Summary

  • This week Laura Kuenssberg is joined by Policing Minister Chris Philp and Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting

  • They're being asked about Conservative MP Dan Poulter's defection to Labour. Poulter, also an NHS doctor, tells Laura he quit because of the strain on the NHS

  • Philp says he doesn't accept Poulter's criticism of the government, adding that the Conservative party has protected NHS funding

  • Wes Streeting says Dan Poulter was not offered any deal to join Labour, as far as he is aware

  • We're also hearing from Nancy Pelosi, the veteran Democrat and former US House speaker, about college campus protests over Israel-Gaza

  • Sir Ed Davey, Lib Dem leader, also joins the show to discuss the state of the Scottish parliament - and Alex Salmond, leader of the Alba Party, says "key talks" lie ahead with SNP leader Humza Yousaf

  • On the panel this week, former cabinet minister Robert Jenrick is joined by Labour peer Baroness Chakrabarti and SNP MP Ian Blackford

Live Reporting

Edited by Jack Burgess

  1. Who is Chris Philp?

    Chris PhilpReuters

    Laura Kuenssberg will also be joined in the studio this morning by Crime, Policing and Fire Minister Chris Philp, who is one of the political guests she'll be interviewing.

    He’s been the MP for Croydon South since 2015 and held numerous ministerial positions in three successive governments - first under Boris Johnson, then Liz Truss, and now Rishi Sunak.

    Philp was briefly chief secretary to the treasury during Liz Truss’ premiership, but was dismissed along with then-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng following the infamous mini-budget.

    On Thursday he was criticised by opposition parties for appearing to confuse two African countries on BBC Question Time.

  2. Who’s on today's panel?

    Baroness Chakrabarti

    Labour peer and human rights lawyer Baroness Chakrabarti is on the panel this week.

    There will also be two MPs - the SNP’s Ian Blackford and the Conservatives' ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick.

    Jenrick resigned as immigration minister in December last year in protest against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

    He said at the time that the policy did not “go far enough".

    Baroness Chakrabarti is a member of the House of Lords and a member of the Labour Party.

    She previously served as shadow attorney general from 2016 to 2020 and as director of advocacy group Liberty.

    Blackford has represented Ross, Skye and Lochaber in the House of Commons for the SNP since 2015, but announced last year that he would not stand at the next election.

    He is a former banker and has previously served as SNP Westminster leader, but stood down from the role in December 2022.

  3. Tory MP Dan Poulter defects to Labour

    Ex-Tory MP Daniel Poulter defects to Labour over NHS

    In an exclusive interview yesterday, Tory MP and former minister Dan Poulter told Laura Kuenssberg he was concerned about the state of the NHS, where he works part time as a doctor, and other public services under the Conservatives.

    He was, he said, joining the Labour party.

    "I found it increasingly difficult to look my NHS colleagues in the eye, my patients in the eye, and my constituents in the eye with good conscience," he said.

    Poulter has represented the Central Suffolk and North Ipswich constituency since 2010 and served as a health minister from 2012 to 2015.

    He said that when he was first elected, the Conservative Party had a “compassionate view about supporting the more disadvantaged in society” but that it is now “in a very different place".

    Poulter also said he did not intend to stand again at the next general election.

    Read more on this story here.

  4. Hello and welcome

    Jack Burgess
    Live reporter

    Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of today’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Thanks for joining us.

    Our main story today - revealed in an exclusive interview with the programme yesterday - is that former minister and Conservative MP Dan Poulter has defected to Labour.

    You can watch that interview in full today, and we’ll be bringing you reaction as we get it.

    Also on the programme today is Home Office minister Chris Philp MP, shadow Health secretary Wes Streeting MP, former speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey.

    Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, fellow MP and former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, and Baroness Chakrabarti are all on the panel.

    Stay with us as we bring you updates.