Chaos v the vacuum: Big two go head to head on TV tonight

RISHI SUNAK and Sir Keir Starmer go head to head in their first TV debate tonight, pitting a choice between "chaos" and a policy "vacuum" as they ramp up their campaigns for the election in four weeks' time.

- Jitendra Joshi

The Prime Minister goes into the ITV debate as very much the underdog after the campaign's biggest polls yet pointed to a Conservative wipeout on July 4. So Mr Sunak will be under pressure to go on the attack and try to wrong-foot the Labour leader.

It is a sign of the inversion of roles that the beleaguered Tories pushed for as many as six debates to get their message across one for every week of the campaign. They had to settle for two head-to-head contests - ITV's at 9pm tonight, moderated by Julie Etchingham, and one on the BBC on June 26. They will also feature in a BBC Question Time special, involving the Liberal Democrat and SNP leaders as well, on June 20.