A change of heart is as good as a rest..
Former Labour Party and Change UK MP Chuka Umunna announced that he has joined the Liberal Democrats. In announcing his move to the Liberal Democrat’s Mr Umunna said, “I was wrong to think millions of politically homeless people... wanted a new party and that he “massively underestimated just how difficult it is to set up a fully-fledged new party without an existing infrastructure".
In a move that has resulted in further criticism from Mr Umunna’s former Labour colleagues, Ian Lavery MP and Chair of the Labour Party said “Three parties in as many months... who's next? Put your immense popularity to the good people of Streatham... let's have a PV [People's Vote] on you and your principles."
The future’s bright, the future’s Boris..or is it?
Tory heavyweight, Boris Johnson overwhelmingly beat every Conservative leadership hopeful when it was announced on Thursday that he received 114 votes guaranteeing him a place in the final two.
Jeremy Hunt who was second received 43 votes beating Michael Gove who got 37, Matt Hancock received 20, Dominic Raab received 27, Sajid David received 23 and outsider Rory Stewart received 19 votes just taking him over the line to remain in the competition.
Andrea Leadsom, Esther McVey and Mark Harper are out of the competition as they didn’t get the minimum votes required to stay in the race, and its speculated that most of their votes will go to Boris in the next voting round.
With growing speculation that Boris Johnson is almost certainly going to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister anything can change between now and the next vote on the 18 June.
Straight talking politics: Lorraine Kelly style
TV presenter Lorraine Kelly said what many people in the country feel about the current state of UK politics in which she said “We've had two and a half years of people going round in circles and not sorting Brexit out. And now we've got a state in Britain where people are at each other's throats and it's got to stop." Ms Kelly said she was "really, really, really disappointed" that Ruth Davidson, the openly gay Scottish Conservatives leader, was not standing in the race. When asked by Piers Morgan if she remembers Tory leadership hopeful, Esther McVey Ms Kelly said “I’ll be genuinely honest with you, I don’t remember, it was such a long time ago, my show was separate from that show and there was no kind of interaction.”
Hancock’s half hour no more
Tory MP Matt Hancock has announced that he has pulled out of the Conservative leadership contest and said he is “focused on the future but the party needed a leader to succeed in the here and now"
In an interview with John Pienaar, Deputy Political Editor, Matt Hancock said “"I've been incredibly encouraged and humbled by the amount of support that I've had in this campaign. I've tried to make the argument about the values that the Conservative Party needs to hold dear, of free enterprise and support for a free society and being open and optimistic and enthusiastic about the future."
All remaining candidates will be in discussions with Mr Hancock in an attempt to woo his votes to their campaign.