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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Politics
Andrew Sparrow , Claire Phipps and Ben Quinn

Brexit: Crabb and Fox out of Tory race after May wins first round of voting - As it happened

The Conservative leadership candidates: Theresa May, Liam Fox, Michael Gove, Stephen Crabb, Andrea Leadsom.
The Conservative leadership candidates in the first round of voting: Theresa May, Liam Fox, Michael Gove, Stephen Crabb, Andrea Leadsom. Fox and Crabb has since dropped out. Composite: Various Agency

Evening summary

• Theresa May stormed ahead in the race to become the next prime minister, winning the backing of half of all Conservative MPs in a first round contest that saw Stephen Crabb drop out of the race and endorse her after he slipped into fourth place.
The home secretary won the support of 165 MPs while Andrea Leadsom, the energy minister, came second in the contest with 66, beating the justice secretary, Michael Gove, into third place on 48. Fifth-place finisher Liam Fox, on 16 votes, was eliminated.
Just over an hour after the result was declared, Crabb said he was offering May his “wholehearted support”, arguing that her ability to secure the backing of 165 MPs showed that she was the only candidate who had any hope of unifying the party and country.

• Ken Clarke has been caught on camera describing Theresa May as a “bloody difficult woman” and predicting that Michael Gove as prime minister would go to war with three countries at once, as he made a series of unguarded remarks about the Conservative leadership candidates.
The veteran Tory, who has served in five cabinet roles including home secretary and chancellor, made disobliging comments about each of the candidates in turn after giving a television interview to Sky

• Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet has agreed to begin formal peace negotiations between the warring factions of the Labour party to try to prevent all-out war.
Len McCluskey, the general secretary of the Unite union, met Corbyn and his deputy leader, Tom Watson, on Tuesday in what some Corbyn loyalists hope will be the first step towards a brokered deal – involving MPs, unions and the party’s national executive committee – that could ensure a dignified exit for the embattled leader.

• NHS junior doctors have voted to reject the government’s final offer on their new contract, despite weeks of talks to try to broker a settlement.
Almost six in 10 junior doctors and medical students (58%) working in England who belong to the British Medical Association refused to accept the deal, with only 42% endorsing it.
About 37,000 BMA members, or 68% of the 54,000 trainee doctors and final and penultimate-year medical students who were eligible to vote, took part in the ballot, which closed on Friday.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet has agreed to begin formal peace negotiations between the warring factions of the Labour party to try to prevent all-out war.

The Guardian’s political team report:

Len McCluskey, the general secretary of the Unite union, met Corbyn and his deputy leader, Tom Watson, on Tuesday in what some Corbyn loyalists hope will be the first step towards a brokered deal – involving MPs, unions and the party’s national executive committee – that could ensure a dignified exit for the embattled leader.

One source involved in the discussions said the process could result in Corbyn stepping aside before a 2020 general election, but that there could be no pre-conditions.

“The bottom line is, there can be no gun to Jeremy’s head,” one shadow cabinet source said.

Unite union General Secretary Len McCluskey and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn join steel workers following a march through central London in May.
Unite union General Secretary Len McCluskey and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn join steel workers following a march through central London in May. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

Michael Gove has been giving his reaction to those comments earlier today from Ken Clarke, who was apparently caught on camera warning that the UK would quickly be at war with ‘at least three countries’ if the justice secretary became prime minister.

Faisal Islam interviewed Gove for Sky News and has been tweeting some of the highlights:

Updated

Theresa May has published her tax returns for the past four years now, leaving the ball in the court of Andrea Leadsom, the only remaining Tory leadership candidate not to do so.

On Sunday night, the business minister Leadsom refused to publish her tax details, saying she only planned to do so if she became one of the final two candidates whose names were put before the party’s members.

Updated

Diane Abbott, the new shadow secretary of state for health, has said that the current turmoil in the party over Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership “is about party membership versus MPs.”

I didn’t get chance to post what she said earlier in an interview on Sky News. She rejected suggestions that the new shadow cabinet, with a number of members doing more than one job, was an “embarrassment” telling the channel: “You are obsessed with what is happening in Westminster. The public want to see us roll up our sleeves and get on with the job of fighting the Tories and do less of this westminster maneuvering.

“If people want to have a leadership contest then let them put forward a leadership candidate.”

Updated

Caroline Lucas calls forcross party electoral pact

Speaking alongside Lewis, Green party MP Caroline Lucas called for an electoral pact between Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and Plaid Cymru.

The former Green party leader - who is again running for the party’s leadership on a joint ticket - said that a progressive electoral alliance should be formed with a commitment to proportional representation, reports Harrison Jones for the Guardian.

Lucas said: “I believe we need to lobby for an early election, because no politician has a mandate to design a specific Brexit negotiation stance and to prevent the formulation of a Tory-Ukip government that would enact an ultra-right Brexit scenario.

“There should be a pre-election pact between Labour, the Greens, the Lib Dems and Plaid and the glue holding together such a pact should be a commitment to proportional representation.”

She also revealed that last week the Greens had sent out letters to three other left leaning parties - though notably not the Scottish National party - and that “conversations are beginning to happen”.

Updated

The Labour party is fighting for its survival and faces losing out to Ukip in areas that backed leaving the European Union, the shadow defence minister Clive Lewis has admitted.

The Guardian’s Matt Weaver was listening to Lewis speak earlier alongside Green party MP Caroline Lucas at a Compass event on the progressive response to Brexit and reports

Lewis who was promoted to Labour’s front bench after last week’s coup against Jeremy Corbyn, has been put forward by some as a potential new leader to resolve the current impasse.

He said: “The current crisis with the parliamentary Labour party is not some ego-led squabble between wantabe leaders, it is the expression of a much deeper crisis within the Labour party and its relationship with its voters.”

“In May 2015, we lost votes to Ukip, the SNP and the Greens – three parties with wildly different positions on the left right axis. We failed to get anywhere near enough Lib Dems who should have been flocking to us. This means the Labour party is fighting for its survival on several different flanks at once. Politically that is a very dangerous place to be.”

Lewis said the Labour risked alienating voters if it shifted to the left or the right. He said: “This referendum results confirms what 2015 told us about where many working class Labour voters are going. They feel abandoned by the Labour party and now they in their turn have abandoned the Labour party in growing numbers.”

Updated

Stephen Crabb has warned that the Conservative party risked being split if those within it persisted in labelling each other either as remainers or leavers.

