Labour donor and green energy businessman given permission to serve papers to Paul Staines’ home in Ireland

The Labour donor Dale Vince has employed a new legal approach to sue the political blog Guido Fawkes for libel, despite the website being hosted overseas.

Vince, who has given millions of pounds to Labour in the run-up to the general election, says the Westminster-focused blog falsely suggested that he supports Hamas, a proscribed terrorist group.

In some constituencies – often with large Muslim populations – a parallel viral campaign focuses on emotive issues such as Gaza that rarely feature in national coverage

When Keir Starmer was interviewed for the Sun’s YouTube live stream last week, only about 10,000 people tuned in to watch him pledge to get tough on illegal immigration.

Under pressure to prove he would speed up deportations, the Labour leader singled out one example in particular: “At the moment people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed because they’re not being processed.”

Leading politicians victimised by online material including AI deepfakes, investigation finds

British female politicians have become the victims of fake pornography, with some of their faces used in nude images created using artificial intelligence.

Political candidates targeted on one prominent fake pornography website include: the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner; the education secretary, Gillian Keegan; the Commons leader, Penny Mordaunt; the former home secretary, Priti Patel; and the Labour backbencher Stella Creasy, according to Channel 4 News.

Want to catch a few results before bed, or see it through to the moment of reckoning? We’ve got you covered

After months of speculation on when the election might be held, six weeks of actual campaigning, D-day blunders, gambling scandals, smashing the gangs, stopping the boats, surrendering finances, triple-lock-pluses, national service, VAT on private schools, taxes up and taxes down, the election night will soon be upon us. Here’s how it may unfold: