UK’s Sunak and Starmer to clash in debate as Farage enters election fray
Al Jazeera
Conservative leader Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will go head-to-head in a televised debate.
The two main contenders to be Britain’s next prime minister are set to face off in a televised debate, with Conservative leader Rishi Sunak hoping to boost his party’s dismal outlook and Labour’s Keir Starmer aiming to cement his status as favourite.
The two-way leaders’ debate on Tuesday comes a day after populist Brexit-backer Nigel Farage dealt a blow to Sunak’s hopes of winning the July 4 election by announcing he will run for Parliament at the helm of the right-wing party Reform UK.
Farage kicked off his campaign on Tuesday in the eastern England seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea, where he visited a pub before a protester doused him in what appeared to be a milkshake. She was later arrested on suspicion of assault.
Farage is making an eighth attempt to win a seat in the House of Commons. His seven previous tries all failed.
The return of the populist politician, a key player in Britain’s 2016 decision to leave the European Union, is a major headache for Sunak’s party, which already trails Labour in opinion polls. Farage and Reform appear likely to siphon off votes of socially conservative older voters that the Tories have been targeting.
