Evening Summary
- Michael Gove has promised the NHS an extra £100m a week by 2020 at the launch of his bid to be the next Tory leader and prime minister. The Vote Leave campaign, masterminded by Gove, had pledged an extra £350m a week for the NHS. Gove also said he would end free movement, introduce an Australian-style points-based system for immigration and bring numbers down. Gove said he was a reluctant candidate but that he was “the best person to lead Britain out of the European Union”. Only five Tory MPs were at the launch despite previous reports that there had been a stampede of Johnson supporters turning to Gove.
- George Osborne has said Brexit means the government must abandon its plan for a budget surplus by 2020. The pledge to do so was a key lynchpin of his economic strategy. John McDonnell welcomed the move, which he and Jeremy Corbyn have been demanding for months, but said it should have been done sooner, condemning “failed Tory austerity”. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the chancellor’s announcement meant more austerity spending cuts and tax rises in the next parliament.
- McDonnell has said that the free movement of people will come to an end as a result of Britain leaving the EU. In a speech outlining Labour’s post-Brexit plan, the shadow chancellor said that, in the interim, Labour needed to “consult with the British people on the nature of the relationship we have with regard to the free movement of people”. He said that this was not Labour’s position but “the formal reality as it stands”.
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The French president, François Hollande, has stepped up the pressure on the UK over its timetable to leave the EU, insisting that Brexit cannot be cancelled or delayed, and that Britain will have to live with the consequences.
His hardline comments came after a meeting with David Cameron in northern France at the Battle of the Somme centenary commemorations.
- Germany’s foreign minister has vented his anger at David Cameron and Boris Johnson, blaming their rivalry for a referendum result that he says has damaged the European Union. Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the online version of the German magazine Der Spiegel: “What bothers me the most is that the two principal rivals of the Tories turned an inner-party conflict into a full-blown state and government crisis, and thereby damaged the European Union as a whole.”
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Arron Banks, the millionaire backer of Leave.EU, the campaign run by Ukip’s Nigel Farage, has backed Andrea Leadsom for Tory leader. Meanwhile, senior Tories Michael Fallon and Patrick McLoughlin have come out for Theresa May, who has also been backed by the Daily Mail. Ken Clarke attacked the “bizarre manoeuvrings” of Gove who he said “would do us all a favour if he were to stand down now”.
- Emily Thornberry has apologised to the Israeli embassy following the row over Jeremy Corbyn’s comments at the launch of Labour’s antisemitism review, a spokesman for the ambassador said. At the launch of the report, Corbyn appeared to many present to have compared Israel to Islamic extremists in prepared remarks. The text of the speech given by Corbyn had in fact referred to “Islamic states and organisations” but the remarks caused some offence.
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The Department for Education has published a message about how the referendum result affects it, including these paragraphs:
There will be no immediate changes in the circumstances of European citizens living, studying or working in the UK – current arrangements will continue to apply to European pupils and their families, and to teachers, early years and social work professionals and all others who work with children.
All schools will continue to play an important role in promoting the fundamental British values of mutual respect and tolerance for those of all backgrounds and faiths. We are clear that no child should live in fear of racism or bullying, and by law all schools must have a behaviour policy with measures to tackle bullying.
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Experts in NHS finances are a little confused by Michael Gove’s pledge of £100m a week more for the NHS, reports Denis Campbell, health policy editor for the Guardian and the Observer:
Nigel Edwards, the chief executive of the Nuffield Trust health thinktank, says:
What are we to make of Michael Gove’s commitment? Given recent events we should scrutinise it closely. The £5.2bn a year he’s talking about is a context free number, and it raises some big questions. Does he mean £5.2bn on top of or instead of the £8bn extra by 2020 that the government has already pledged? Because if it’s £5.2bn instead of the £8bn then that obviously leaves us £2.8bn short of the £8bn we are expecting. Is it a real-terms increase or a cash increase?
And does he mean [the money is for] England or the UK? If he means the extra money to go only to England then it would cost a lot more to give the rest of the UK an equivalent increase? And does he mean that the money should go only into the NHS or into the wider health budget, which includes public health, the training of health professionals and other things?
In his pitch earlier for the leadership, Gove inferred – but did not say explicitly – that he saw his £5.2bn as additional to the £8bn David Cameron, George Osborne and Jeremy Hunt have already promised to give NHS England by 2020-21. He said: “I will take all the steps necessary to give the NHS at least another £100m per week by 2020.” It would be odd if he did not see the £5.2bn as genuinely extra funding, given what he said during the referendum campaign.
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Johnson also makes an appearance on the cover of First news, the weekly newspaper for young readers, in which he promises that children will have a great future in Europe.
"Don't worry, kids!" pic.twitter.com/yJ9YwwuUPy
— Jon Dennis (@JonDennis) July 1, 2016
Interesting to see it in print this week. As Gaby Hinsliff was written, support for Johnson really started to fall away post Brexit vote away following his latest column for Monday’s Daily Telegraph, in which he “basically argued for a magical world of unicorns and rainbows.”
There’s no mention of the unicorns or rainbows in that First News piece. Whether it would have been enough to stay the executioner’s hand is another matter.
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A familiar face stares out from the front cover of the latest issue of Newsweek, which has been overtaken somewhat by events.
Our latest cover story: #Bregret and the European Union https://t.co/hfwiM2Z62M pic.twitter.com/dn0QoaiEoN
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) July 1, 2016
Worth a read for its placing of Brexit in a broader context: “A symptom of powerfully disruptive political forces that are far bigger than British politics.”
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Boris Johnson’s supporters continue to feel sore about Michael Gove’s ambush of their man’s leadership ambitions, meanwhile. A tweet from the political journalist Isabel Oakeshott:
Boris aide re. Gove: "Never trust someone who has plastic grass in their garden."
— Isabel Oakeshott (@IsabelOakeshott) July 1, 2016
Perhaps a question arises: who in the Gove household bore ultimate responsibility for choosing the grass?
Just on that, you might want to read Marina Hyde on the “UK Underwoods” - “a sort of metropolitan elite version of Christine and Neil Hamilton”.
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The chairman of the Treasury committee, the Tory MP Andrew Tyrie, has backed George Osborne’s abandonment of his policy of achieving a budget surplus by 2020.