In a thinly veiled swipe at Andrea Leadsom’s camp, which has recently been attacking Theresa May over her support for the remain side during the referendum campaign, Crabb said that people should avoid creating what he called “a new litmus test”.

“Every day that goes by that we continue to use these labels we will risk splitting the party irrevocably and the weaker we will get,” Crabb told Sky News after announcing that he was dropping out of the race and throwing his support behind May’s candidacy.

It was no longer a question of where the candidates stood on the EU, he said, adding: “We are all committed now to taking Britain out of the EU.”

Crabb said that he was confident that the Tory membership would look beyond the labels and recognised the qualities and strengths of May.

The latest survey by ConservativeHome, released on Monday, showed that Leadsom is vying closely with Theresa May for the support of party members. It is important to note however that May performed better a recent YouGov poll of party members.

Updated

Michael Gove: I will not withdraw from race

Michael Gove has given his response to the results of the Tory leadership ballot, in which he finished third. Trying again to carve out a unique selling point for himself, he emphasises his status as a Brexiteer (unlike May) and as someone with experience at the “highest levels of government” (unlike Leadsom).

He said:

I am delighted by the support I have received from colleagues. It reflects the optimistic message that I’ve been putting forward.

Now that Britain has voted to leave, I think the country deserves to have a leader who believes in Britain outside the European Union and who also has experience at the highest level of government.

I hope that in the days to come, I’ll be able to convince my colleagues that I should be one of the candidates that Conservative party members can choose from. I think they should have a choice between two candidates of experience, two candidates who have delivered in government departments.

I think that the message I have of optimism and hope about Britain’s bright future outside the European Union is shared by many Conservative members and voters - indeed by a majority of the country.

Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor Michael Gove leaves Downing Street on July 5.
Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor Michael Gove leaves Downing Street on July 5. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

Updated

Liam Fox backs Theresa May in Tory leadership race

Liam Fox has said that he is backing Theresa May, which he says will be a “very fine prime minister.”

“In this leadership election we have nine weeks before the candidate who is successful becomes the prime minister. It is essential that they have an understanding of the top levels of government, international affairs and how the process in Whitehall operates,” he told reporters outside Westminster in the last ten minutes.

Fox says that he intends to campaign for her and work closely with her. His reasons for running included raising the profile of national security as an issue, as well as emphasising the need for experience.

There were no questions as Fox hurried off. It’s clear however that many will be thinking that he is angling for a return to government, perhaps to his old defence porfolio.

Fox resigned that position in 2011, folding under the pressure of daily revelations about the man he gave access to the heart of government and British defence strategy.

Updated

Crabb said that he spoke earlier to Theresa May and was now giving her his “wholehearted” support.

Asked on BBC if he had asked for anything from May, he replied: “I asked for nothing from Theresa. She asked for nothing from me. That’s not the way we work.”

Crabb added: “Let’s not underestimate the seriousness of the challenge. We have a deeply divided party. We have a deeply divided country. And that’s why I think we need to recognise there’s only one candidate in this race who has got any hope of bringing together our party, and providing a strong government to unite our country, and that is Theresa May.”

The Work and Pensions secretary, Stephen Crabb, arrives for a cabinet meeting on July 5.
The Work and Pensions secretary, Stephen Crabb, arrives for a cabinet meeting on July 5. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Updated

Stephen Crabb drops out of Tory leadership race

Stephen Crabb has dropped out of the Tory leadership race following the results of the first round of voting. He’s backing Theresa May.

The secretary of state for work and pensions had been considering his position after finishing second last (with 34 voters) in voting, which saw Liam Fox eliminated earlier.

The next round of voting takes place on Thursday.

Updated

Labour releases details of new shadow cabinet

Full details of the new Labour shadow cabinet have been released by the party and it’s a list which reveals the extent of its divisions.

A number of members are doing two jobs each, while there does not seem to be an attorney general yet. Among the notable changes, the shadow business secretary post goes to Jon Trickett, a key ally of Jeremy Corbyn, while there’s no change in the position of Jon Ashworth, an ally of deputy leader Tom Watson. It means that Ashworth retains his seat on Labour’s national executive committee (NEC).

Overall, the gender balance is worse than before, with women taking 10 of the 25 positions.

Amid apparent difficulties in finding people to take up key roles in the face of the rebellion against Corbyn, a number of the parliamentary party’s 2015 intake step in - including Clive Lewis at defence and Richard Burgon as shadow secretary of state for justice and shadow lord chancellor.

Here is the full list from Labour:

Leader of the Labour party: Jeremy Corbyn MP

Deputy leader, party chair and shadow minister for the Cabinet Office: Tom Watson MP

Shadow secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, and shadow lord president of the council and campaigns and elections chair: Jon Trickett MP

Shadow minister for voter engagement and youth affairs: Cat Smith MP

Shadow minister without portfolio: Jonathan Ashworth MP

Shadow secretary of state for communities and local government and shadow minister for the constitutional convention: Grahame Morris MP

Shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport: Kelvin Hopkins MP

Shadow secretary of state for defence: Clive Lewis MP

Shadow secretary of state for education and shadow minister for women and equalities: Angela Rayner MP

Shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change: Barry Gardiner MP

Shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs: Rachael Maskell MP

Shadow foreign secretary: Emily Thornberry MP

Shadow secretary of state for health: Diane Abbott MP

Shadow home secretary: Andy Burnham MP

Shadow secretary of state for international development: Kate Osamor MP

Shadow secretary of state for justice and shadow lord chancellor: Richard Burgon MP

Shadow leader of the House and shadow secretary of state for Wales: Paul Flynn MP

Shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland and shadow secretary of state for Scotland: Dave Anderson MP

Shadow secretary of state for transport: Andy McDonald MP

Shadow chancellor of the exchequer: John McDonnell MP

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury: Rebecca Long-Bailey MP

Shadow secretary of state for work and pensions: Debbie Abrahams MP

Opposition chief whip: Dame Rosie Winterton MP

Leader of the House of Lords: Lady (Angela) Smith

House of Lords chief whip: Lord (Steve) Bassam

Updated

This is from Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt.

I’m finishing now for the night. My colleague Ben Quinn is taking over.

Updated

Fox says next Tory leader has to have 'experience'

Liam Fox has put out a statement about the result.

Here is an excerpt.

I have also sought to stress the need for experience as the successful candidate will have to take up the reins of government in less than 9 weeks.

Fox says he will make a statement about his “intentions” - presumably his voting intentions - in due course.

