> well, there was a covid pandemic. >> i would say, look, it's not a directive, it's not a law. it's an advice. it's an intention. our intention is to work , is not our intention is to work, is not to get drunk. i don't think anybody is going to take away the bars. and even if they did, there is, you know, there is a pub right outside parliament, there is the red lion. what are you going to do? you don't have

any power over that. i think it's showing the intention. and the intention is to be a serious adult. no more partygate. absolutely not. forget that. could you imagine having partygate under keir starmer? it would never fly, of course there are restaurants in parliament as well. so even if all the bars are shut, perhaps the more fancy mps could just go and get drunk in a slightly more, refined, refined way. but thank you very much, stella and kelvin for talking us through that . now, on talking us through that. now, on to a piece of news that i think shocked the world this morning. wikileaks founder julian assange seems to have finally reached a conclusion in his 14 year battle over the release of secret files back in 2010. well, he'll to fly the us pacific territory of northern mariana , mariana northern mariana, mariana islands to plead guilty to one charge as part of a plea deal. this news has received mixed responses, with many praising the outcome as a victory for freedom of the press. but others

have slammed his actions for putting lives at risk. so what does this mean for the future? i'm joined now by the deputy director of advocacy at freedom of the press foundation, caitlin vargas and caitlin, thank you for joining me, is julian assange, forjoining me, is julian assange, a reckless dumper of information or a hero journalist ? >> well, 7— >> well, it's 7_ >> well, it's a ? >> well, it's a good 7 >> well, it's a good question, but i think the answer is that it really doesn't matter when it comes to this case, because the reason that so many press freedom advocates like my organisation and others have been concerned about it and have been concerned about it and have been urging the biden administration to end the case, is because no matter what you think of julian assange, the person, no matter whether you think that he's a journalist or not, the charges that have been brought against him endanger journalists because they're based on acts that journalists engagein based on acts that journalists engage in every day, to talking sources, getting documents from those sources and publishing them . and at its heart, this them. and at its heart, this case threatens press freedom because of the conduct that is

at the base of the charges. >> isn't the problem here that juuan >> isn't the problem here that julian assange didn't publish this in the way that you'd normally expect of a journalist? he dumped the whole lot online. he dumped the whole lot online. he didn't go through it, refine it , redact it, see where might it, redact it, see where might be sensitive information that might put people's lives at risk. he just dumped it all on a website. there was no journalistic ethics there. there was nothing that you'd expect of any sensible or reasonable journalist in any developed nation. he just dumped this stuff online. that's not the work of a journalist . work of a journalist. >> well, i would take issue with your characterisation of what was done, but certainly that's an argument that the us government has made and press releases, and it made before the high court in london when they were arguing over his extradition request. but if you look at the actual charges in the indictment against assange, it doesn't say anything about that, because that's not the, issue under the espionage act, the law that he was charged unden the law that he was charged under, under the espionage act,

a journalist or anyone else could be convicted for publishing documents , whether publishing documents, whether they go through them carefully or not, whether they redact them or not, whether they redact them or not. the espionage act doesn't depend on anything like that. and so that's why it's so problematic from a press freedom perspective, because you could have the most responsible journalist in the world who gets a classified document from a source. that's it . carefully source. that's it. carefully redacts sensitive information, but publishes the information that's in the public interest. and the government could still go after them under the law. and that's really concerning , that's really concerning, because it means that all of us will have a lot less information about what our government is doing. >> what do you think it says that a lot of this case seems to have been negotiated behind the scenes, not fought out through open and transparent law, but behind the scenes bargaining involving at least three different governments. i mean, this isn't a great day for press freedom and upholding those laws that you talk about . that you talk about. >> i am glad that the case

didn't go to trial. i think that that would have been a disaster for press freedom. this case has been a ticking time bomb since the moment that assange was indicted. and if it had gone to trial and he had been convicted and then appealed that conviction and the conviction had been upheld, it would have set a precedent that could have been used against other journalists. so i'm glad we didn't have to go through that process. but it is troubling that the case has been resolved in this manner. that's really not transparent. there were news reports that a plea agreement was being considered. there have been reports that the australian government has been trying to pressure the biden administration to drop the case. and of course, there have been press freedom groups that have been calling on the biden administration to drop the case. but we don't ultimately know why the decision was made. now to end this case in a plea agreement and i agree that is troubling from a transparency perspective. we need to know a lot more about why the trump administration decided to bring this case in the first place, and why the biden administration decided to end it now, while also forcing julian assange to plead guilty under the espionage

