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woman: a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your passions and the way you enrich your community. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy d peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" ♪ lewis: hello. i'm lewis vaughan jones. you're watching "the context" on bbc news. >> change the labour party to get us to a position where we can run a positive campaign and bring about the change we need in this country. >> with these candidates who are coming to the conservatives know is that a vote for reform is able to put keir starmer in

number 10. >> we know around 30 to 40% of people make up their mind during the campaign, and a lot of those will do it in the final week. welcome to the program. we are 50 hours away from polls closing in the u.k. general election, when big bend strikes 10:00 p.m. on july 4 and we get the first exit poll results on bbc news. the polls up till now are correct, then labor will win a majority, keir starmer the new prime minister. you speaking with our political editor about that final push--he is speaking to our political editor about that final push to the finish line. a quarter million people told to evacuate khan yunis in gaza, a sign that israeli troops are about to launch a new ground assault. in an update on the path of hurricane beryl, after hitting

barbados in grenada, a category five storm heading for jamaica in the latest from the u.s. as a judge postpones sentencing in the hush money trial of donald trump until september after the supreme court ruled yesterday he had immunity for official acts. we are going to start tonight in the u.k., the penultimate day of the general election campaign. using the last ages of the campaign to push key messages to win over undecided voters. if you are watching last night, you have seen our political editor chris mason interviewing prime minister rishi sunak. tonight it is the turn of the men tipped to take his job at the end of the week, sir keir starmer, to sit down with chris. chris: the men hoping to get his hands on power on friday. if he is dreaming of downing street, there are other stopping-off points first. >> in a few moments we will be

arriving -- chris: after our day following rishi sunak yesterday, today we are with sir keir starmer. he claims he is taking his party on a long walk back to compatibility and competitiveness, in the polls suggest he is on the brink of a victory. at yet another football ground, a collection of labor activists and his big pitch. >> we have been campaigning for a long time now. i have yet to meea single person who said to me everything is great, please don't change anything, it is fine as it is. people want to change, but change will only happen if you vote for it. hello, i am keir. welcome to my coffee shop. chris: it turns out the liberal democrats don't have a monopoly on splashes of campaigning absurdity. >> two-bag starmer, i am known to be called. chris: and from what he says he has been called to what you

might be called soon. are you ready to be prime minister? >> we have worked for and half years to change the labour party. we have obviously done the preparation to make sure on day one we reset politics. chris: i wanted to find who might be running the country alongside him if labor wins, but he said saying that now could sound complacent. i'm suggesting that people deserve to know who your trump team might be. desktop team might be good -- top team might be. sir keir: i'm not going to run through a list of names no matter how hard you try. chris: would you let prisoners out early? sir keir: this is a problem we will inherit if we are privileged to come in and serve, and i'm not going to pretend to you i can build a prison on the first day of labor government. in all likelihood we will have to continue with that because i wouldn't be realistic. chris: a -- will people pay

state income tax? sir keir: the position in relation to tax will be exactly as it is now. chris: that could mean yes. sir keir: that is the position in the last budget under this government, and that will remain the position. >> latest government, the prime minister. -- ladies and gentlemen, the prime minister. chris: his rival rishi sunak with this morning. prime min. sunak: don't sleepwalk into something you haven't thought properly about. think very hard what it means for you and your family. in spite of all these polls, every vote matters. chris: i asked to the prime minister -- you must share a sense of solidarity that you are doing a job where a million other people think they can do a better job than you. sir keir: everybody understands watching the television how he should do his job. i've got no ewnd of advice on foreign half years and no doubt

i wille getting more. chris: he has more places to visit. via attribute darvish are, it was here to staffordshire. lewis: chris mason there. let's pick through this. joining us, are u.k. election panel, deputy political editor for "mail on sunday," and a professor of social politics at university of let's start with keir starmer. what is your reflections on the way he has carried out the campaign? >> well, i think a lot has already been said. effectively he has played a very cautious and. -- cautious hand. the strategy hasn't given much away because he doesn't have to he was 20 points ahead in the polls in the beginning, despite most people, more than anyone the prime minister, thinking those polls were narrow, they

actually haven't. he hasn't had to do much at all. why would you change your strategy if it is working so well. lewis: your thoughts on that strategy working well? it >> worked as well as he i thought keir starmer looked more relaxed today. he is trying to make himself come across as more human, the technocrat, traditional prison we have seen. -- traditional prison we have seen and that his opponents would like to paint him as. he felt a bit more prime ministerial in that interview with chris mason. he nosy is going to be prime minister on friday but he doesn't want to jinx anything. frankly, labor should wrap him up in cotton bowl until 10:00 thursday night. lewis: we will come back to the future and what could happen at the end of the week, but anna, want to quickly touch on rishi

