Election latest: Sunak questioned on ‘nightmare’ poll – as Tories employ ‘risky’ strategy

First up on the Politics Hub show is former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine.

Asked how he thinks the election campaign is going for the Conservatives, he first says the party has presided over an “extraordinarily difficult period of economic history”.

He says the Tories have done some “very remarkable and impressive things” but concedes that people now feel “frustrated” and want “change”.

“The real judgement you’ve got to make in this election is what do you mean by change?” he says.

Lord Heseltine says the “issue at the heart of the election” is “people”.

He points to Nigel Farage as someone he believes is “prepared to exploit that human anxiety about anyone who’s different”.

“You can whip up all sorts of horrendous emotions… that’s what Nigel Farage is a past master at doing. The only consequence of what he is doing is that you will have a bigger Labour majority,” he says.

Tories ‘can’t fester racism and nationalism’

Lord Heseltine says he would be “horrified” if Mr Farage were to be welcomed into the Conservative Party.

He says that if the Tories were to lose the election, their “return to power will be led from the centre ground”.

“Certainly it will not happen by festering those most basic human instincts of racism and and nationalism,” he says.

Asked whether he feels heartbroken at what’s happened to the party, Lord Heseltine says he can’t help but “feel sad” after decades of service.

“This is not the end of the Conservative Party, they will be back,” he says.