The reference to experience in his statement would rule out his supporting Stephen Crabb or Andrea Leadsom.

The Sunday Times’s Tim Shipman thinks Fox will back Theresa May.

These are from the Evening Standard’s Joe Murphy.

This is from ITV’s Alastair Stewart.

Here is ConservativeHome’s Paul Goodman on the result.

This is from ITV’s Adrian Masters.

Updated

This is from BuzzFeed’s Jim Waterson.

Updated

This is from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

Updated

This is from Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt.

Updated

May say she is the only person who can unite the party

Here is Theresa May’s statement on the result.

I am pleased with this result, and very grateful to my colleagues for their support today.

There is a big job before us: to unite our party and the country, to negotiate the best possible deal as we leave the EU, and to make Britain work for everyone.

I am the only candidate capable of delivering these three things as prime minister, and tonight it is clear that I am also the only one capable of drawing support from the whole of the Conservative party.

I look forward to continuing the debate about Britain’s future - in parliament and across the country.

Tory election results - 4 things we've learnt

Here are some snap observations on the result.

1) Theresa May’s lead is so big as to raise questions about how viable it would be to elect anyone else as leader. She has won the backing of 50% of Tory MPs, and is bound to pick up more support as the voting goes on. (For example, we heard Ken Clarke say today that he would vote for Stephen Crabb before switching to May.)

2) Stephen Crabb may come under pressure to drop out. He got twice as many votes as Liam Fox, but it is hard to see any of the Fox votes going to him and so there is a chance that, if he stays in the ballot, he could see his vote share fall on Thursday - which would be embarrasing.

3) Michael Gove seems to have little chance of catching Andrea Leadsom. Like Liam Fox he is a hawkish leaver, but even if all the Fox votes were to go to him (quite a big if) he would still not have as many votes as Andrea Leadsom. He has indicated that he won’t drop out, but it is not as if he has not U-turned already quite dramatically in this contest.

4) It is almost inevitable that the contest will end up with the party members having to decide between May and Leadsom. Leadsom’s performance was better than many people expected, and it will probably quash any speculation about whether she should stand aside to allow May to become prime minister without a membership ballot.

May wins easily with backing of 50% of Tory MPs - and Fox drops out

Here are the results. Theresa May has won the backing of 50% of Tory MPs.

Liam Fox drops out.

Theresa May - 165

Andrea Leadsom - 66

Michael Gove - 48

Stephen Crabb - 34

Liam Fox - 16

Updated

Here is the ConservativeHome tally of how many MPs have declared publicly for each candidate.

There are 330 Tory MPs.

If the Sky tally (see 6.01pm) is right, there are 108 MPs who have not declared. So that means the actual figures will be quite different.

Sources close to Tom Watson said the Labour deputy leader’s talks with Len McCluskey are over for today.
But Watson has agreed to clear his diary for the rest of the week in order to meet with other union general secretaries to continue discussions about a “negotiated settlement” over Labour’s “impasse”.

Here is a Sky News tally of how many Tory MPs have declared for each candidate from earlier today.

And here is a Guido Fawkes tally.

In the past, the results of ballots of Tory MPs have been announced off camera. But tonight a film crew is being admitted into the committee room where the count is taking place to record Graham Brady announcing the result.

Updated

Tory leadership result announced shortly

The Conservative leadership ballot closes at 6pm.

The votes will be counted immediately, and Graham Brady, chair of the backbench 1922 Committee, is expected to announce the results at about 6.30pm.

The candidate who comes last drops out, and the others can all go into the next ballot, on Thursday. But it is possible that other candidates could drop out, too.

Updated

A second Andrea Leadsom reading list

Earlier I posted an Andrea Leadsom reading list (see 1.56pm) reflecting the fact that she is probably the Conservative leadership candidate about whom least is known. Here is a second one with some more material about her. My colleagues Peter Walker and Jessica Elgot have contributed.

The other danger of a Leadsom leadership is UK Independence party entryism. Arron Banks, the millionaire donor who funded both Ukip and Leave. EU, is backing Ms Leadsom’s campaign. At the hustings, she would not rule out a partnership with Ukip and during a television interview, declined to say she would not give Nigel Farage a job.

Mr Banks has spoken about his desire to create a “rightwing Momentum”, a Brexit pressure group modelled on Mr Corbyn’s grass roots support base. A Tory party led by Ms Leadsom would provide the perfect opportunity for hard-right Brexit supporters to infiltrate the Conservatives (this cannot happen in time for the current leadership contest, however: the rules dictate you have to be a Tory member for three months to be eligible to vote).

Jeremy Corbyn and Tom Watson have held separate talks with the leader of the country’s biggest union in an attempt to resolve the crisis at the top of the Labour party, the Press Association reports.

Deputy leader Mr Watson was holding a series of talks with union chiefs in an attempt to end the impasse over Corbyn’s position.

Both Watson and Corbyn discussed the situation with Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, who has called for the unions to broker a peace deal in the deeply divided Labour party.

The position of the unions could prove crucial in determining the future of the party, and Watson told MPs that talks with them would be the “last throw of the dice” in efforts to persuade embattled leaderCorbyn to stand down.

A source close to Watson said there were “lengthy talks” between the deputy leader and McCluskey with the prospect of further discussions later, but they were “still exploring the lie of the land”.

And here is Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh on the situation.

A German political party is attempting to woo British start-ups to Berlin following the UK’s vote to leave the EU, the Press Association reports.

The Free Democratic party (FDP) hired an ad-van emblazoned with a billboard aimed at enticing companies to move to the German capital in the wake of the referendum result.

The Berlin branch of the FDP, a junior coalition party to Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats between 2009 and 2013, drove the van across London on Tuesday ahead of a key regional election in September.

The billboard reads: “Dear start-ups, Keep calm and move to Berlin” and has been pictured across central London on social media.

A Free Democratic Party posters being driven around Westminster, central London.
A Free Democratic Party posters being driven around Westminster, central London. Photograph: Free Democratic Party/PA

Updated

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, told the European parliament today that national governments should stop criticising the EU because negative comments about it contributed to Britain voting to leave. He told the MEPs:

In the current situation, attacks on the EU institutions, including the commission and the parliament, can only deepen the confusion.

The national capitals must undertake an effort to stop accusing the EU and its institutions of weaknesses and failures. The referendum in the UK was lost also because the political elites have for years been building a negative and often unfair vision of the EU.

Here is a full text of his remarks.

Donald Tusk speaking in a debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Donald Tusk speaking in a debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Photograph: Patrick Seeger/EPA

Updated

There is some evidence that EU nationals due to come to the UK to work for the NHS are having second thoughts since the Brexit vote, the Press Association reports.

Prof Jane Dacre, president of the Royal College of Physicians, has said that there is “anecdotal evidence” that the NHS is struggling to recruit European staff following the referendum.

She said: “There is a lot of chatter about around EU doctors who feel uncomfortable continuing to be here and are not applying for posts in the UK.”

Saffron Cordery, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, said: “We have heard of emails from our member organisations asking us if any other trusts have been in the situation of having people they had specifically recruited now deciding not to come.”

Updated

The Conservatives, Labour and Ukip are not the only parties in the midst of leadership contests or crises. The Green party is looking for a new leader, too, and today they have announced the six candidates (two of whom are proposing a job share).

Updated

Keen-eyed observers of this morning’s papers could not fail to miss the distinctive man in the triple-tweed ensemble behind Nigel Farage as he left his resignation press conference. The man with the short back and sides is Gawain Towler, his loyal press secretary of 12 years.

Towler, 48, a former Brussels correspondent for Private Eye, is now looking for a new position. He has a reasonable claim to be one of the most experienced crisis PR operators in Westminster.

Among journalists, Towler has a reputation as accessible and friendly, and was often found smoking cigarettes and drinking pints of bitter, like his boss, outside Westminster pubs.

As Farage’s flak catcher, he had to deal with the outcry after a Ukip councillor said in 2014 that serious floods in the UK were the direct result of the legalisation of gay marriage; Godfrey Bloom calling recipients of UK aid budgets “Bongo-Bongo land” in 2013 and Farage last month launching his “breaking point” referendum poster showing refugees from the Syrian war queuing at the Slovenian border rather than EU migrants, which drew accusations of racist propaganda.

The son of a military family who grew up in Dorset, Towler chaired the student Conservatives at York University and worked in parliament for Nirj Deva, a Conservative MP until 1992 before running as a member of the Scottish parliament against George Galloway in 2001. He joined Ukip in Brussels as press spokesman for Farage’s group in the European parliament.

Gawain Towler, left, with Nigel Farage leaving after the press conference where he announced his resignation.
Gawain Towler, left, with Nigel Farage leaving the press conference where the Ukip leader announced his resignation. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

Updated

Theresa May has told the Evening Standard in an interview that she would expect EU leaders to engage in informal talks about Brexit before the UK triggers the formal withdrawal process. The most senior EU leaders have rejected this idea. But May told the Standard:

In the European negotiations I have been involved in, you often have preliminary talks before you actually reach the formal position. This will be a point of discussion ...

I would hope that we would see that everybody recognises it is not just for the UK’s benefit but actually for the benefit of the EU that we have sensible discussions that are undertaken in a good spirit of willingness to get a deal that is right for us but also a sensible deal for the EU.

Updated

The Labour MP Ian Austin is rather envious of the efficiency with which the Conservative party is getting round to selecting a new leader.

No 10 says Theresa May has done 'a very good job as home secretary'

At the afternoon lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokeswoman was asked if he, like Ken Clarke, finds Theresa May “difficult” to work with. She replied:

He has found she has done a very good job as home secretary and they have worked very closely together on a whole range of issues.

Asked if this amounted to an endorsement, the spokeswoman said:

I think it reflects the working relationship between prime minister and home secretary. It’s not that different to how he works with other cabinet ministers.

That may not be an official endorsement, but it’s not far off ...

Theresa May leaving No 10 after today’s cabinet meeting.
Theresa May leaving No 10 after today’s cabinet meeting. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Tom Brake has tabled a 10-minute rule bill to give EU nationals the right to stay in the UK. It will be debated next Tuesday (for 10 minutes). The motion may well get approved without a vote, but 10-minute rule bills almost never become law. The procedure is intended to allow MPs to raise an issue, not to pass legislation.

Updated

The first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, will write to all EU nationals living in Scotland, sending them a message of reassurance that her government will “pursue every option to protect Scotland’s position in Europe and, by extension, the interests of EU citizens who live and work here”.

The announcement came after Sturgeon met consuls and diplomats from 18 EU countries earlier today. Immediately following the meeting she branded “inhumane” the UK government’s refusal to guarantee the rights of EU nationals living in Scotland.

She called on David Cameron and his potential successors to give “an immediate guarantee that the existing rights of the 173,000 EU nationals in Scotland will be protected”.

Nicola Sturgeon.
Nicola Sturgeon. Photograph: Reuters

Updated

Ken Clarke is unrepentant, too, LBC’s Theo Usherwood reports.

Updated

Rifkind says 'high proportion of the human race' agree with him about Gove being unfit to be PM

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former Conservative foreign secretary, has no regrets about being recorded criticising Michael Gove. In supposedly private remarks broadcast by Sky News (see 2.22pm), Rifkind said:

I don’t mind who wins as long as Gove comes third. As long as Gove doesn’t come in the final two I don’t mind what happens.

Asked about his comment, he told the Press Association:

My comments speak for themselves, and they appear to be shared by quite a high proportion of the human race.

Commenting on Sky’s decision to broadcast the clip, he said:

It all adds to the sum of human life. It was a bit naughty of them.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Updated

Scotland Yard received more than 200 hate crime reports after referendum

Scotland Yard received more than 200 hate crime reports in the days after the EU referendum, the Press Association reports.

Britain’s largest force logged 232 allegations from Friday June 24 to Tuesday June 28.

Of these, eight were targeted against Polish or other European communities, Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said, while 23 are considered to be related to the referendum “in as much as” it was “directly referenced or alluded to” during the alleged offence.

On average, the force receives between 20 and 50 reports of hate crime a day. This increased to 62 on Sunday 26 June - two days after the result was announced - and then 64 last Tuesday.

In a letter to Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, Hogan-Howe stressed the Met took hate crime “extremely seriously”.

He said that on Sunday June 26 they decided to move their policing approach from a “monitoring position” to a “proactive pan-London policing operation”.

Patrol plans were adjusted to deliver a visible presence in areas considered most affected.

Updated

Archbishop says Brexit vote has led to worst “out-welling of poison and hatred” seen for years

In the House of Lords debate on the EU referendum, the archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, said the Brexit vote had led to the worst “out-welling of poison and hatred” he had seen for years.

The events of the last two weeks have led to some of the most dramatic and dynamic changes that we’ve known. The course of the campaign was both robust, as it properly should be on such great issues, but at times veered over the line on both sides into being not merely robust but unacceptable.

Through those comments were created cracks in the thin crust of the politeness and tolerance of our society, through which, since the referendum, we have seen an out-welling of poison and hatred that I cannot remember in this country for very many years.

It is essential, not only in this House but for the leaders of both sides, and throughout our society, to challenge the attacks, the xenophobia and the racism that seem to have been felt to be acceptable, at least for a while.

He said that, to repair the damage, more needed to be done to tackle inequality.

The biggest thing it seems to me that we must challenge, my Lords, if we are to be effective in this creation of a new vision for Britain – a vision that enables hope and reconciliation to begin to flower – is to tackle the issues of inequality. It is inequality that thins out the crust of our society. It is inequality that raises the levels of anger and bitterness.

We have done it before, my Lords. This is not new. In the 19th century we tackled inequality. In the great governments following 1945 we tackled the inequality that had been so ruinous to our society in the 1930s and led to the failures of that time.

The tools to tackle inequality are as readily available as they ever were, my Lords. They are the obvious ones of education, of public health – and we would add today mental health – of housing. But those tools are tools that we have to take up and invest in.

The full text of his speech is on his website here.

The archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
The archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

Updated

Embassies have seen a “wave of interest” in passport and citizenship inquiries during the week after Britain voted to leave the European Union, the Press Association reports.

Polish, Italian and Canadian embassies reported increased levels of interest since the Brexit side claimed victory, while Ireland’s post offices ran out of passports after a surge in demand.

Poland’s embassy in London said its consulate had received at least 200 emails and 600 phone calls regarding Polish citizenship and passports in the six days after the referendum vote, mainly from people with Polish origins.

A spokeswoman said: “There is a wave of interest in getting Polish passports.

“Normally monthly we get around 10 emails and calls regarding this issue. After the referendum, since last Friday, they have had around 250 inquiries daily.”

These requests were mainly from British citizens with Polish heritage but also from married couples where one spouse was Polish, especially when the pair had children, she said.

Italy’s embassy said its two consulates in London and Edinburgh had received at least 500 emails about obtaining Polish citizenship since Friday 24 June, the majority of them from British nationals with Italian ancestry who specified the Brexit vote as motivation.

“They are applying because they have the right to, but this is the thing that pushed them,” a spokesman said.

This was a “huge increase” from the norm, he said, adding that the consulates received 446 emails requesting citizenship following marriage in the first six months of 2016.

The Canadian embassy said there was a 325% increase in UK users accessing its Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website on 24 June – the day after millions went to the polls to cast their votes.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs had to appeal for calm after post offices ran out of Irish passport applications following the referendum result.

Updated

This is from Sky’s Jon Craig.

Crabb says he would put pressure on Northern Ireland to accept gay marriage

Stephen Crabb, the work and pensions secretary, has said that as prime minister he would put pressure on Northern Ireland to accept marriage equality. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where gay marriage is still illegal.

Crabb made the comment in an interview with Pink News. Referring to marriage equality, he said:

If I was prime minister of the United Kingdom, I think it’s a hallmark of an integrated, cohesive state that you have equal rights. There shouldn’t be a patchwork of rights.

I know what the sensitivities are in Northern Ireland but given the overwhelming referendum in the south and given where the rest of Britain is, I think that there is a really good case to sit down with Northern Ireland ministers constructively and say, ‘Look, come on, we’re a United Kingdom let’s at least have a united framework and coherent framework of rights.’

Stephen Crabb leaving today’s cabinet meeting in No 10.
Stephen Crabb leaving today’s cabinet meeting in No 10. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Updated

Tristram Hunt, Labour’s last but three shadow education secretaries, has today written to Nicky Morgan demanding “a clear statement of intent” over the status of EU nationals attending schools in England amid apparent disagreement between herself and the immigration minister on the subject. Hunt wrote:

The absence of planning by the DfE into the consequences of Brexit for children in English schools has been shameful – and it is teachers, schoolchildren and parents who will suffer. At school gates across the country there is now an atmosphere of confusion and concern, which has only been exacerbated by increased incidences of racist and xenophobic abuse. We need a clear statement of intent about how you are going to protect the education and learning of valued pupils in our schools. And we need it now.

Updated

Ken Clarke says May 'bloody difficult', Gove 'wild' and Leadsom's views 'extremely stupid'

Sky News has just broadcast footage of Kenneth Clarke, the former Conservative chancellor, mocking three of the leading candidates in the leadership contest.

Clarke was in discussion with Sir Malcolm Rifkind, another former Tory cabinet minister. The two of them were chatting in the studio before going on air to discuss the contest, apparently unaware that their conversation was being recorded.

Here are the highlights.

  • Clarke said that Theresa May was “bloody difficult” and did not know much about foreign affairs. But Margaret Thatcher was difficult too, he said. He said that she was good and that he would probably end up voting for May, after supporting Stephen Crabb in the first round.
  • He said that Andrea Leadsom had been saying some “extremely stupid things” and that he did not think she favoured leaving the EU.
  • He said he did not know Crabb’s views on most things.
  • Clarke said that Michael Gove was so hawkishly “wild” that he would “go to war with at least three countries at once”.
  • He said that the idea of Boris Johnson being prime minister was “ridiculous”.
  • Rifkind said he did not mind who won, as long as it was not Gove.

The recording, which is so much fun that I’ve listened to it three times already without getting bored, also suggests that Clarke can be a difficult conversational companion. You keep hearing Rifkind trying to butt in, but Clarke won’t let him get a word in edgeways.

Kenneth Clarke on Sky News.
Kenneth Clarke on Sky News. Photograph: Sky News

Updated

Letwin says government can invoke article 50 without a vote in parliament

In his evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office minister, said the government did not accept that parliament had to vote on the decision to invoke article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty (the move that formally starts the two-year EU withdrawal process).

He also hinted that the UK may not take up its sixth-month presidency of the EU next year. Britain is due to hold the presidency in the second half of 2017, but there is a mechanism that allows the EU to change the presidency rota.

And it looks like Letwin’s summer holiday is up the spout, now that he is in charge of the unit preparing for the Brexit negotiations.

Updated

And here are some more Tory MPs backing Theresa May on Twitter.

But Dan Poulter has voted for Andrea Leadsom.

And David Morris is backing Stephen Crabb.

This is from the Spectator’s James Forsyth.

Sturgeon says May's refusal to guarantee that EU nationals will be able to stay in UK is 'disgraceful'

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has joined those criticising Theresa May’s stance on EU nationals living in the UK (see 9am and 1.04pm). Sturgeon said May’s stance was “disgraceful” and “disgusting”. This is from Channel 4 News’s Matthew Moore.

And this is from Sturgeon’s chief of staff, Elizabeth Lloyd.

Theresa May’s campaign team has sought to clarify her stance on EU nationals living in the UK in light of the continuing criticism she is receiving for failing to guarantee that they will be able to stay. (See 9am.) A source said:

At last night’s meeting of the 1922 committee Theresa was very clear about the position of EU nationals in Britain, and argued that it was equally important to consider the rights of British nationals living abroad. Her position is that we will guarantee the legal status of EU nationals in Britain as long as British nationals living in EU countries have their status guaranteed too.

Updated

Greg Hands, the chief secretary to the Treasury, declared this morning that he was backing Theresa May. The Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn reads that as evidence that May has secured the backing of George Osborne, the chancellor, who has been keeping his intentions to himself.

The Tory leadership race is dragging politics into primary school test results, with Labour and the Lib Dems using today’s key stage 2 Sats statistics as a weapon to bash contender Michael Gove and his backer Nicky Morgan.

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, said: “These Sats results show starkly that they are gambling the futures of these young people on Michael Gove’s misty-eyed world view where every school is a prep or grammar school, students are robotic and teachers skip around teaching past participles and antonyms by rote to seven-year-olds. It sounds more like an Enid Blyton book than reality.”

And then there’s this from Lucy Powell, who resigned from Labour’s frontbench last week: “Nicky Morgan should spend less time sucking up to Tory leadership candidates and more time trying to sort out the mess they have created. There’s no dressing these results up – there has been a big drop in results and standards have fallen due to the chaos and confusion in assessment created by Tory ministers past and present.”

The Sats show a bigger gap in attainment in reading and maths than in previous years, which the Department for Education and Morgan attribute to the new tougher Sats.

Updated

Time was when British commentators loved to compare Angela Merkel, when she first came into office over a decade ago, to Margaret Thatcher. Merkel was going to be Germany’s Eiserne Frau or Iron Lady. No one makes that comparison any more. Instead, German commentators are right now struck by the strong resemblances between Theresa May and their own leader, Angela Merkel, writes our Berlin correspondent, Kate Connolly.

In a commentary for the German TV station NTV, Wolfram Weimer writes: “The home secretary has the best chance. With her, London would get a duplicate of the German chancellor.”

Reflecting on the fact that it has in the past not infrequently been a woman who has steered Britain out of a crisis, listing Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria and Margaret Thatcher as examples, Weimer says, now it could well be May’s turn to take up the role. He describes the 59-year-old as “something like the Angela Merkel of England. A pastor’s daughter who operates in an aloof and sober way, but who always knows exactly what she wants. Like Merkel, May was also the general secretary of her party during a time of crisis, like Merkel she applied ointment to the wound, like Merkel, May has managed to assert herself against all manner of macho men, with a cool determination.”

She is also “ambitious just like her German prototype … and in London they talk of her having the ‘stamina of a German’,” he notes.

And, he adds, just as Merkel got her party back on track following the fall of (Helmut) Kohl over a spending affair which engulfed her Christian Democrats, “so too Theresa May could become the big reconciler of the deeply split Tories.”

Die Welt calls May the “Ingenious survivor of the Brexit Drama”, drawing again on pastor’s daughter comparisons, and calling both women sober decision-makers, neither of whom are showy or keen for the limelight.

Both are part of a new ‘femokratie’ it says, coming to “clean up the mess created by the men”, in the guise of “postmodern Elektras in trouser suits with rubber gloves”. Like Merkel, it considers May to be “businesslike, technocratic, a safe, calm hand, who one can trust to steer the party and the country in a calm and collected manner”.

The broadcaster Deutschlandfunk says it is no surprise that May is “often compared to the German chancellor. She too is the daughter of a pastor and is married but with no children”.

Like Merkel she is “indomitable, strict, extremely hard-working and astute. But also unapproachable, serious, and rather shy … she is not jovial, she doesn’t talk until she’s blue in the face”. Her somewhat sober image only intensified during her time in office as home secretary, it adds. But a major difference between the two, the broadcaster points out, is that unlike Merkel, May has not tended to stand up for immigration.

Angela Merkel - the German Theresa May
Angela Merkel - the German Theresa May Photograph: Axel Schmidt/Reuters

Updated

Alistair Burt to resign as health minister

Jeremy Corbyn is not the only party leader losing frontbenchers. The health minister, Alistair Burt, has just told MPs that he will leave the government when the new prime minister takes over. This is from the Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith.

I have not seen a more detailed explanation yet for his move.

Updated

Boris Johnson explains why he's not backing Gove

And, talking of Boris Johnson, he has just been speaking to Sky News about why he is backing Andrea Leadsom. It is because she is very experienced and “very, very capable” and because she will build a good team, he said.

And why aren’t you backing Michael Gove, he was asked. Johnson smiled, and replied:

Because Andrea Leadsom, I think, has all the qualities that you need at the moment. She’s got a lot of zap, a lot of drive, and all the experience. Plus I think she can articulate what’s needed at the moment, which is a bit of an antidote to some of the gloom and negativity and misunderstanding about what the Brexit vote means. Because some people think that it’s the end of the world. It’s not. On the contrary, it’s a massive opportunity for this country.

At least, that’s the anodyne answer. An honest reply would have been a lot more interesting.

Boris Johnson speaking outside his home.
Boris Johnson speaking outside his home. Photograph: Sky News

Updated

Speaking in the European parliament this morning, Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European parliament, described Boris Johnson, the leading Tory Vote Leave campaigner, and Nigel Farage, the outgoing Ukip leader, as “retro-nationalists”.

‘Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson are retro-nationalists,’ says Jean-Claude Juncker

Crispin Blunt accuses Cameron of 'dereliction of duty' over failure to prepare for Brexit

Crispin Blunt, the Conservative MP who chairs the foreign affairs committee, told Oliver Letwin that it was a “dereliction of duty” for David Cameron not to make any contingency planning for a Brexit vote. There were only two possible outcomes from the referendum, he said. And, since Cameron said he was planning to remain as prime minister whatever the result, he should have planned for a leave vote, he said.

Crispin Blunt.
Crispin Blunt. Photograph: Parliament TV

Updated

Letwin says that his unit is preparing a series of option papers for the next government. He wants to have them ready for 9 September, when the new prime minister is elected.