sunak. what did you think of the lines we are hearing from him in chris's report? anna: rishi sunak is working, as he keeps pointing out 24-7, getting up at 4:00 to start campaigning as much as possible. he has his last 48 hours about to start soon. he is kicking off with a rally at an eclectic evening. he is using -- at 10:00 this evening. he is using every moment of every day and his messages but he much a s--his message is pretty much a scare message, try to stop a super majority, stop labor from having uncontrolled power, which has been a curious strategy for them to take quite early on in the campaign. and i do think it was curious to see which seats rishi sunak has been visiting today. absolutely remarkable to see him go to david cameron's old seat. normally at this crunch our you go to the marginals, the places

you are willing to fight for. the fact that clearly the conservative party think they need to fight for every seat even in a seat like the former one of david cameron is extraordinary, and really tells you how they backing you pretty badly on thursday -- expecting to do pretty badly on thursday. lewis: interesting. mark, want to look ahead to the end of this week. not a single vote has been cast on the day. we have no idea how people are going to vote. but if the polls up unt now are right, what do you make of what actually happens from friday onwards? labor campaigning on a single word, change. and then when pressed by chris mason, for example, on things like prisoners being released early, other issues, actually not a great deal will change. what are your thoughts on that? mark: not a great deal can

change quickly. they're going to inherit a fairly dire economic situation, and keir starmer is a pragmatist. that comes across very, very clearly. from early in this campaign rishi sunak has been about damage limitation. there is some chance that -- there is a chance that starmer will walk into number 10 with a large majority. his early days will be mainly listening to the mandarins at the treasury and other senior civil servants in the other key departments to find out how bad the situation is. this campaign has been so cautious because he doesn't have that level of detail, and i think he will want to absorb that quickly in the period after the recess. there will be a few decisions made quickly. yes talk about nhs appointments, trying to fill teacher vacancies. some of the big policy decisions are going to have to wait for the new parliament, for one to

come back, even for conference season to really get depth on it. this is not going to be a radical labor government quickly. but if it has a very large majority, then it could over time become one. lewis: interesting. anna what of --anna, whatever your sources among conservative party politicians and workers, one has been the thought the last few days? anna: it is striking how almost no one is talking by the election anymore. the focus is shifting to what happens next. i mean, the focus has been there for a while, but not just talking about who could be the next conservative party leader. they are talking about what will actually be there of the party to rebuild and reshape. who will be actually left?

if the polls are correct, if some of the polls are correct, looking at a situation where a lot of the party infrastructure won't be there. you won't have eventually a party chairman, you won't have these really senior figures, the chairman of the 1922 committee, the governing body of the conservative party in the parliament, who is stepping down at the election. there are a lot of places that will have to be filled, a lot of decision-making that just hato proceed, frankly. and that is behind the scenes. what is cus in mind is to look ahead to friday. lewis: indeed. anna, mark, thank you both very much. we will be back with you in just a moment. going to talk other parties in the election. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news.

lewis: this is bbc news. a second reform u.k. candidate has defected to the conservatives, saying the vast majority of other candidates are racist, misogynist, and bigoted. he denies the partleadership is racist, but says she does not want to be associated with its candidates. here is a full list of candidates standing in western invective. you can find a full list in your own constituency on the bbc news website. the reform racism row has hurt nigel farage's party in the polls. according to the latest numbers in our poll tracker, it has reform u.k. down to 16%, down from its high of 19%. labour party is still set to win a ge majority. delete has lightly dropped, though -- the lead has a

dropped, though, conservative party gaining some support back from reform u.k. hello, anna. hello, mark. another defection. what impact do you think that has? anna: i think one defection doesn't mean much at all, but it all creates very uncomfortable headlines for nigel farage on things in the press he does not want, things being talked about so close to the poll. he wants it to be focused on the momentum on the ground, rallies he is hosting, which, let's be honest, there has been a swell of support and a lot of people coming out for him because he really can attract those crowds in a way that pretty much no other politician right now can in the u.k. so i think it hurts him because it hurts him particularly with the kind of voters that he could have possibly gotten on thursday.

we're talking about the very conservative traditional tories who are very much conservative voters and have been all their lives, but they are so fed up with the government and they effectively want to give them a kicking. when i have been out on the doorstep, those of the voters who worry about conservative candidates, sometimes people they've known for years you are going to vote for reform. the more these racism allegations and slurs, i think for some people, they may not end up providing conservative again, but they may not want to be on the same page as -- in the same group. they may just sit at home and not come out for i do think it will dampen the numbers. i would point out that nigel farage from the start of his reemergence on the political

front line in his campaign, he has been quite clear to say that the system is a presidential -- he has ascended and others -- he has said it in others, this is a choice between the others and meet, and used the words "presidential system." my co-panelist would know a lot more on this, but it is not a presidential system in the u.k. no matter how much he wants to say it is. a lot of people -- he has made such a victim back on this campaign, probably the biggest of anyone in terms of what is shifting the dial and changing things throughout the last six weeks. at the end of the day, if he gets into parliament that has very -- but has very f mp's, there is a limit to how much voice he can have. lewis: mark, talk us through the role of reform u.k. could end up playing in this election. mark: they would like to see themselves as the disruptors,

the party -- of course it is not really a party, it is a private company that is majority owned by nigel farage, and it is very much his vehicle. if they got a reasonable number of mp's, they would hope that ey would be able to effectively take over the right wing rump of the conservative party, whether it be a formal merger or people, as lee anderson did, wooded defect in some numbers to reform. that is going to be really difficult if there is one reform mp, who is nigel farage, or even a small handful, which is probably the likelihood at their best forecast. and nigel farage, when he has to spend every friday in clacton and has a lot of constituency issues to deal with and is weighed down by being one of the 650 parliamentarians, is not

going to have the presidency has when he is disruptor or snake oil salesman, which ever you would like to say of him, going around the country and getting a disproportionate amount of media time and media interest. this could all blow up in his face. we are not france, we are not hungry. -- hungary. in our system does not allow us to be. lewis: just explain, if you would, because we have heard this line a lot and good to be absolutely clear -- rishi sunak saying a vote for reform means keir starmer. what does that mean and why? what has reform u.k. and nigel farage specifically been saying to counter that? mark: what they are saying is that a vote for reform is a vote for reform. rishi sunak realizes that he is going to lose far more votes proportionately to reform than keir starmer and labor or any of

the other smaller parties well. it will chip away at the right wing, the post-brexit, leave- leaning part of the conservative party. even to be a credible opposition, conservatives need a certain numb of mp's. they have got to be around 130, 140. at this stage consistently 20 points down in the polls and with reform chipping away, maybe taking 15, 16% in the election, sunak is really worried that the party that he is not going to be the leader of for very much longer will not be the official opposition. and if it has no place either in government or rest of the country's official opposition, the fe for conservatives is the party will wither and potentially die. lewis: mark, anna, thank you both very much.

very interesting stuff. not long to go now. next, children's laureate is a prestigious position awarded in the u.k. once every two years, promoting the importance of children's literature and reading and creativity. today the new laureate has been revealed as award-winning author frank contrell-boyce. he wrote his first children's novel 20 years ago and wants to fight inequality through reading . >> can you introduce yourself with your new title? frank: i am frank contrell-boyc e, children's laureate. >> how does that feel? practical and amazing, and amazing lineage -- >> amazing, and amazing lineage to step into. reporter: if you don't have children to read to, this may be the work you are most familiar with. >> good evening, mr. bond. >> good evening, your majesty.

frank: the queen acted twice in her life. how the hell did that happen? so weird. >> always keep one for emergencies. >> so do i. reporter: as joyful as that is, it is with kids you are known. frank: 100%. reporter: scripting a moment for the world's most famous monarch to skydive into the 2012 olympics with a double of seven is pretty special. but frank says it is nowhere near as especial as writing for and reading to children. frank: reading at a young age it makes aeal difference and helps to make you happy, and i know, i author children's books for the to be put in a position to bring more children that happiness is amazing. this is my dad, this is my mum.

this is their wedding photo -- obviously the wedding, they didn't dress like that all the time. [laughter] reporter: who read to you, frank? frank: my mum and dad lived in one room and my brother and i another. i read to get space, and the other people who read to me. >> is there nothing we can do? surely you can think of a way out of this! are all covered with spaghetti? vern case, emergency. frank: amazing. the power of your voice. rita children, d-- read to children, do it. >> despite the danger of wild animals, the nano told -- frank: you can see sometimes that something clicks and the whole world becomes different

for them. and you have to imagine things before you do them. reporter: for 25 years, the children's laureate has promoted the importance of children's literature. the latest author to hold the title fears underprivileged children are left out. today he is calling on a national provision to guarantee every child has access to books. after 20 years of running for children and visiting schools, how do you feel of what you see? frank: first of all, it's always a joy everywhere you go, which is a wonderful thing. but also incredible inequality. you go from one school to another, and there is just no level playing field at all. some kids are really struggling in terms of their buildings, their neighborhoods. we know that if you are used to books if you are read to at a young age, that this does enter

norms and visible privilege on you. -- bestows an enormous invisible privilege on you. if i can help them to access that, what i will spend a couple years doing. reporter: that is your mission. frank: that's my mission! mission not impossible. >> tomorrow i will tell you what they saw, and you will be amazed. reporter: do you believe in happy endings? frank: i believe in happy endings, absolutely. >> goodbye. lewis: just want to quickly let you know what we are keeping acro -- let's take you to the u.s. these are live pictures, white house briefing, answering questions about joe biden. we are listening across that for you and bringing that we get out of the u.s. --bringing you lines that we get out of the u.s. and a couple moments time, we will get support action from

wimbledon. andy murray confirming he won't play in the singles, hoping to play in the doubles. we'll have a full sport round up just a couple minutes. do stay with us for that. i am lewis vaughan jones. this is bbc news. do stay with us here. bye-bye. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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