Tyrie said: “Any rule which required the Chancellor to adjust public spending or taxation twice a year to take account of small changes in the OBR’s forecasts was always likely to be vulnerable. To be credible it needed to be put in a longer-term framework.”
“The Bank now has the crucial task of doing what it can to maintain stability – they may be at it for some time.”
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The government has answered Jo Cox’s final questions in parliament – which focused on protecting children who live in a war zone.
Two days before her death, the Labour MP had pressed the Foreign Office to give its assessment of the United Nations’ decision to temporarily remove the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen’s civil war from its blacklist of children’s rights violators.
The Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood has since replied, with a government note on each answer stating: “This question was tabled before the sad death of the honourable lady but the subject remains important and the government’s response ought to be placed on the public record.”
Read his answer here, where Ellwood said that the UN secretary general’s announcement has been noted by the UK, adding: “A political solution remains the best way to bring this conflict and the suffering of the Yemeni people to an end.
“The UK government continues to support the work of the United Nations on children and armed conflict.”
Cox, who developed a reputation as a champion of the vulnerable in conflict zones, also tabled two questions about military intervention in Yemen on 14 June.
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A post-Brexit UK government should respect a new EU deal designed to halve the number of premature deaths from air pollution, MEPs have said.
The Guardian’s Arthur Neslen reports:
The draft directive agreed on Thursday sets national limits for emissions from five pollutants by 2030: sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, non-methane volatile organic compounds, ammonia and fine particulate matter.
The Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder said: “This agreement to cut deadly air pollution will save thousands of lives throughout Europe every year.
“The UK government must still commit to meeting these targets no matter what happens in the coming years. Brexit cannot be used as an excuse to water down environmental laws and become the dirty man of Europe again.”
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Hollande: Brexit cannot be cancelled or delayed
After that intervention by the German foreign minister, France’s president, François Hollande, has also stepped up the pressure on the UK over its timetable to leave the EU.
He insisted that Brexit cannot be cancelled or delayed, and that Britain will have to live with the consequences.
Hollande’s hardline comments came after a meeting with David Cameron in northern France at the Battle of the Somme centenary commemorations, where he told reporters:
The decision has been taken; it cannot be delayed and it cannot be cancelled. Now [the British] have to face the consequences.
“Being in the European Union has advantages,” added the president, alluding to voters who opted to leave but have since expressed regrets.
And that’s ... what the British are starting to understand. Those who were tempted by the Brexit are starting to think it over.
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Speaking of tough times, here’s some video of that announcement earlier by George Osborne that he plans to abandon his policy of achieving a budget surplus by 2020, following the UK’s decision to leave the EU.
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The medical director of NHS England, Bruce Keogh, has thrown his backing behind overseas staff working in the NHS and expressed his total condemnation for the racist attitudes that have emerged since last week’s vote for Brexit.
Rachel Pugh, for the Guardian, was listening to him speak and reports that he said: “Recent events have unleashed a cold wind of change and racist attitudes disguised as politics and as a result there are some in our NHS staff who feel less valued than they used to. We will not tolerate that in our NHS.”
The campaigning organisation Our NHS has reported a 57% rise in racist incidents since the Brexit victory in the referendum last week. Sir Bruce feels that the general atmosphere has undergone an unwelcome change and made reference to a conversation this week with a senior surgical consultant from overseas, who revealed that he no longer feels welcome in the UK.
Keogh warned that the NHS faces “really really tough times” in the next year because of the NHS’s financial settlement, compounded by the uncertainties created by the vote to leave the EU, which he said would lead to lower quality services, longer waiting lists and the need for “unsavoury questions about which services we can afford and which services we can not”.
He forecast a period of “creative destruction” while the country and the NHS digests the impact of the referendum and works out how to keep the health service going in times of austerity by making efficiencies.
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German foreign minister attacks Cameron and Johnson
Germany’s foreign minister has vented his anger at David Cameron and Boris Johnson, blaming their rivalry for a referendum result that he says has damaged the European Union.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the online version of the German magazine Der Spiegel:
What bothers me the most is that the two principal rivals of the Tories turned an inner-party conflict into a full-blown state and government crisis, and thereby damaged the European Union as a whole.
And now, they leave the responsibility for the consequences with others.
There was more in the same interview from Steinmeier, who said he couldn’t see how last week’s referendum decision to leave the EU could be ignored.
He added:
What we can expect from London, and quickly, is a timetable for when exit negotiations with the EU are supposed to begin and how the British foresee these negotiations.
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George Osborne has been taking part in the Somme commemorations, pledging to give £500,000 raised from the fines from the Libor scandal to help preserve graves.
Delighted to meet @CWGC staff and volunteers interested in becoming battlefields tour guides #Somme100 pic.twitter.com/kSeiH8CBpA
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) July 1, 2016
Also giving £500k from #Libor funds to Victoria Cross & George Cross Association to help repair & maintain the graves of Britain's bravest
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) July 1, 2016
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Gove warned by BMA over using 'false bribe' of NHS funding
The British Medical Association has warned Michael Gove against using his pledge of £100m a week more for the NHS as “a false bribe to attract voters” and warned that the £5.2bn a year involved is small beer compared to the service’s projected £22bn deficit by 2020.
Dr Mark Porter, the chair of council (leader) of the BMA, which represents 170,000 of Britain’s 250,000 doctors, said:
The NHS must not be used as a political football, as we have seen so often. There is a clear public appetite for extra NHS funding, but this shouldn’t be used as a false bribe to attract voters.
We must also be clear that even £100m per week would fill less than a quarter of the funding shortfall created by the current government.
The next prime minister must outline a clear and achievable plan to support the NHS and deliver on any promises made on NHS funding.
In the wake of last week’s vote they must also provide clarity and reassurance for the many thousands of EU citizens working in the health service, without whom the NHS could not survive.
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Khan sells off London's unused water cannon
Sadiq Khan has said the three water cannon bought by the former mayor Boris Johnson for more than £200,000 will be sold off without ever being used.
The home secretary, Theresa May, blocked the deployment of the equipment, and joked about it as she launched her leadership speech yesterday, saying: “Boris negotiated in Europe. I seem to remember last time he did a deal with the Germans, he came back with three nearly new water cannon.”
Khan said the city was paying for storage space for the cannon, despite not being able to use them, and said they would be sold to pay for new youth services.
One of the deals Boris Johnson managed to do with the Germans was to buy three water cannon. What I’m going to do is sell them and use the money for youth services.
This shows the inability of Boris Johnson to get a good deal – second hand, paid almost a quarter of a million pounds.
We want to get rid of them. We are paying for storage facilities for these water cannon – that beggars belief.
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Boris Johnson heckled in Tiverton
Spotted earlier on a train to the south-west, Boris Johnson has arrived now, greeted by protesters and hecklers in Tiverton.
He’s there to honour a longstanding engagement to speak at a Conservative party lunch hosted by the local MP Neil Parish (who is now backing Andrea Leadsom). And despite the high drama of his announcement yesterday, he is here to keep his word.
The local Express and Echo is running a live blog of the visit – and captures the moment the former mayor was grabbed for a selfie by a protester, who asked him to “say hi to my friend who has been racially abused”.
He then calls Johnson “a massive child”.
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This is the moment Boris Johnson was heckled as he left the house this morning, by a man who asked him: “What have you done to this country?”
“Seems alright to me,” the mayor responded.
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++ SPOILER WARNING ++
This will amuse some Game of Thrones fans. Michael Gove was asked what character in the HBO he saw himself as being most like.
The justice secretary previously said his favourite was Tyrion Lannister, the intelligent, wise-cracking dwarf who is sharp on political manoeuvring.
He declined this morning to liken himself to a character in the show, saying he didn’t want to spoil the plot for colleagues. But one MP, Ben Wallace, had a comparison to make. Wallace was a key backer of Boris Johnson.
@SamCoatesTimes he is actually Theon Greyjoy or will be by the time I am finished with him
— Ben Wallace (@BWallaceMP) July 1, 2016
Theon Greyjoy was raised by a great house, the Starks, but betrayed his adopted family for personal gain and overthrows their ancestral home. He is eventually crushed, undergoes prolonged torture, castrated, and ends up derided even by his birth family.
No hard feelings from the Boris camp, obviously.
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Owen Paterson, the former environment secretary, is backing Andrea Leadsom.
Supporting @andrea4leader 4 clear, optimistic vision 4 UK outside EU. Economic experience w honesty, integrity & commitment 2 social justice
— Owen Paterson MP (@Owen_PatersonMP) July 1, 2016
He’s written why he’s supporting Leadsom in a piece for the Telegraph.
The next prime minister has a crystal-clear mandate to bring us fully out of the EU and back on to the world stage where we belong.
I believe there is one person who can fulfil this mandate. One woman who understands out means out. One woman who has an optimistic vision for our future. One woman who would be the first prime minister in 26 years with a solid understanding of economics needed to steer our economy competently and confidently.
As a businesswomen, a mother and an exemplary local MP, she has acquired a true understanding of the needs and aspirations of the people up and down the land.
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Lunchtime Summary
- Michael Gove has promised the NHS an extra £100m a week by 2020 at the launch of his bid to be the next Tory leader and prime minister. The Vote Leave campaign, masterminded by Gove, had pledged an extra £350m a week for the NHS. Gove also said he would end free movement, introduce an Australian-style points-based system for immigration and bring numbers down. Gove said he was a reluctant candidate but that he was “the best person to lead Britain out of the European Union”. Only five Tory MPs were at the launch despite previous reports that there had been a stampede of Johnson supporters turning to Gove.
- George Osborne has said Brexit means the government must abandon its plan for a budget surplus by 2020. The pledge to do so was a key lynchpin of his economic strategy. John McDonnell welcomed the move, which he and Jeremy Corbyn have been demanding for months, but said it should have been done sooner, condemning “failed Tory austerity”. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the chancellor’s announcement meant more austerity spending cuts and tax rises in the next parliament.
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McDonnell has said that the free movement of people will come to an end as a result of Britain leaving the EU. In a speech outlining Labour’s post-Brexit plan, the shadow chancellor said that, in the interim, Labour needed to “consult with the British people on the nature of the relationship we have with regard to the free movement of people”. He said that this was not Labour’s position but “the formal reality as it stands”.
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Arron Banks, the millionaire backer of Leave.EU, the campaign run by Ukip’s Nigel Farage, has backed Andrea Leadsom for Tory leader. Meanwhile, senior Tories Michael Fallon and Patrick McLoughlin have come out for Theresa May, who has also been backed by the Daily Mail. Ken Clarke attacked the “bizarre manoeuvrings” of Gove who he said “would do us all a favour if he were to stand down now”.
- Emily Thornberry has apologised to the Israeli embassy following the row over Jeremy Corbyn’s comments at the launch of Labour’s antisemitism review, a spokesman for the ambassador said. At the launch of the report, Corbyn appeared to many present to have compared Israel to Islamic extremists in prepared remarks. The text of the speech given by Corbyn had in fact referred to “Islamic states and organisations” but the remarks caused some offence.
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Michael Gove’s clear hint that he could scrap the Barnett formula, the Treasury system which fixes Scotland’s budget, and change the fiscal framework under the Scotland Act has brought a furious response from the Scottish National party.
Mike Russell, a long-serving Scottish government minister and now convenor of Holyrood’s finance committee, has accused Gove of threatening to rip up a deal only recently signed by the UK government, to guarantee a fair funding deal for Holyrood to underpin Scotland’s new tax raising powers.
That deal, the fiscal framework, was agreed in February after some intense and bitter negotiating between the two governments, where the deal came to the brink of collapse.
“It’s absolutely outrageous that a prospective prime minister is now using a Leave vote to imply that Scotland’s budget could be slashed – just months after the Tories agreed a new financial settlement for Scotland,” Russell said.
At his Tory leadership campaign launch, Gove said he saw the Brexit vote as a “chance to renew and reboot the union. I think we need to explore how we can develop a fairly funded, flexible and robust union for our new circumstances – and I will work across political divides, with respect, to build that new union.”
Despite’s Gove pledge to work “across political divides” on any new deal, his implied threat to cut Holyrood’s funding will very quickly fuel demands for a second Scottish independence vote, and widen the gulf between Scottish and English voters.
Russell said all Tory leadership candidates should publicly pledge to honour the fiscal framework agreement since earlier this year by George Osborne, the chancellor, and he urged Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, to “condemn these undemocratic factions within her own party looking for any excuse to hammer Scotland”.
