Days of influence in the labour party are over. It comes after mr corbyn confirmed that hell stand as an independent candidate in the general election, being expelled from the party as a result. He was suspended in 2020 after claiming that complaints of antisemitism had been dramatically overstated. Labour had been dramatically overstated. Labour leader the labour leader said hes not worried about corbyns popularity in islington north, which hes represented since 1983. Gb news can reveal that more than 10,000 channel migrants have crossed illegally to the United Kingdom so far this year. The milestone figure was reached today after another 154 arrived in dover , another 154 arrived in dover, having crossed in three small boats this morning. Its being seen as a blow to rishi sunak on his second full day of Election Campaigning. Of course, hed promised that his government would stop the boats. The former boss of the post office has been accused of living in la la land over her role in the horizon scandal, Paula Vennells again becoming emotional on her third day. Giving evidence, she admitted making mistakes and accepted that there was no one else to blame. But she claimed that she didnt know why Important Information hadnt reached her. Sam stein kc described that as absolute rubbish, and he suggested that mrs. Vennells had failed to ask the right questions. And the right questions. And finally, the documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock has died at the age of 53. He came to prominence with his oscar nominated film super size me in 2004, which tracked his health while he ate nothing but mcdonalds for a whole month. The film was credited with prompting a broad conversation about how fast food and rising obesity was impacting society. Mr spurlock passed away in new york due to complications from cancer. York due to complications from cancer. Well, if you want all cancer. Well, if you want all the latest headlines, you can sign up for gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gbb news. Com. Slash alerts. Back now to. Patrick. Good evening and welcome to the gb news general Election Special. We are 48 hours on from this earlier today i spoke with his majesty the king to request the dissolution of parliament. The king has granted this request. And we will have request. And we will have a general election on the 4th of july. Already a heck of a lot has happened. Key battle lines have been drawn. Immigration the environment. Weve already seen a bit of calamity. Sunaks advisers telling him it was a goodidea advisers telling him it was a good idea to campaign at a place with the word titanic in it. Prime minister, we are just yards away from where the titanic was built and designed. Are you confident a sinking ship going into this election. 7 going into this election . Storm has started to get grilled on his u turns . Youve also dropped pledges to abolish University Tuition fees, increase income tax for the top 5 of earners, bring into Public Ownership the utilities, so are people right to worry that any promises you make now will be junked once youre in number 10 . Sir ed davey of the lib dems has given his campaign a kick start. Mango. Start. Mango. I recommend it and reform have lost their biggest asset. What i could not do in the space of six weeks. And yes , all space of six weeks. And yes, all right, hes wrongfooted me. But in the space of six weeks was to find a constituency from scratch and go around the country. Well, here are the latest polls. Yougov have the polls. Yougov have the conservatives on 21, while labour are on 46. Reform uk are at 12 and the lib dems are on nine. The greens on seven. What a panel ive got for you tonight, writer and broadcaster emma woolf former labour mp Stephen Pound and the Political Correspondent at the spectator, james hill, now i have some breaking news for you that has literally just come in in the last few seconds. Its a big one. James three minutes to go. Michael gove announced he is standing down from parliament after almost 20 years in the hot seat, and hes going to be quitting the cabinet and leaving at the general election. So just to reiterate, michael gove is standing down at this election. Yes. Big news, i think in a majority of around 18,000. And of course, hes been a key tory powerbroker for the past 20 years. And, you know, the fact that hes now going, i think really shows kind of one of the mainstay figures, one of the few people left in the original cameron cabinet of 2010 has now decided to quit. Hugely influential, of course. In 2016, vote leave and 2019 with Boris Johnsons government as well. And of course, at the end of his government bringing down Boris Johnson in 2022, he wasnt. It wasnt just a powerbroker, though. He was one of the one of the few really great original thinkers on the front bench. His work in education. And i say im laboun work in education. And i say im labour, you know, and hes tory, but i have to say, i respected what he did in education and he, to be honest, he should have carried it through. Hes an original thinker and its very, very unusual in modern politics. And it makes you wonder whats he going to do . And more to the point, what are we going to do without him . Because theres not that many original thinkers. Im just going to read out what hes put out as his statement, and then ill come to you on this, emma, he said. After nearly 20 years serving the wonderful people of surrey heath and over a decade in cabinet across five government departments, i have today taken the decision to step down as a member of parliament. This is his letter. I think its probably worth me just reading this in full. It is big news. Thank you for your kindliness earlier. This is to stuart black, the chairman of his local conservatives. I believe he says, as we discussed, i have decided today not to seek to represent surrey heath at the forthcoming general election. This election comes almost 20 years after i was first adopted by this fantastic association as your candidate. He goes on to praise his local constituency. He says im grateful to them all. This is all the leaders he served under david cameron, who gave me the chance to pursue the education reforms in which i passionately believe theresa may who asked me to support her in challenging times. Boris johnson , who delivered brexit and set out the levelling up vision. Out the levelling up vision. Rishi sunak not much mention of liz truss there, to be fair, but rishi sunak, who asked me to return to government. You miss it . Yeah, yeah, he asked me to return to government when i believe my ministerial career had ended. He says that i also know the toll that office can take, as do those closest to me. No one in politics is a conscript. We are volunteers. He conscript. We are volunteers. He says hes proud to watch the reforms that he introduced. Bear fruit. He goes on to here, say, that he was privileged to help introduce homes for ukraine scheme, and ill just read you the final, the final segment of this. Now why not . He says , ive this. Now why not . He says, ive been privileged to work with my brilliant ministerial colleagues. I shared with you a few weeks ago a conservative home article, which i outlined why we have a record in government that we can be truly proud of with every good wish. Michael gove emma, this is big. This is big news and i think its a real blow for sunak. I think weve seen so many tory mps deserting. But as you say, these are big beasts. These are original thinkers. Michael gove, like him or loathe him, has been part of this, of this whole, you know, this whole kind of project for the last, what, 15 years. And so this is going to be a massive blow for sunak. And a real kind of it shows the lack of confidence, i think, in this government that they have any hope of anything, on july the 4th. And of course, this comes on the day that he revealed that 77 tory mps are standing down. This is the largest amount since the second world war, overtaking that 997 region. And i think it really shows now that any tory mp with a majority of around 15,000 to 20,000 less than that, is now fearing for their political safety. And so its exactly what rishi sunak didnt need on the third day of his Election Campaign. Yeah, i mean, to be honest, this campaign so far has been quite disastrous and ive been shocked at the international press. The reaction overnight of the international press, theyve all and you know, they dont need to be that interested in uk politics. And we were all laughing at, you know sunak outside in the deluge. You know after me the deluge. All while a deluge standing in the rain being absolutely drenched. But the international press, the spanish, french, american saying humiliated Prime Minister, you know, this pathetic , this know, this pathetic, this pathetic image of the british Prime Minister standing in the rain. You know, we are a national joke. And then today he pitches up at the titanic shipyard, having having insulted the welsh nation the day before. Well, well, yeah, exactly that. And also being pictured with an exit sign at the back of him. Stephen, how big a blow to rishi sunak is michael gove standing down . I think its massive. Theres i think its massive. Theres one thing about michael gove people seem to forget he was a times leader writer before he came to parliament in 2001, and as a times leader writer, he really, really did make the weather. He was incredibly important. I mean, i believe you, me as a labour mp, we neven you, me as a labour mp, we never, ever misreading that. And we used to discuss it in the whips office because it was very, very important what he was saying. But i think the important thing emma said earlier on about his originality there just arent that many people with that degree of intellectual rigidity and strength about them. Its a huge blow because, you know, as everybody said at this platform, if hes leaving and he had a majority, i think its about 18,000 in surrey. Heath, if hes leaving, who are the hell staying and the experience, i think just having people whove been around the around the national memories. Yeah, exactly. Knowing where this happened before this happened under theresa may. This happened under theresa may. This happened when you have people who dont have that experience, you know, youre really you really are a big beast, isnt he . Is unquestionably a big beast. And he looked like he wanted to actually play a part in that kind of what came next, the kind of rehabilitation, the kind of talk about, you know, different. Which way is the tory party going to go . Is it going to be the right, the left . What kind of future looks like . I will say on the times point as well, ive already had one person from news uk text me and say within 12 months michael gove will be editor of the times, so we wanted to keep an eye on given how influential journalist he had a proper journalistic career had a properjournalistic career before politics, i should think thats even money. I think i would. Thats even money. So you think michael gove will quit and hell be editor of the times shortly . Im sorry to whoever the current editor of the times is. By the way, apologies. Just to reiterate the breaking news that landed literally as i sat in this chair. Actually, michael gove is standing down, he says. After nearly 20 years serving the wonderful people of surrey heath and over a decade in cabinet across five government departments, i have today taken the decision to step down as a member of parliament. He is the secretary of state for levelling up. Andi secretary of state for levelling up. And i do wonder, james, what does that say is the conservatives are struggling to cling on to the red wall and all of this, the areas where they were supposed to level up. I mean, hes got his bags packed and hes on his way. Well, i think this was, you know, the dissolution of parliament today. We saw the renters reform, being dropped. And i think that that kind of was the end of it was his last great crusade in government. And i do think the levelling up, the kind of phrase levelling up is going to die a death with the end of this government, which is that labour dont like to use it. I think that the tories spent a lot of money on