Those option papers will not include recommendations, he says.

He says they will cover issues like how the UK could maintain policing and security cooperation with EU countries after Brexit.

Oliver Letwin gives evidence to the foreign affairs committee on Brexit

Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office minister who is overseeing preparations for the EU withdrawal negotiations, is giving evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee now. You can watch the hearing here.

I will be monitoring it closely, and posting any highlights, but without covering it in full.

Letwin started by saying that his team would not be taking decisions about the terms of withdrawal. That was a matter for the next prime minister, he said.

And he said he was not starting the withdrawal negotiations.

But what he and the team of civil servants are doing is making preparations for those negotiations, he said.

For example, they need to pull together a cadre of experts specialist in trade negotations.

And they want to pull together as much information as possible, he said.

Oliver Letwin giving evidence to the foreign affairs committee.
Oliver Letwin giving evidence to the foreign affairs committee. Photograph: Oliver Letwin

Michael Dougan, professor of European law at the University of Liverpool, has been giving evidence to the Commons Treasury committee this morning about Brexit. My colleague Patrick Wintour has some of the highlights.

This means that if the UK adopted a Norway-style arrangement that involved membership of EFTA (the European Free Trade Association) it would still be subject to the decisions of a foreign court.

The EEA is the European Economic Area, which comprises all EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Updated

Here is Sky News’ latest tally on how many declared MP supporters each candidate in the Tory leadership contest has.

Labour is going to hold an emergency debate in the Commons tomorrow on the rights of EU nationals living in the UK, Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary, says.

Jeremy Corbyn is due to announce the full details of his new shadow cabinet, the BBC’s Vicki Young reports.

In the House of Lords peers have just started a debate on the EU referendum. More than 100 peers are due to speak and you can see who will be speaking, and when, on the speakers’ list on the Lords whips office website.

I will not be covering the debate in detail, but I will try to flag up any highlights.

You can watch the debate here.

Lib Dems says Bank of England report shows leave campaigners have been lying about impact of Brexit

The Liberal Democrats are saying that today’s Bank of England financial stability report (see 11.28am) shows that the leaders of the leave campaign have been lying to the public about the economic consequences of Brexit. This is from Susan Kramer, the Lib Dems’ Treasury spokesperson.

The leaders of the Brexit campaign, including Andrea Leadsom, have been quick to claim that any hit to our economy was a minor blip and already in the past. The Bank of England’s report shows that those who lied during the campaign are continuing to treat the public like fools even now. They need to stop pretending all is well and start acting in the interests of the country.

The FPC’s report confirmed that our economy is now in serious danger as business confidence evaporates. Every single job lost, every deal cancelled and every home foreclosed will be on the hands of those who promised the earth but offer no clear picture for our future relationship with Europe.

Cutting the capital buffers is a sensible move, but we need central government to act as aggressively as the Bank of England. That means opening up a line of credit via the British Business Bank to support those high innovation businesses who will now struggle to get bank lending, overdraft facilities and financing.

UPDATE: This is what Andrea Leadsom said about the economic impact of Brexit before the referendum.

Susan Kramer.
Susan Kramer. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian

Updated

Bank of England says 'some market and economic volatility' expected after Brexit vote

The Bank of England has published its financial stability report today. You can read it here.

And here is an extract from the executive summary.

There will be a period of uncertainty and adjustment following the result of the referendum. It will take time for the United Kingdom to establish new relationships with the European Union and the rest of the world. Some market and economic volatility is to be expected as this process unfolds.

The degree of uncertainty and nature of adjustment is evident in financial market prices, which have moved sharply following the referendum. Between 23 June and 1 July, the sterling exchange rate index fell by 9% and short-term volatility of sterling against the dollar rose to its highest level in the post-Bretton Woods era. Equity prices of UK banks have fallen on average by 20%, with UK-focused banks experiencing the largest falls. Equity prices of domestically focused companies have fallen by 10%. The ten-year UK government bond yield fell by 52 basis points. These moves reflect an increase in risk premia on UK assets, a perceived weaker growth outlook, and anticipation of some future deterioration in the United Kingdom’s terms of trade and supply capacity.

Bank of England governor Mark Carney speaking at his news conference this morning.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney speaking at his news conference this morning. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

Sterling falls to new lows against dollar and euro

The pound is continuing to fall in value in the light of the Brexit vote, the Press Association reports.

Sterling plunged to new lows against both the dollar and the euro on Tuesday as the UK’s decision to leave the European Union continues to batter investor confidence in the country.

The pound plunged to 1.3117 dollars, down 12% since the Brexit vote and hitting a 31-year low. Sterling also fell to its weakest level against the euro since 2013 at 1.1787 euros.

The currency was dented after data showed Britain’s dominant services sector slipped back last month as Brexit uncertainty intensified.

The closely-watched Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) recorded a worse-than-expected 52.3 in June, down from 53.5 in May and below economist expectations of 52.8.

Measures by the Bank of England to help prop up the British economy, which include relaxing funding rules for banks to boost lending by up to £150bn, failed to buoy the pound.

Updated

Bank of England relaxes bank lending rules to help limit risk of Brexit damaging the economy

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has just announced that it is easing its bank lending rules to help limit the risk of Brexit damaging the economy.

My colleague Graeme Wearden is covering Carney’s press conference in detail on his business live blog.

And here’s an extract.

Mark Carney confirms that the Bank of England has decided to cut the ‘counter-cyclical capital buffer’ on UK banks.

This means banks need to keep less capital on their books, and can pump up to £150bn more into the economy.

This will “immediately” give banks greater flexibility to lend to UK businesses and households, declares the BoE governor.

The Guardian’s account of how the five Tory leadership candidates performed at the private hustings for MPs last night is here.

Others have good accounts too.

Emily Ashton at BuzzFeed says Andrea Leadsom performed badly.

One cabinet minister said she was asked three times about her backing from Ukip and Leave.EU. “When you’re asked to say you’re not Ukip at a hustings to be leader of the Conservative party, you’re in trouble,” he said. “It was a car crash.”

Another MP said her pitch was a “fucking shambles”, adding: “She babbled on about the importance of the frontal cortex for emotional development, said she’d trigger article 50 immediately – and then that she wouldn’t. She was good for the first three minutes though.”

Owen Bennett, at the Huffington Post, says Leadsom’s performance was described as a “car crash”.