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My colleague Joanna Ruck has spotted Boris Johnson this afternoon, on a rainy train to the south-west. And he appears to be making copious handwritten notes.
He’s sitting hunched over furiously handwriting notes on sheets of paper. Everyone on the train is walking open-mouthed past him.
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This is the full report from McDonnell’s speech earlier, where he warned that free movement of people around the European Union would end with Brexit.
Asked how this might change Labour’s policy on immigration, which is seen as having lost the party votes in former heartland areas, McDonnell said: “Let’s be absolutely clear on the immigration issue. If Britain leaves the European Union, the free movement of people, of labour, will then come to an end.”
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John McDonnell MP, the shadow chancellor who gave his own speech earlier on the economic effects of Brexit, has welcomed George Osborne’s decision to drop his surplus target by 2020, because of the economic uncertainty.
The party says this is “after nine months of pressure from the Labour leadership” and McDonnell says it is a “shame he was not realistic sooner” about the surplus.
There were no credible economists that could be found to support the chancellor’s surplus target in the first place. And we are not dropping our Fiscal Credibility Rule as it’s robust and flexible enough to provide the investment our economy needs.
The truth is, as Labour consistently warned, George Osborne’s recovery built on sand was underpinned by a fiscal rule that is not robust or flexible enough to equip our economy for any potential shocks it may face or to provide the investment that our economy so clearly needs.
We now need the chancellor to inform us what evidence he has had passed from the OBR, as working families need to be reassured and a plan put in place. He should now lay out a programme of government investment and support for businesses, bringing forward shovel-ready projects particularly in those areas hardest hit by long-term economic decline.
Here’s the full story on that announcement today by Osborne.
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Boris Johnson has been doorstepped on his way out of his Islington home this morning.
“I cannot, unfortunately, get on with doing what I wanted to do, so it’ll be up to somebody else now,” he told the Press Association.
This from their report:
Speaking to reporters outside his London home, he said it would be “up to the next government” to implement Brexit and “up to the next prime minister” as to whether he gets a job in the new administration.
The next prime minister “can’t be me, as I explained yesterday”, he said.
He dismissed as “rubbish” accusations from a heckler that he had put his own interests first.
Michael Gove has never been on Twitter before, but times are changing fast and his leadership campaign’s official profile has more than 500 followers already.
His biography calls him: “Father, husband, MP for Surrey Heath, QPR fan & Leave campaigner. 2016 Conservative leadership candidate. #Gove2016”.
I am delighted to be running for leadership of the Conservative Party #Gove2016
— Michael Gove MP (@Gove2016) July 1, 2016
The country voted for no more politics as usual. No more business as usual. I am the candidate for change. #Gove2016
— Michael Gove MP (@Gove2016) July 1, 2016
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Here’s the verdict from the assembled Fleet Street corps at Gove’s campaign launch.
From the Guardian’s Anushka Asthana, on Gove’s record.
Prison charities have been v impressed by Gove's work on prison education. Teachers weren't so keen on him in department for education.
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) July 1, 2016
From the Sunday Times’s Tim Shipman, on the content of the speech.
The most substantial speech I have ever heard at a leadership launch (and I've done 4 Tory contests)
— Tim Shipman (@ShippersUnbound) July 1, 2016
From the Mail’s Quentin Letts.
Today's Gove speech was of Fidel Castro length but had some stonking, radical content. If nothing else,he may force May to lift her game.
— Quentin Letts (@thequentinletts) July 1, 2016
Sky’s Faisal Islam on Gove’s challenge to May.
Key line in Gove speech was his revolutionary change fervour versus "muddling along" - which is what he clearly thinks of May's prospects
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) July 1, 2016
Jim Waterson, from Buzzfeed, on being an authentic Brexiteer.
Gove basically setting himself up vs Theresa May by asking question of Tory members: Which of us do you really trust to take us out of EU?
— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) July 1, 2016
From the Telegraph’s sketch writer Michael Deacon, on Gove’s bashfulness.
Michael Gove's speech, summarised: "Gosh. I suppose I'd better be prime minister"
— Michael Deacon (@MichaelPDeacon) July 1, 2016
This from the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope, on the absence of supporters.
Here comes Nick Boles. That makes five Tory MPs here. Michael Gove has a long way to go. #ToryLeadership
— Christopher Hope (@christopherhope) July 1, 2016
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Gove's speech: the key parts
The justice secretary says he never wanted to stand for the leadership. He knows there are several recorded interviews where he says this. He addresses his apparent midnight change-of-heart by saying it was the public profile of the job, rather than the job description, that made him feel ill-suited.
I never thought I’d ever be in this position. I did not want it, indeed I did almost everything not be a candidate for the leadership of this party
I was so very reluctant because I know my limitations. Whatever charisma is I don’t have it, whatever glamour may be I don’t think anyone could ever associate me with it.
But – at every step in my political life – I’ve asked myself one question. What is the right thing to do.
There is a clear line Gove is sticking to over Boris Johnson, that the team he was building was not the appropriate one. He repeats this again here.
I believed that Boris Johnson - who had campaigned alongside me with such energy and enthusiasm - could build and lead that team. I wanted that plan to work. I worked night and day for it. But I came to realise this week that, for all Boris’s formidable talents, he was not the right person for the task.
I had to stand up for my convictions. I had to stand up for a different course for this country. I had to stand for the leadership of this party.
This is Gove’s big pitch to the party, especially those tempted to vote for Theresa May.
The country voted for no more politics as usual. No more business as usual. I am the candidate for change.
Key pledges by Gove over Brexit include ending free movement, but most bold is his pledge to spend more, including on the NHS. A bold move, in this new economic climate.
I will end free movement, introduce an Australian-style points-based system for immigration, and bring numbers down. With my leadership, it will be delivered.
The promise to use the money we currently send to Brussels and invest it instead on the priorities of the British people – principally in the NHS – and to cut VAT on domestic fuel. With my leadership, it will be delivered. I stand by the promises that we made.
Gove’s pitch is that after a vote for Brexit in the EU referendum, the next prime minister must be a whole-hearted believer in the project. Theresa May was a Remainer, though hardly the bloc’s most vociferous defender.
I believe the next prime minister has to be on the winning side of the argument. Put simply: the best person to lead Britain out of the European Union is someone who argued to get Britain out of the European Union.
That is best for the country – to retain the trust of millions of voters – and it is best for the Conservative party too.
Gove, who was raised in Aberdeen, is one of the first to take the question of the United Kingdom head-on in his speech. He hints at a new deal for the Scottish parliament, which could be forged after EU regulations are stripped from farming and fisheries, but said later in questions he did not believe there would be a new Scottish referendum.
The SNP will be worried about that “fairly funded” line. Gove has in the past made clear he believes Scotland receives too generous a settlement.
This referendum has led to questions about how we stay together in one United Kingdom – and for me, in every sense, this is about family.
The vote to leave the European Union gives us the chance to renew and reboot the union. I think we need to explore how we can develop a fairly funded, flexible and robust union for our new circumstances – and I will work across political divides, with respect, to build that new union.
The pledge to spend £350m on the NHS was one of the most talked about of the campaign. Even if campaigners never specifically said this, they rode on a bus which said: “We send £350m a week to the EU, let’s fund our NHS instead.” Many campaigners have rowed back on that pledge, including Nigel Farage. Gove emphatically does not.
Government has got to invest more money in our NHS. The people who work in it are heroic. They do an amazing job. But we need to face the fact that we need more money in order to deliver Jeremy Hunt’s absolutely correct drive to guarantee even better standards of care.
I will put my heart and soul into making sure that the care your son or daughter or mum or dad receives is the same I would want for my own family.
Which is why I will take all the steps necessary to give the NHS at least another £100m per week by 2020.
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Osborne says Brexit means the government must abandon its plan for budget surplus by 2020
George Osborne has been speaking to business leaders in Manchester, where he essentially abandoned his plans to return the public finances to surplus by 2020.
“Now, as the governor of the Bank of England said yesterday, the referendum result is as expected likely to lead to a significant negative shock for the British economy.
“How we respond will determine the impact on people’s jobs and on economic growth. The Bank of England can support demand.
“The government must provide fiscal credibility, so we will continue to be tough on the deficit but we must be realistic about achieving a surplus by the end of this decade. This is precisely the flexibility that our rules provide for.
“And we need to reduce uncertainty by moving as quickly as possible to a new relationship with Europe and being super competitive, open for business and free trading. That’s the plan and we must set to it.”
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Gove says he started writing the speech yesterday morning, and says it is so long “because it’s me”. He denies having written it any earlier.
He says his wife Sarah Vine did not urge him to stand, despite the inference in the leaked email she sent before his meeting with Johnson, but she was supportive.
"I'm notorious among my friends for having lots of ideas", says Michael Gove, who said he started on his speech "yesterday morning"
— Asa Bennett (@asabenn) July 1, 2016
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Gove is asked about whether he met George Osborne at the Tory summer ball before announcing his candidacy.
To paraphrase my favourite prime minister. No, no, no.
He misses the rest of Christopher Hope’s question on whether EU migrants would have to leave Britain. Which is a pity.
Gove says he has no expectation of article 50 being triggered by the end of this calendar year. He doesn’t actually put a timetable on it at all.
He says he will not speculate on any further jobs for fellow MPs, including Boris Johnson.
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Gove says he will ask those who doubt his trustworthiness to look at his plans for the country.
The thing that matters most [in a leader] is are they able to take the most difficult decisions?
Gove is asked about the threat to the United Kingdom from a Scotland split.
We have got to be realistic, Scotland voted differently and that has to respected. If you want a prime minister who understands and believes in Scotland … then I can do that.
Michael Gove is asked if Dominic Cummings will have a job in Downing Street.
No.
"Will Dominic Cummings have a job in your government?" "No." His job will be taken by one of the 75 million Turks.
— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) July 1, 2016
He is asked by the Sun’s Harry Cole if he has spoken to George Osborne about his support. Gove says he hasn’t made any promises to any other politicians.
Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh asks if migration needs to come down to under tens of thousands, and if he plans a general election.
Gove says numbers need to come down but the number cannot be met before leaving the EU.
He says no general election before 2020.
Updated
Gove is taking questions now, asked by the BBC’s Nick Watt about the £350m figure.
He says that is the gross figure and he stands by it.
I don’t take back anything I said in that campaign.
He is asked about his judgment of Boris Johnson, and says he campaigned with passion. Gove says he decided over the course of the last week, trying to build the team, that it had become clear he could not recommend that Johnson should be prime minister.
He is asked if Theresa May can be prime minister. Gove says she would be “formidable” but says he believes the next prime minister should be someone who campaigned for Brexit.
Updated
Gove pledges to give NHS another £100m per week by 2020
This is a high-stakes pledge, but one Gove repeatedly made during the Vote Leave campaign, taken from the £350m-a-week figure sent to Brussels. It is worth repeating that the figure is highly disputed, and has been disavowed even by Nigel Farage.
There we go. Gove: "£100m per week for the NHS by 2020." Compare and contrast. pic.twitter.com/gysDd2s0fD
— Tom Peck (@tompeck) July 1, 2016
Gove: Commits to £100m per week for NHS after #Brexit -not, you will note, '£350m a week' as someone once advertised pic.twitter.com/TINd7Wr9Bo
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) July 1, 2016
Gove confirms he WON'T keep that pledge to spend EU '£350m a week on the NHS'. Will ppl be happy with £100m instead? pic.twitter.com/7I8AkSnXW0
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) July 1, 2016
Updated
Michael Gove has certainly won the battle for the longest leadership manifesto. His speech is almost half an hour long.
For those wondering - we're on page 11 of speech - there are 13 in total #Gove
— Eleanor Garnier (@BBCEleanorG) July 1, 2016
Michael Gove's leadership speech is 4,913 words long.
— John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) July 1, 2016
Updated
Gove addresses the potential for a Scottish referendum, and says we need to explore a robust union for our “new circumstances”. He says the United Kingdom “matters so much to us all”.
He says he was born in Scotland, with children in London and a wife born in Wales, and the United Kingdom is “like family”.
Michael Gove: "The vote to leave the European Union gives us a chance to reboot and renew the Union [of the UK]"
— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) July 1, 2016
Updated
Gove pledges end to free movement
Crucial points here from Gove on his Brexit strategy.
I will end free movement, introduce an Australian-style points system and bring numbers down. With my leadership, it will be delivered.
Analysis: This is not a pledge to bring net migration down to tens of thousands.
I will stand by the mandate from this campaign, Gove says. He says money will go from the EU payments to public services and to reduce VAT on fuel. That will be delivered too.
"I stand by the promises that we made in that campaign," Gove says of Leave campaign, promising to spend EU cash "principally in the NHS".
— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) July 1, 2016
Updated
Gove: I am the candidate for change
Gove said the country voted for change, “no more business as usual” from the current team.
That is why I am standing, as the candidate for change.
This will be the hallmark of his challenge to Theresa May.
Gove's pitch essentially: I've always wanted us to leave the EU, vote for me and (unlike others) I won't hesitate to take us out of the EU.
— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) July 1, 2016
Gove pitching himself as 'the candidate for change' in an implicit contrast to Theresa May and the safe pair of hands argument
— James Forsyth (@JGForsyth) July 1, 2016
Updated
Gove said he believed Boris Johnson could build and lead that team for the country. For all Boris’s formidable talents, he was not the right person for that task, he said.
I had to stand up for my convictions. I had to stand for the leadership of this party.
Updated
Gove says the UK economy is on firm foundations, and Britain is in a fine position to respond to the change in relationship with the European Union.
He says there are “tremendous opportunities ahead” when politicians listen to the people who voted last week. They voted for a new direction, he says.
I am standing for one reason alone, for this country I love … to embrace this change.
Gove says he did everything he could to avoid having to stand for leader. But he says he has to follow what is the right thing to do, what does my heart tell me? That is how he faced the question of the European Union referendum, he says.
I did not want it, I did almost everything I could not to be in this position. I don’t have glamour or charisma.
It was not easy, he says, because he parted company with his friend David Cameron. “It was a wrench, but politicians are paid to lay out their beliefs with conviction,” he says.
I have held this position on this issue for more than 20 years.
Updated
Michael Gove launches leadership bid
It is not ideal timing, giving broadcasters the choice of whether to cut away from the Somme memorial in France. He is introduced by Nick Boles, his close ally.
Reporters say few Tory MPs have come to the launch to support Gove.
Oh dear Just three Tory MPs are here for Michael Gove's launch. Perhaps even the Parliamentary party is squeamish about him #ToryLeadership
— Christopher Hope (@christopherhope) July 1, 2016
Former Cab minister Francis Maude, a Cameroon before Cameron, here for Gove launch. Will we see Portillo era Gove today?
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) July 1, 2016
Updated
More than half of UK believe British influence diminished by Brexit
More than half of all Britons believe the country’s position in the world has got worse and 54% believe the economy has got worse since the Brexit vote, a poll by Opinium has found.
The results of the poll found 7% of leave voters now regret their decision, and a clear majority, 60%, believe there should be a general election before article 50 is invoked and negotiations begin with the EU.
New Opinium poll: 7% of Leavers regret the way they voted, 3% of Remainers do. That would wipe out #Brexit's majority.
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) July 1, 2016
A third say immigration controls should be the number one issue but 37% insist staying in the single market is the most important factor.
Updated
McDonnell has said he will never stand to be leader of the Labour party.
But that is, of course, what Michael Gove said about the Tories until yesterday.
McDonnell: "I will never stand for leader of the Labour Party. I will chair [Jeremy's] campaign."
— Emily Ashton (@elashton) July 1, 2016
McDonnell says mass resignations from Labour frontbench has allowed a 'new generation' to come forward.
— Ned Simons (@nedsimons) July 1, 2016
McDonnell appeals for former shadow ministers to come back and join Corbyn’s team again.
He says it is “not a time to stand down” during the Conservative leadership race.
McDonnell says Labour has "internal" problems. MP texts: "It's his external friends (SWP/Momentum) protesting at my surgery today. Furious."
— Lucy Fisher (@LOS_Fisher) July 1, 2016
My colleague Peter Walker will be sending a full report from the speech shortly.
Updated
Labour expects leadership challenge in next few days, says McDonnell
McDonnell is now taking questions from reporters.
He is asked if Labour would vote down leaving the EU in the Commons. McDonnell says Labour should respect the result, the party should consider the negotiation on the table.
McDonnell is asked how his plan is relevant without the support of MPs. He says Corbyn will take part in any Labour leadership contest and says he hopes MPs would respect the result, and mentions the need for stability.
He says he expects a leadership challenge in the next few days.
This being huge applause from Labour activists in room. McDonnell insists he's confident party could reunite after leadership vote.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 1, 2016
McDonnell says he expects any leadership challenge to Corbyn "in the next few days". Tells MPs to "calm down, let us do our job".
— Emily Ashton (@elashton) July 1, 2016
My colleague Peter Walker asks if disloyal MPs could be de-selected, but McDonnell says no they won’t. He says he is confident that MPs will unite behind the leader.
McDonnell says he will chair a Corbyn leadership campaign and says he hopes it will bring in new members.
Updated
McDonnell says he wants to be absolutely clear on immigration. After the UK leaves the EU “free movement of labour and people will come to an end”.
Anti-immigration feeling stemmed from austerity and economic uncertainty, he says, which Labour also needs to confront.
McDonnell says Labour accepts that free movement of people will end after Brexit. Labour needs to discuss immigration.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 1, 2016
McDonnell says Jeremy Corbyn has "excellent relationships" with socialist parties in Europe and will work with them to get a deal for UK.
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) July 1, 2016
Updated
This line from McDonnell is telling.
John McDonnell: "We will get through this period of uncertainty" pic.twitter.com/hlXbV1KaiB
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) July 1, 2016
McDonnell outlines Labour's post-Brexit plan
There is no appetite from McDonnell to contest the next election on a platform of staying in the EU, the shadow chancellor implied in his speech today.
The party’s red lines are free trade in the single market and that no EU nationals in the UK now will have their rights affected in future. There is no mention of campaigning to preserve free movement rights across Europe.
John McDonnell starting to speak to outline Labour's economic response to Brexit. pic.twitter.com/rVA6BoURPF
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 1, 2016
McDonnell says workers' & others' rights cannot be watered down post Brexit. Wants to preserve "passporting" rights for finance sector
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 1, 2016
"It won't just be a few fat cats who suffer," if Brexit decimates finance sector, McDonnell says. Passporting is vital, a red line.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 1, 2016
Updated
Arron Banks, the millionaire-backer of Leave.EU, the campaign run by Ukip’s Nigel Farage, has backed Andrea Leadsom for Tory leader, retweeting several positive articles and tweets about the energy minister.
Viva la Bretix https://t.co/7EkigDOano
— Arron Banks (@Arron_banks) June 30, 2016
Updated
We’ll be following John McDonnell’s speech on Labour’s post-Brexit plan from 10am, which is happening on the South Bank. There’s no livestream directly from the hall, but my colleague Peter Walker is reporting from the event.
I'm at S Bank in London where John McDonnell will outline Labour's "economic response" to Brexit. We're promised questions afterwards.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 1, 2016
Speech is at Royal Festival Hall. Maybe symbolism is deliberate - a resurgent Britain emerging from a long period of austerity.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 1, 2016
Slogan for John McDonnell's speech. I on the other hand am sitting down. pic.twitter.com/YGlfT5oKtM
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) July 1, 2016
Updated
Leadsom: New PM must be a Brexiteer
Theresa May and Michael Gove might be described as the frontrunners, but Andrea Leadsom is currently 5/1 - the same odds as the justice secretary.
Gove falls to THIRD in betting odds - now behind Andrea Leadsom pic.twitter.com/d35NxuCg89
— David MacLean (@GeordieStory) June 30, 2016
Whatever Leadsom thought of Gove’s decision to run, and Johnson’s alleged hesitancy in promising her a top job, she was keeping her opinions to herself on Good Morning Britain.
In the end I felt it was better to put my own name forward, because you do need a choice of candidates and it seemed to me that we might end up with only one candidate who had actually supported the Leave campaign.
I was thinking about it all the way through, but I was also thinking about what is in the interests of the country, because to me the clear priority is to deliver on the referendum. We have been given an instruction. We now have to get a grip and get on with it.
The new PM, she said “has to be someone who really believes that the UK will be better off once we leave the EU”.
Offers of a job from May were “a long way off … I am in it to be the prime minister.”
Updated
Here are some of the most interesting lines from the Mail’s endorsement of Theresa May, a front page which surely will have caused some ruction in the Gove household this morning.
It seems the Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre and his team were unimpressed with the justice secretary’s actions yesterday.
This was, surely, one of the most unedifying days in modern politics. A day of treachery and opportunism on both sides of the chamber. A day in which the currency of political discourse was devalued still further.
The paper’s endorsement so soon in the race, when Gove has even yet to launch his campaign, will have come as a surprise.
In normal circumstances, this paper would hesitate to declare its hand before the closing stages of such a contest. But whatever these times may be, they are anything but normal.
The Mail believes only Mrs May has the right qualities, the stature and experience to unite both her party and the country – and possibly usher in a new, cleaner, more honest kind of politics.
Here, too, are digs at the political methods of Johnson and Gove.
She does not belong to the Westminster chumocracy, which has corrupted our politics with jobs for flatmates and cronies. If she wins this contest, we can be confident that those she promotes will be chosen on merit alone by this living embodiment of meritocracy.
Above all, she is not a believer in gimmicks, focus groups or conjuring policies out of the air, twisting and turning to feed the 24-hour news cycle. And if she can introduce a new, more serious, more truthful politics, she will be thanked by millions of Britons who are utterly disenchanted with the political process.
The words for Gove are not brutal, but his methods are called into question.
With the best will in the world, we cannot see Mr Gove as a prime minister for these turbulent times. A great irony of his surprise decision to throw his hat into the leadership ring yesterday is that in the very act of doing so, he raised question marks over the qualities so many have come to admire in him: consistency, strict adherence to principle and, yes, trustworthiness.
Gove, the paper says, would be better suited to chief negotiator for Brexit.
This paper has enormous respect for Mr Gove. He can claim a large measure of the credit for the result, which this paper remains convinced was the right one for our country and Europe.
Updated
An interesting result in a local byelection. The Liberal Democrats have defeated the Tories to take a council seat in Mole Valley, by a very large swing.
Leatherhead North (Mole Valley) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) June 30, 2016
LDEM: 56.6% (+27.4)
CON: 22.3% (-11.7)
UKIP: 10.3% (-7.9)
LAB: 8.9% (-5.7)
GRN: 1.8% (-2.1)
Updated
Thornberry apologies to Israeli ambassador
Yiftah Curiel, spokesman for the Israeli ambassador, Mark Regev, said that the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, had apologised to the embassy following the completion of Labour’s antisemitism review. At the launch of the report, Jeremy Corbyn appeared to many present to have compared Israel to Islamic extremists in prepared remarks.
The text of the speech given by Corbyn had in fact referred to “Islamic states and organisations” but the remarks caused some offence at an event that was intended to be reassurance over the party’s position on antisemitism.
.@AmbMarkRegev welcomed @EmilyThornberry's unequivocal apology following @jeremycorbyn's unacceptable remarks
— Yiftah Curiel (@yiftahc) July 1, 2016
Updated
Dominic Raab, the leave campaigner and Tory minister, wrote a piece in the Sun on Thursday praising Boris Johnson, calling him the Heineken man of politics (reaching parts other politicians can’t).
But by the morning the paper was published, he had switched support to Michael Gove.
I don’t think he’s wanted this but I think he’s seen, as preparations for the leadership contest have developed, he’s the candidate that can deliver the two things we need – a ‘change’ candidate, someone with a vision, and also someone with a proven record of delivery. They are the two golden ingredients.
Raab said that they had tried to get a “team ticket around Boris … which frayed and ebbed away” and said the anger around Gove’s perceived treachery was “pantomime”. He said it was not a surprise Ken Clarke did not want to see “the most pro-Brexit candidate” as leader. (I’m sure Liam Fox might quibble over that description).
There’s a lot of raw nerves around. I don’t even completely know what’s happened when I’m picking through the bones of the newspapers but I can see through the mist that we’ve got a critical choice ahead and I think Michael Gove is the change candidate with the track record to deliver.
Updated
Liam Fox calls for 'Brexit for grown-ups'
Liam Fox, himself a leadership candidate, criticised Johnson and Gove for their “Oxford Union politics” in a Radio 4 Today programme interview.
We are now 10 weeks away from having a new prime minister, we’re in the process of electing a prime minister who will actually take us out of the European Union, and yet we seem to be permanently distracted by what can only be described as the politics of the Oxford Union in recent days. I think it was a distraction. We need Brexit for grown-ups and we need to be talking about the big issues.