trying to make it work, but as one mp, one minister actually in mr sunaks government said to me that speech i heard the other day said it was about pump priming. You know, the local economy actually it wasnt delivering lasting institutional change to kind of sort the uks long Term Economic woes out in the regions. I think its leasehold reform is not the sexiest subject in the world, but its incredibly important and it affects millions of people in this country. Michael gove had a really good plan to reform the leasehold situation weve had in this country, which has pertained for over a thousand years, and this was his child, this is his brainwave, and he today hes realised its not going to carry it through. That must, i imagine hed be furious with that because this would have been real legacy. Every politician looks for legacy. I mean, you know, i look for people to forget me if possible. But, you know, most amnesia is what i would want. But, you know, people want real politicians want legacy. And that would have been his. Not just his education reform, but the leasehold reform. Lets run through what this what this bill would have been. So this is the bill that michael gove was hoping to get through. It is the leaseholders, the bill for leaseholders. The bill increase the standards of lease for homes and flats to 990 years, removes the marriage value towards the end of the lease. Makes buying or selling a leasehold property quicker and eafien leasehold property quicker and easier. Requires transparency over service charges. Over service charges. Administration. Okay, so like you said stephen, it is not particularly sexy politics. Well, ive just been through the process of extending my lease on a flat in london, and i can tell you all of those things matter. Can tell you all of those things matter. Things like marriage value and things like it all being 999 years rather than these and service charges. Dont these and service charges. Dont forget Service Service charges where youre paying thousands of pounds a year to a Management Company who do absolutely. Based in dubai , depher. And frankly, in dubai, depher. And frankly, you say its not the sexiest subject, but actually, stephen, these are the things that people care about. These are the things that real people actually care about. Like the money in their pockets, like paying their lease, paying their rent. That was the point i was trying to make, actually. Yeah, i know, but on on this as well. So michael gove big brexiteer. All right. Now you have a look as well at today that news james that lord frost is apparently being blocked from standing as a as a candidate. There were concerns and im doing a bit on this on my show later tonight 9 to 11 pm. Cheeky little plug that does just delve into this. Whether or not the conservative party in amongst what is expected to possibly. Well well see. We will see how they do at the general election, their rebrand could actually be something a bit wishy washy and centrist. And michael gove going maybe that emphasises it. I think that, you know, michael gove was expected to be a big player in all the kind of what happened after the election. Him going definitely impacts that and changes the sort of balance of power slightly. I do also think with theresa may standing down, a lot of the brexit generation are now going, you know, one form or another. Ben wall is bowing out as well. So i think what were going to see is the sort of the crisis years of the past, sort of 5 to 10 years or so post pandemic, etc. All thats kind of going through. And while we wait to see what the kind of conservative party is going to look like for the next 2020, the 20305, look like for the next 2020, the 2030s, etc, but its going to be people without those kind of experience and heft that weve seen over the past ten years. Under the coalition and the conservative government since. Yeah, im just having a look through his letter, he says. Im proud to have led the Vote Leave Campaign along Boris Johnson and gisela stuart, which secured the largest mandate in modern british history for vote to leave the european union, take back control of our political destiny. Fundamentally, our country is stronger with politicians in westminster able to control our laws, borders and money. Since 2016, weve also increased nhs funding. Ill just finish with his with his final line here. All right. Well no second final line. Throughout my time in politics, although i have undoubtedly made mistakes, ihave have undoubtedly made mistakes, i have always tried to be a voice for those who have been overlooked and undervalued. Ive overlooked and undervalued. Ive had to fight for greater social justice. And hes trying to set out his legacy. Isnt he here really . And do you think this really . And do you think this gives another shot in the arm for keir starmer . For keir starmer . Well i yeah i was thinking as you guys were talking i think we just its not in the bag for labouris just its not in the bag for labour is it. I mean theyre in a bit of a mess now about Jeremy Corbyn. Theyve got this bizarre situation where Natalie Elphicke far right. Natalie elphicke is a labour mp and Jeremy Corbyn is no longer a labour mp. Hes been chucked out. So i just think and Laura Kuenssberg was pointing out that for labour to get over the line, they have to have a sort of historic swing. So i think that, you know, things could just get a heck of a lot more complicated before they get straight again. Straight again. Yeah, i think its a good sign for labour, the fact that someone like michael gove doesnt want to hang around and thinks, look, ive got Better Things to do with my life is a sign that i think. How many resignations have we had now . Roughly 77 or exactly 77. Yeah. And thats only thus far. I mean, theyve still got six weeks to go. Yeah, that. Yeah, that. Stephen look, you know that thatis stephen look, you know that that is that is an absolute gift for the labour party, for the lib dems, for, you know, whoever else. Because they can legitimately point at tories jumping ship. And there have been serious question marks. There have be