act, which is the very first time that a publisher has been convicted under that law for publishing truthful information . publishing truthful information. >> well, we look forward to seeing the terms of this plea deal seeing the terms of this plea deal. but for now, caitlin vargas of the freedom of the press foundation really appreciate your insight here. fascinating stuff. now, coming up, new data shows that the labour party are directing their activists away from some lib dem target seats to cause maximum damage to the tories. are we witnessing a the scenes dark electoral pact that

next. good evening. welcome back to state of the nation with me, tom harwood. it's 12 minutes to nine now. financial times data has revealed a labour electoral strategy, apparently, which aims to maximise conservative losses in the south of england . data in the south of england. data from labour's website shows that activists have been directed

away from roughly 80 tory seats, that the liberal democrats are targeting in their campaign. there's perhaps an echo of the 1997 election, when labour and the liberal democrats both denied a non—aggression pact in order to help each other out. yet years later, it emerged that there was a deal that was struck between those parties. so has the same happened in this general election? well, joining me now is former liberal democrat mp mark oaten and mark, just very simple question. is there a secret pact , i don't there a secret pact, i don't think so. tom i think that it's the bleeding obvious pact, if you like. obviously the labour party want to focus their supporters where they think they can win and the lib dems want to do the same. so it's pretty straightforward. if you're an activist living in seat a and your party doesn't stand a chance of winning there, you probably want to go to a seat where they can. i don't think that secrets. i think it's just common sense. and in today's

world of social media, where you can quickly , quickly get can quickly, quickly get information about which seat is doing , what people will move, doing, what people will move, where they think they can actually help, and make a difference. >> hang on a second. this is across 80 seats across the south of england , some seats where the of england, some seats where the labour party is highly, highly competitive. it would be strange if in some of these seats where labour came second last time, the labour party isn't sending any other activists to those seats. i mean, what the financial times researchers looked at is, is this apparent idea that there has been some horse trading? >> well, look, i mean, back in 97, you're right, there was something which paddy ashdown and tony blair together, they called it the project, not many of us. i was standing in 97 myself. not many of us knew about it. certainly, it emerged that both those two individuals were so determined to get rid of. i think it was 18 years of conservative government that there was this informal pact. i don't sense that that is happening this time around. i think this is more led by

individual activists on the ground demanding, if you like, that they get sent to seats where they can make a real difference. so this is not the project to i think it is more common sense by party activists. >> but mark, you'll understand why people are suspicious about this, given that back in 1997, when questions were raised of a secret pact, both ashdown and blair and everyone else in between said, of course there's no pact. there's no pact. and then a decade or two later, it's revealed that there was this rather sinister, silly described the project . the project. >> well, yeah, it does sound rather sinister. the project and loving as i did paddy ashdown used to make everything sound rather sinister. he always had these sort of military codes for every single thing that he did. and look back then clearly those two individuals were very close together . they actually assumed together. they actually assumed it would be a hung parliament in 97, and they were actually preparing a programme for government together. there isn't that close relationship this time around between ed davey and keir starmer. it's very unlike

the ashdown blair period . so, i the ashdown blair period. so, i would be hugely surprised if there was any formal pact. i think this is, as i said, more activists on the ground deciding where they can mess , mess up the where they can mess, mess up the tories and make a big difference i >> -- >> yes, i m >> yes, i think there were some discussions between ashdown and blair that ashdown would actually be in blair's cabinet. but then blair won by such a stonking majority that it didn't really seem feasible. but but mark, it does seem interesting where the liberal democrats are pitching themselves. this time around. when the lib dems won big in 2005, it was in inner city areas. it was in areas with lots of students with lots of muslim voters as well. with the aftermath of the invasion of iraq this time around, it's all the tory shires. i mean, is your party a bit of a shape shifting party? >> i mean, look, you could say we're one thing to one person, one thing to another, and i think that what the party's had to do in the last few years is to do in the last few years is to recognise that you've got to be focused and target where you

think you can win. and quite clearly, at the moment there are so many soft conservatives in the southwest. that is where the party is focusing that just makes electoral sense . makes electoral sense. >> well, former liberal democrat mp mark oaten really appreciate your time this afternoon. this evening even. thank you for joining us and talking through those big issues, because of course, many people will be asking what is going on in this general election campaign. and we have seen these polls, these polls that seem to have a droop. yes, that's right, a droop for the labour party. their lead is not falling, but the share of the vote for the labour party is. why? because the conservative vote is drooping too. they're drooping in parallel. who are the beneficiaries to these twin droops? reform uk and the liberal democrats. now we can't be sure what's behind these droops, but we can be sure that perhaps what's going on is some targeted vote switching from labour to the liberal democrats in those precise areas, those 80