He said there was no room for membership of the single market if it meant free movement of people.
Conservative leadership candidates should not be talking about who betrayed whom.
We need to be talking about our aims, our trading positions, what our security relationship will be, also what domestic changes we will have to make. How will we have to restructure our government? How will we have to change Whitehall? We’ll have to introduce, for example, a department of trade.
Updated
Ken Clarke calls for Gove to step aside
Ken Clarke, the Tory grandee, has come out strongly against Michael Gove. The pro-EU Clarke told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Michael Gove would do us all a favour if he were to stand down now and speed up the process … all the serious candidates need to set out carefully how we would leave the EU without causing serious damage to the economy. That is the big serious question obscured by the bizarre manoeuvrings of Michael Gove.”
Clarke did not go so far as to endorse Theresa May – or any of the five candidates – but said she was “certainly in the right class of contenders”.
My colleague Jessica Elgot is now taking over.
Updated
Senior Tories Michael Fallon and Patrick McLoughlin have come out for Theresa May.
Fallon said:
As defence secretary, I’ve worked closely with Theresa on security and she is the right person to steer Britain through the serious challenges we now face. Theresa is the best person to lead our exit from the EU so that we reduce immigration and regain sovereignty while protecting our hard won economic growth.
McLoughlin, the transport secretary, writing in the Sun, said May would be able to do the required deals in Brussels in the complex negotiations to extricate the UK from the EU.
We know that the next prime minister needs to forge a deal from the EU as we shape our brighter future in the rest of the world. And her track record shows that when Theresa arrives in Brussels, Europe’s bosses sit up and listen.
Updated
Jeremy Corbyn has insisted that he retains the support of Labour members – as opposed to the parliamentary party – but this could be waning, according to YouGov. It says its most recent poll for the Times shows support among members is fading fast, and 52% think he performed badly during the referendum campaign.
Since Corbyn’s victory last September YouGov research has consistently shown that Labour party members have stuck by their leader. In fact, it has been conventional wisdom in Westminster that Corbyn’s support amongst the Labour membership is rock solid.
However, our most recent poll for the Times, carried out entirely after the Brexit vote last Thursday, shows that opinions are shifting fast – his net job approval is reduced to +3, down from +45 just last month.
Meanwhile, Ed Miliband’s former adviser, Tom Baldwin, is the latest Labour figure urging the Labour leader to go. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:
He does not have the support of MPs, he does not have the support of MEPs, he does not have the support of Labour councillors. He cannot lead the party or MPs any more, but if he goes into a leadership election he may well be re-elected by those members. In these circumstances a responsible leader, someone who has the party’s interests at heart, has to recognise he can no longer lead.
Updated
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the ructions within the Conservative and Labour parties as Britain grapples with the consequences of the EU referendum. Today, the justice secretary, Michael (Brutus) Gove, who knifed Boris Johnson, is scheduled to set out his vision for Britain. Theresa May, the home secretary – I just get on with the job – has the backing of about 70 MPs. George Osborne, the chancellor, is to speak to a business audience in Manchester.
In the Labour camp, the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, is speaking to a business audience at the Royal Festival Hall in London as Jeremy Corbyn tries to hang on despite the hostility of his fellow MPs. Meanwhile, here is a recap of yesterday’s Shakespearean drama.
The Great Betrayal
There was only one story in town on Thursday – and its ramifications will continue to be felt for some time to come. The Guardian’s lead is headlined “The betrayal: Boris cannot provide the leadership for the task ahead.”
“I respect and admire all the candidates running for the leadership. In particular, I wanted to help build a team behind Boris Johnson so that a politician who argued for leaving the European Union could lead us to a better future,” Michael Gove said. “But I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead.”
Gaby Hinsliff notes that Michael made an odd assassin – but then Boris was a strange Caesar.
The Sun is full of juicy detail and contains the claim that Andrea Leadsom, one of the Tory contenders, was on board to be Johnson’s chancellor – but Team Boris screwed up delivering her a note and failed to send a key tweet.
The Telegraph suggests Osborne had a hand in the “cuckoo plot” and that Gove and he met weekly throughout the campaign.
The Guardian reports the consternation caused by the Gove announcement among MPs and supporters of May who had gathered at the launch of her bid.
Runners and riders
Now that Gove has forced his old friend out of the Conservative leadership race, he and the four remaining candidates have embarked on a frantic bid to win the support of MPs.
Peter Walker takes a look at the CVs – and chances – of the frontrunner Theresa May, Andrea Leadsom, Stephen Crabb and Liam Fox.
The former Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable quips:
They make the Borgia popes look like beginners. https://t.co/upJ4JpWVcX
— Vince Cable (@vincecable) June 30, 2016
Labour leadership
Angela Eagle had been expected to announce a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership on Thursday, but in the end that did not materialise.
Are new Lab members signing up in droves to back Corbyn in any leadership contest - or to oust him? Both rebels and backers are recruiting.
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) June 30, 2016
Battle of the Somme commemorations
Royals including the Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will attend events in France on Friday to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will open the new Thiepval Memorial to the Missing visitors centre.
David Cameron will also attend the Battle of the Somme centenary service on what is the first day of July, by the way.
What the papers say
Apart from the Sun’s Brexecuted splash (not bad, we admit), the sensation is the decision by the Daily Mail to come out swinging for Theresa May with a puff that occupies about half the front page. The Mail, of course, counts Sarah Vine – Mrs Gove – as a star columnist. The decision could make life slightly difficult for both her and the Mail’s editor, Paul Dacre.
MAIL BACKS MAY: Tory day of treachery #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/4ltt9AkJen
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 30, 2016
TELEGRAPH: 'An act of midnight treachery' #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/60xoGXFsyM
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 30, 2016
Thought for the day
We know you’ve had a lot of Boris Johnson today, but we’ve saved the best for last:
MAIL: Max Hastings: I advised Boris to 'lock up his willy' #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/P7c7utLDPX
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 30, 2016
If the battle for the Tory leadership was a play or a film …
Betrayal by Harold Pinter with the screen version starring Ben Kingsley and Jeremy Irons, with that memorable scene when Kingsley confronts his great friend Irons over the latter’s affair with his wife. It’s not politics, but the great theme is betrayal.
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