Election latest: Audience shouts 'shame' as PM endures tough end to latest TV showdown (2024)

By Megan Harwood-Baynes, digital investigations reporter

A Conservative attack ad featuring Sadiq Khan has been pulled from the party's platforms after just one day.

The advert, which ran across the Meta sites Facebook and Instagram, said: "Sadiq Khan wants to divide us", while warning voters "don't let Sadiq Khan win again".

It encouraged voters to vote for them and not Reform. It ran for one day on 19 June.

Mr Khan ran for mayor of London back in May, clinching a historic third term by a comfortable 276,000 votes over Tory rival Susan Hall. He is not running for election again on 4 July.

Sky News reached out to the Conservatives to ask why they were running an attack ad against Mr Khan - and why it had been taken down - they did not respond with a comment.

It comes as an exclusive poll for Sky News and YouGov shows the Conservative party is on track for a near wipeout, with Labour predicted to take 425 seats - including almost all in London. Reform are projected to return five MPs.

The online advert was viewed by up to 35,000 accounts, and cost the party up to £499 to run. The largest audience for it was over 45s.

Rishi Sunak suddenly becomes animated when he's asked why he called the election for 4 July (see previous post).

He defends his campaign against Liz Truss and claims Labour's plans would be as damaging as hers.

We're getting some raw politics now from the PM with the inevitable tax attack on Labour. Apart from his tough words on Tory betting, it's the most punchy he's been in his half hour.

He's also punchy with a young questioner who says leaving the European Convention on Human Rights would be inhumane.

But he's unconvincing when Fiona Bruce asks why he calls the European court a "foreign court" when it was set up by countries including Britain and has a British judge.

And it gets worse. The audience shouts "shame!" when he attacks the "foreign court" again.

That sort of talk may play well with Tory activists and voters flirting with Reform UK, but it went down very badly here.

It was a bad ending for the PM at the end of his half-hour and the two-hour election programme.

The prime minster says he called the election early because he felt he had delivered economic stability to the country.

Pressed on whether he is glad he called the election when he did, Mr Sunak says "it was the right moment" and he is glad.

In an attack on his predecessor, he claims what Sir Keir Starmer is promising "is the same fantasy that Liz Truss did".

After his strong answer on the betting scandal, surprisingly Rishi Sunak struggles to answer Fiona Bruce's persistent questions on his national service proposals.

You'd think he'd have better prepared answers on a flagship election policy.

He’s also very dismissive of an audience member who says Brexit has been a disaster for young people.

Sounding irritated, he says those arguments were debated in 2016, and he's not going to over them again.

"I come from an NHS family," Mr Sunak then tells a questioner about NHS waiting lists.

Really? Never knew that. (At least we didn’t get "my father was a toolmaker" from Sir Keir this time.)

Like Sir Keir, Mr Sunak is facing detailed questions about issues like the NHS. More detail!

And surprisingly he hasn't attacked Labour on tax – yet!

He'll be pleased, though, that he was asked early on about the Tory betting scandal. He had a strong answer on that that will make headlines.

Not sure much else from Mr Sunak will, so far.

Mr Sunak has avoided engaging with criticism of the Tory's national service policy, suggesting it would be "politicising the armed forces during an election campaign".

Asked about comments from Lord West of Spithead, a former chief of the naval staff and Labour peer who reportedly called the policy "bonkers", the prime minister says: "Well it wouldn't be appropriate to start politicising the armed forces during an election campaign."

Mr Sunak insisted the military route was optional, despite the proposed national service scheme being compulsory.

But when asked what sanctions people could face for not taking part, Mr Sunak gave "access to finance" among other examples.

Asked if this meant taking away people's bank cards, he laughs and says: "There's lot of different models around Europe."

Mr Sunak is asked why Brexit has been mostly absent from the Conservatives' campaign so far.

"We had all these debates several years ago, I'm not going to relitigate them," the prime minister says.

"Our job now is to get on and make sure we realise all the benefits of that."

He gives the example of free ports as a benefit of Brexit and says it is how "we are attracting the investment and jobs".

He adds: "The choice of this election is about the future. We're not going to go back to Brexit. This is about the future…

"And actually, outside of the EU, we're able to do things that will drive more growth, create more jobs and allow me to cut more taxes."

The first two questions to Rishi Sunak are tough.

The first was about integrity in politics after the Tories' five prime ministers since 2010, the second about the betting scandal.

On betting, he says he's "incredibly angry" and if anyone has broken the law they should face the full force of the law.

And he adds: "I will ensure they will be booted out of the Conservative Party."

Tough talk. Let's see if it happens.

Rishi Sunak is challenged on the fact two Conservative Party candidates and the Conservatives' director of campaigning are being investigated by the Gambling Commission over allegations of betting on the timing of the election.

An audience member asks if this is "the absolute epitome of the lack of ethics that we have had to tolerate from the Conservative party for years and years"?

The prime minister says: "I was incredibly angry to learn of these allegations. It is a really serious matter."

He continues: "I want to be crystal clear that if anyone has broken the rules, they should face the full force of the law."

Quizzed over why the candidates have not been suspended while the investigations take place, Mr Sunak says: "All I can say is, they are serious investigations. It's right they are done thoroughly, confidentially."

He says if anyone has broken the rules, he will "make sure they are booted out of the Conservative Party".

Rishi Sunak is last up, and he is asked whether after having five prime ministers in the last seven years and the UK becoming something of an "international laughingstock," will he "confess to us a small amount of embarrassment?"

The prime minister says when he first got the job he "acknowledged that" and "said very clearly mistakes had been made".

He says he spent the summer before he became leader arguing against the policies of his predecessor, Liz Truss.

He asks the public to "judge me on my 18 months that I've been in office," listing his achievements in bringing inflation back to target and says if he is elected again he will continue to cut taxes, give people more financial security and deliver on the things people want.

After his awkward exchanges with Fiona Bruce on Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir was tackled by an audience member about his policy U-turns, which Fiona helpfully listed for him.

He grimaced.

He explained the U-turns on tuition fees and nationalisation of energy companies.

"I’m a common sense politician," he said. "They are political choices."

No applause, though.

Then came a tough question about immigration. His answer is long-winded and strays off the subject. Fiona Bruce cuts him short.

This quarter of the programme is getting boring.

Is that Sir Keir’s intention?

But then a tricky question, as he's quizzed about his dispute with Labour MP Rosie Duffield on trans issues.

"I agree with Tony Blair" that men have penises and women have vagin*s, Sir Keir says.

But he shuns the Canterbury MP and can’t bring himself to mention her by name.