seats across the south of england, that's it from me. patrick christys is up next. and patrick, what's on your bill of fare tonight? >> well, you might be talking about droops there, tom, but i promise to make the nation to stand attention for the next two hours. i'm going to be talking about whether or not we should stop sending money to the french until they stop the boats. nhs staff caught on camera laughing about missing waiting times. can anything actually fix the broken health service? i'm also going to be talking about julian assange. is it a good thing that this guy is out or actually, is he a bit of a wrong'un? i've got all that and much more. >> sounds fascinating. patrick. looking forward to it from nine until 11. well that's it from me this evening and thank you for sticking with the program. i know that we've been competing with a rather, important sporting occasion elsewhere , but sporting occasion elsewhere, but thank you for sticking with us. and of course, it's the weather up next by the way, it's sunny in somerset .

in somerset. >> evening. welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. very warm and humid again for most places. tomorrow it will be a bit cloudier across parts of the east, particularly eastern scotland. we are kind of between two areas of high pressure. an old weather front has been providing quite a lot of cloud today over parts of scotland and northern ireland, and still producing a little bit of light rain over eastern scotland. 1 or 2 heavy showers for southern scotland and northern england. they should tend to fade away. for most, it's a dry night, lengthy, clear skies across the south, turning a bit misty along some eastern coast and perhaps in the south—west and temperatures holding up maybe no lower than 17in the capital, but a much fresher feel in the northwest for much of northern ireland and western scotland. so a more comfortable night here. we should start off with quite a bit of sunshine in western scotland, but in the east of scotland, but in the east of scotland quite a grey start and likely to stay fairly cloudy here through the day. could even

be a little bit of rain at times as well. a brighter day though for northern ireland compared to today. a bit more in the way of sunshine. quite a bit of cloud over the far north of england, but the bulk of england and wales dry and sunny, just a bit misty around some coasts in devon and cornwall, and the threat of this mist and low cloud lingering across parts of the north sea coast as well. i suspect, though, much of england and wales just dry and sunny and very warm once more . plenty of very warm once more. plenty of sunny spells for northern ireland and the west of scotland . but in the eastern side, as i mentioned, always likely to stay fairly cloudy with maybe a little bit of rain at times. nofice little bit of rain at times. notice cloud and rain is edging towards the west of northern ireland as well. temperatures were a little higher for northern ireland compared to today and across england and wales again, mid 20s, maybe up to 31. in the capital. we are going to see a change though, as low pressure comes in. you can see the swirl here bringing a band of cloud and patchy rain across the country followed by plenty of showers. that is a cold front and so it will introduce cooler conditions. one more very warm day across the

south—east on thursday, but turning fresher for all by fri day. >> friday. >> looks like things are heating up. boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on gb

>> good evening. you're with gb news at 11:00. the latest headlines. four men have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass at the prime minister's constituency home in yorkshire. police said officers were with the four men within a minute of them entering the grounds. the men are aged between 20 and 52 and remain in police custody for questioning. tonight meanwhile, suspended labour candidate kevin craig says he deeply regrets betting against himself and taking a punt on the tories, winning his own constituency. he says he'll fully comply with any investigation, and that comes

after the former conservative candidates craig williams and laura saunders, also faced investigations amid allegations of betting on the date of the general election. mr williams says he committed an error of judgement but not an offence . a judgement but not an offence. a former engineer who worked on the faulty horizon it system claims the post office tried to put words into his mouth when he attempted to disclose concerns he had about the software. gareth jenkins was with fujitsu for his whole professional career and was regarded as a distinguished employee up until his retirement in 2015. he said he was truly sorry for the wrongful convictions, but evidence he'd given about the system was used in the prosecutions of many subpostmasters. evidence, which has since been quashed. today he told the inquiry he never had complete oversight of all the systems and he relied on others to supply reliable information. juuan to supply reliable information. julian assange has arrived at court on a remote island in the

pacific, where his long running campaign to avoid extradition to the united states will formally end.the the united states will formally end. the 52 year old wikileaks founder left the uk this morning after more than 1900 days at belmarsh prison. assange will plead guilty to one charge after the us dropped 17 other espionage charges against him. he is expected to be sentenced to five years, which is roughly the equivalent of the time he's already served in britain, meaning he's most likely to walk free. and you probably saw england's performance tonight drawing nil nil with slovenia in their european championship group c game in cologne. manager gareth southgate brought on palmer, alexander—arnold and gordon from the bench at different times, but it wasn't enough to win the group . enough to win the group. england, though, have still qualified for the knockout stages. slovenia have also progressed as a third place team. that's the news for the latest stories, sign up to gb

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