Rishi Sunak turns to 2019 winner Boris Johnson at last-gasp campaign event

Live updates: Follow the latest news on the UK general election

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called in Conservative big-hitter Boris Johnson for the party's last campaign event before Thursday's general election.

The divisive former Tory prime minister was greeted by cheers, claps, whistles and chants of “Boris, Boris, Boris”.

Mr Johnson thanked those attending for “coming so late, way past [Labour leader] Keir Starmer’s bed time”.

“When Rishi asked me to come and help of course I couldn’t say no,” he said.

“We’re all here because we love our country.”

Mr Johnson told the audience a Labour government would increase taxes and would not stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“They will scrap the Rwanda plan,” he said before describing Labour MPs as “Kremlin crawlers”.

Mr Johnson criticised Mr Starmer for not being able to explain “the difference between a man and a woman”.

“He sits there with his mouth open like a stunned mullet,” he said.

Boris Johnson's time as British Prime Minister - in pictures

Mr Johnson said the Labour Party's expected landslide win must be curbed.

“They can achieve nothing in this election except to usher in the most left-wing Labour government since the war with a huge majority, and we must not let it happen," he told campaigners.

“Don’t let the Putinistas deliver the Corbynistas. Don’t let Putin’s pet parrots give this entire country psittacosis – which is a disease you get, by the way, from cosying up to pet parrots.

“Friends, if you actually – everybody if you actually want higher taxes next week, this year, if you feel you’ve got a few thousands to spare, then vote Labour on Thursday.

"If you want uncontrolled immigration and mandatory wokery, and pointless kowtowing to Brussels again, then go right ahead, make my day, vote for Starmer.

“But if you want to protect our democracy and our economy and keep this country strong abroad by spending 2.5 per cent of our GDP on defence, which Labour still refuses to commit to, then you know what to do, don’t you, everybody?

“There’s only one thing to do – vote Conservative on Thursday, my friends, and I know you will. I know you will.”

Mr Sunak followed Mr Johnson's speech by saying voters must “think about what a government with a blank cheque would do.

“Just think, just think, it was just the other day when Keir Starmer was saying that Jeremy Corbyn would have been a better prime minister than Boris," he said.

“Shameful. Can you imagine what that would have meant for Ukraine? What it would have meant for our country’s security, our defence, the damage it would have done to our economy?”

Closing his speech from a podium set up underneath a suspended military helicopter, Mr Sunak said: “Do not surrender to Labour … fight for every vote”.

“I love my country,” he told the cheering crowd. "My story would not be possible in any other country.”

A number of people came forward to shake hands with Mr Sunak as the lights faded and he headed for the exit.

Starmer and Sunak in last-ditch pleas to voters as campaign enters final day

On Tuesday evening Mr Sunak and Labour Party leader Mr Starmer made their last-ditch pleas to voters as the British general election campaign entered its final 24 hours.

Mr Sunak is again urging wavering voters to stick with the Conservative Party, to stop a Labour “supermajority” in the House of Commons.

In one final speech in Hampshire on Wednesday, he will claim that Tory MPs will help to offer a balance to what is expected to be a landslide majority for Labour.

In a bid to dissuade the public away from other rival parties, Mr Sunak will also warn a vote for the Liberal Democrats would help to secure a Labour victory, as they will back the party's ideas in the next Parliament.

He said that Reform UK is likely to win only a handful of seats.

Mr Sunak is also expected to bring up disputed claim that Labour’s proposals for government will lead to a £2,094 ($3,684) rise in taxes for the average household.

“Only we Conservatives can stand up to Labour," he will say, according to early released excerpts from his speech.

Fourteen years of Conservative Party rule - in pictures

“So, if you are one of those 130,000 voters who could stop a Labour supermajority, lend us your support, for we are the only party that can stop a supermajority and stand up to Labour.”

“If you are worried about an unchecked, unaccountable Labour government you can stop that by offering us your support so we can stand up for you and be your voice in the next Parliament.

“Your vote will determine whether your MP is just another addition to Starmer’s supermajority or a local champion, someone who cares about you and will fight for your area and its needs.

“Do you want a member of Parliament who holds the government to account or one who just unthinkingly backs Keir Starmer and whatever he wants to do?

“With your vote, you have the power to ensure that Keir Starmer doesn’t have a blank cheque, that there are MPs there to hold him to account.”

Poll after poll are now suggesting the Labour Party is expected to win a large majority in Parliament.

An average of all polls completed during the seven days to July 2 puts Labour on 40 per cent, 19 points ahead of the Conservatives on 21 per cent, followed by Reform on 16 per cent, the Lib Dems on 11 per cent and the Greens on 6 per cent.

Analysis by The Times of YouGov polling has suggested Labour has a broad voter coalition in many areas, but that support is sometimes not deeply held.

The newspaper has said this means if only 130,000 people switch their votes on polling day, it could drastically reduce the predicted majority of Mr Starmer’s party.

Britain's Labour Party through the years - in pictures

Mr Starmer will conclude a whirlwind tour of the country on Wednesday in a final bid to secure Labour’s return to power after 14 years.

In Staffordshire on Tuesday, he issued one last rallying cry to activists, saying: “Let’s get this over the line, let’s get that Labour government.”

As the election approached, Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden said voters faced a “big choice” on Thursday, between “five more years of chaos with the Conservatives or change with Labour”.

“Don’t forget: one rule for them, another for everyone else," Mr McFadden said.

"Don’t forget the economic chaos for which the British people are still paying the price. Don’t forget the cronyism.

“You can put a stop to it. Change is in your hands and you can be part of it.”

Mr Starmer and his shadow cabinet are expected to spend Wednesday crossing the country, selling Labour’s six “first steps” and urging voters not to “risk” five more years of Conservative government.

Despite Labour’s consistent poll leads, he has sought to avoid sounding complacent, stressing that polls do not always “predict the future”.

But Mr Starmer's campaign stops in the final week have suggested ambitious targets, as he visited seats with Conservative majorities of more than 10,000 votes.

“We’re out in constituencies where we haven’t necessarily won before, because we think that many people are disillusioned with what they’ve seen in the last 14 years," he told reporters.

“We’re a changed Labour Party and we’re constantly putting our case forward, still smiling, still with a spring in our step that we’re probably the only positive campaign left now.”

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