Dover MP criticises ‘tired and chaotic government’ as her acceptance by Labour angers some of its MPs

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The Conservative MP for Dover has staged a dramatic defection to Labour saying her former party has become “a byword for incompetence and division”.

Natalie Elphicke became the second Tory MP to switch parties in two weeks in another major blow to Rishi Sunak as she crossed the floor of the Commons before prime minister’s questions on Wednesday.

While the Conservatives have given up, Rachel Reeves didn’t make the alternative sound exciting. But maybe that’s OK

The last time most of us saw Rishi Sunak was on Friday lunchtime. He was surrounded by armoured vehicles. His private security detail to protect him from angry Conservative MPs. Appearing in his own BBC hostage video, he declared that it was far too soon to draw any conclusions about the local elections as not all of the results were in.

Nothing escapes our Rish!. For once he was right. The later results were even worse for the government than the earlier ones. Culminating in the loss of the West Midlands mayoralty. One of the Tories’ home bankers. Andy Street couldn’t win in Birmingham even without any mention of Sunak or the Conservatives on his campaign literature. The brand is that toxic.

Rishi Sunak warns of ‘unacceptable rise’ as Gaza protests escalate and 10 students vow to go on hunger strike

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University bosses are to attend a Downing Street summit to discuss antisemitism on campuses, as Palestinian solidarity protests continue to escalate at UK universities, with 10 students now vowing to go on hunger strike.

Rishi Sunak told his cabinet on Tuesday that there had been an “unacceptable rise in antisemitism” on campuses and vice-chancellors would meet to talk about “the need for our universities to be safe for our Jewish students”.

The Welsh parliament could make wilfully misleading the public a criminal offence. The rest of the UK deserves the same protection

In 2019, I helped prove in court that the then prime minister misled the Queen . Boris Johnson claimed he prorogued parliament for purely administrative reasons. The circumstances, the court concluded , demonstrated that “the true reason for the prorogation is to reduce the time available for parliamentary scrutiny of Brexit at a time when such scrutiny would appear to be a matter of considerable importance”.

Johnson ultimately faced the supreme court over his decision – but many other politicians mislead the public, and parliament, with impunity. According to the factchecking campaign Full Fact, Rishi Sunak has, by my understanding, made 41 false or misleading public statements since becoming prime minister. Keir Starmer made seven in the same period. Jeremy Hunt and Suella Braverman made five each.

Sam Fowles is a barrister, author and broadcaster

Shadow chancellor to say Hunt’s and Sunak’s message of ‘the plan is working’, does not reflect economic reality

Good morning. Whenever Rishi Sunak or any other minister speaks in public and tries to explain why the Conservative government deserves to be re-elected, their main argument is to insist that “the plan is working”. In a speech this morning, Rachel Reeves , the shadow chancellor, will confront that claim head on.

As Pippa Crerar reports in her preview, Reeves will say that Tory claims that the economy is reviving are “deluded and completely out of touch”.

By the time of the next election, we can, and should, expect interest rates to be cut, Britain to be out of recession and inflation to have returned to the Bank of England’s target.

Indeed, these things could happen this month.

The PM danced to their tune and the dreadful election results were the outcome. The solution can’t be more of the same

• Justine Greening was Conservative MP for Putney from 2005-19

Last week’s local election results may finally have sunk Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party. It lost all but one of the 11 mayoralty contests, and while Ben Houchen held on in Tees Valley, it was with a diminished majority. Labour were out of sight in winning the Blackpool South byelection with a 26% swing, and more broadly in local elections across England the Tories lost nearly half the council seats they were defending.

These losses are staggering, but so too is the reaction of would-be Tory rebels, the Reform-lite group. They have suggested they will not challenge Sunak now; as Suella Braverman put it, it is Sunak who should “own this and fix it”. It is the height of political self-unawareness – because it is their political gameplan that Sunak’s rudderless No 10 has been attempting to follow. It is as a result of their flawed political judgments that support for the party has plummeted the length and breadth of the country, and across generations of voters – so much so that shockingly, the party only now leads in the over-70s voter age group . The 2024 local election results are their responsibility to “own”, not just the prime minister’s.

Justine Greening was education secretary and minister for women and equalities, 2016-18, and Conservative MP for Putney, 2005-19

Tories will crow about falling inflation and Britain’s waning recession. But the public sees the reality in its shopping basket

Labour’s tanks roll relentlessly across Tory lawns, not pausing a heartbeat to celebrate phenomenal local election results in England. It treated the local polls as a military rehearsal for the general election, with ruthless focus on places that will deliver most seats: that includes the south , as well as the north and Midlands, and the party is heading for Scottish turf too.

But the mesmerising ferocity of blue-on-blue abuse is the current news-making drama. Fighting bare-knuckle over post-election ideology, the Tory right are looking forward to an election defeat as long as one of their own isn’t at the helm. Besides, they have Sunak in their grip, while the Mail calls Boris Johnson a “coiled mamba” waiting “to save the Tories from total annihilation”. Mournful one-nationers echo the losing West Midlands mayor Andy Street’s dignified call for moderation, unheeded. Sunak can stay or go: Labour relishes either equally.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

Despite disastrous election results, long-threatened coup lacks numbers to force no-confidence vote

After months of plotting to oust Rishi Sunak by some on the right of the Conservative party, the rebellion fizzled out with barely a whimper this weekend despite a disastrous set of local election results .

Senior Tories had long predicted that bad losses could be enough to push their despondent colleagues over the edge, even those who could see that changing leader yet again before the general election could have dire electoral consequences.