He says that too many politicians on both sides seem "more comfortable in banalities and fudges" and "spouting pieties rather than actually speaking with conviction". Mr Manzoor says the speech, in his view, was "something born from calculation and cynicism, rather than conviction". Phillips also speaks to journalist Sarfraz Manzoor. The Labour peer says this has happened a number of times under Mr Sunak, where police chiefs are called into Downing Street, and then a press release is put out about what they have been told by the prime minister.Ĭhallenged about her use of the word sinister, Baroness Chakrabarti says she uses it because of the "cheek" of Mr Sunak talking about those issues "when so many of his ministers and senior Conservatives have been pouring fuel on the flames of polarisation, culture war, division in our country" - singling out Lee Anderson and Suella Braverman. She says: "I think in a liberal democracy - and he's now claiming to be a liberal patriot, I think that was the language he used - we don't have prime ministers interfering with operational policing." This address came after the election of George Galloway, and also the suspension of Lee Anderson from the Conservative parliamentary party.īaroness Chakrabarti, a former director of the charity Liberty, says the most "sinister" part of the speech was Mr Sunak "almost suggesting that he has read the riot act to the police". "Across Surrey, it will be a two horse race between out of touch Conservative MPs, or hard-working local Liberal Democrats."īaroness Shami Chakrabarti, the Labour peer and human rights lawyer, is speaking to Trevor Phillips about Rishi Sunak's speech on Friday. "Liberal Democrats are fired up in Surrey to oust Conservative MPs who have taken people for granted. "In the chancellor's own backyard, food bank demand is surging after his government failed to get a grip on the cost of living crisis.
"It's no wonder that Jeremy Hunt is on the brink of his losing his seat when people across Surrey are furious they can't get GP appointments, that their hospitals have been left to crumble, and water firms are still allowed to pollute their rivers. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper MP said: While Labour and Liberal Democrats deny any conspiring to tactically unseat Conservative MPs, this is one area where - if Labour don't divert resources - a coalition of voters could provide a new "Portillo moment". Treating this as a pen portrait of the situation, rather than a definitive temperature taking of what will happen, it appears Mr Hunt is under increasing pressure to hold his seat. The data, provided by Survation to the Guardian through the campaign group 38 Degrees, puts the Lib Dems on 35%, the Conservatives on 29% and Labour on 22%. One poll has suggested that the Lib Dems are six points ahead of Mr Hunt in the public's estimation - although constituency level polling is always tricky and this survey only asked around 500 people, when most polling involves 1,000 to 2,000 participants. The Liberal Democrats are clearly focussed on winning his seat of South West Surrey, nestled under London in the so-called "blue wall". Ahead of his budget this week, Jeremy Hunt is also having to keep an eye on his performance closer to home.