James Forsyth, at the Spectator, says Liam Fox seemed to be auditioning for the job of foreign secretary, not prime minister.

Unlike Gove, he devoted most of his 15 minutes to giving a speech. He emphasised his experience and his ability to take decisive decisions. He said that he would ringfence the mental health budget and increase defence spending. He talked about the dangers of cyber-terrorism and won smiles when he warned the 2010 and 2015 intakes not to believe the job offers that candidates make to them.

The view of Tory MPs afterwards was that Fox was, most likely, auditioning to be foreign secretary rather than prime minister. Hence, the global focus of the speech.

Updated

Priti Patel, the employment minister and a lead figure in the Vote Leave campaign, has written an article for the Telegraph setting out what qualities she is looking for in the next Conservative leader. She does not say who she is backing, but she says the party needs someone who is “tried and tested, capable of making tough decisions and can lead a team negotiating with EU institutions” but who can also “bring together, both the entire Conservative party and our country”.

Although Patel does not say which of the five candidates best meets these criteria, a source in the Theresa May camp has been emailing a link to the interview to journalists – so perhaps we can draw our own conclusions.

Updated

The crisis in Labour is generating increased interest in the possibility of a split, and the formation of a new party. In the Times today Rachel Sylvester says a growing number of MPs and peers are interested in creating a new party of the centre left. (See 6.49am.) And in the Financial Times Janan Ganesh says these Labour splitters should not be deterred by the memory of what happened to the Social Democratic party in the 1980s.

The trauma of Limehouse has paralysed Labour moderates. But if they are going to be cowed by history, they should get that history right. In the end, the SDP won, and won big. The past four prime ministers – John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron – have tried to blend a free economy, a substantial state, cultural looseness and EU membership. Jenkins sensed where the country was going, just too early. Last month’s eruption has broken his consensus but it still commands half of Britons. A new party must speak for them.

Interestingly two Labour MPs, Clive Lewis and Jonathan Reynolds, have written a joint article for LabourList saying the party should embrace proportional representation because of the increasingly fragmented nature of the electorate. They argue:

The Brexit referendum showed what happens when the electorate are given a vote that counts – they take it and use it – packing so much frustration into a decision that was nominally about Europe but clearly about so much more, not least the effects of globalisation on their lives. The contrast could not have been greater with general elections in the UK. Because of the First Past the Post voting system only a few swing voters in a few swing seats are listened to and many voices are never heard.

This combined with the increasingly diverse nature of the UK’s political landscape means that a shift to a proportional voting system is now an urgent imperative. The era of just two big parties representing the vast bulk of the country is over and we now see the pent up consequences of pretending that is still the case. We urge the Labour party to lead the country towards a new politics of the 21st century by embracing proportional representation (PR).

Lewis is a Corbyn supporter and Reynolds is on the right of the party. The clear implication of their article is that Labour should split, although it does not say whether the Corbyn/Momentum/membership faction should be the one that leaves and sets up a new organisation from scratch or the “moderate”/rightwing/PLP one. But the two MPs do envisage the two successor Labour parties working together. They go on:

We welcome the formation of a progressive alliance of parties that understand without PR a more equal, democratic and sustainable society is less likely.

Updated

The vice chancellors of Britain’s leading universities say they are “concerned by reports of increasing xenophobic incidents” and have issued a pledge to protect staff and students from attacks in the wake of the EU referendum result.

The Russell Group of leading UK research universities is in the frontline of Brexit fallout, vulnerable to uncertainty over research funding, staff and student recruitment from Europe.

David Greenaway, vice-chancellor of the University of Nottingham and the group’s chair, and Wendy Piatt, the group’s director-general, have announced that they are already in talks with the government “to ensure the best possible outcome from upcoming negotiations”.
Here’s an extract from the full Russell Group statement.

Leaving the EU will have a profound effect on our universities, who have long thrived on global collaboration and international interaction – be it through European staff and students coming to our universities, or when our best researchers work with colleagues across Europe to tackle big social and scientific challenges.

Our universities have, therefore, always warmly welcomed people from different cultures, ethnicities and beliefs. Embracing this very diversity is vital to our success, fundamental to our values and enriches life on campus. So we are especially concerned by reports of increasing xenophobic incidents and how this could impact on our communities. We simply will not tolerate abuse of this sort and any student or staff member who experiences racism or xenophobia on or off our campuses can be assured this will be taken extremely seriously. Now more than ever we should ensure our campuses are places where diversity is welcomed, cherished and respected.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, will host a group of diplomats representing EU countries at Bute House, to discuss how the Scottish government can provide further reassurance to all EU citizens living in Scotland.

Ahead of the meeting, Sturgeon said:

I have made it very clear that citizens of EU countries who have decided to make Scotland their home should receive an absolute guarantee from the UK government that their status here is safe and secure.

I have already written to the prime minister and the potential candidates to succeed him, calling for that assurance to be made without delay - and that is just one of the issues I will be discussing with consuls and diplomats at today’s summit.

The first minister is also meeting representatives of the CBI, the Institute of Directors and other Scottish business groups, saying that the business community’s response to Brexit will be “crucial in protecting Scotland’s interests.”

Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, is talking to Labour’s main union backers today to try to find a solution to the Jeremy Corbyn crisis but he is not chairing a single meeting. He is due to meet Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, along with John Cryer, chair of the parliamentary Labour party, this morning. Later in the day he is expected to talk separately to Dave Prentis, the Unison general secretary, Tom Roache, the GMB general secretary, and Dave Ward, the CWU general secretary. Coordinating their diaries has apparently been a bit of a problem.

There are a lot of Tory MPs on Twitter this morning expressing support for Theresa May – some of them using identical language.

It is harder to find MPs on Twitter backing other candidates this morning, but David Mowat has said he is backing Andrea Leadsom.

Updated

Nicky Morgan, the education secretary who is backing Michael Gove, told the BBC this morning that she did not think Andrea Leadsom was experienced enough to be leader. She said:

[Leadsom] has not been a cabinet minister. She has not been a minister for that long. And there is definitely a mood in the party for making sure that two cabinet heavyweights we have got, who come from different traditions, different sides of the EU referendum campaign, Theresa May and Michael Gove - it would be right to put them to the party in the country.

This is a useful reminder that the first round of voting in a Conservative party leadership election is not always a helpful guide to the final result.

Tory members back Theresa May's stance on EU nationals, poll suggests

Here are more figures from the YouGov poll of Conservative members in today’s Times (paywall). It suggests that Theresa May would comfortably beat Andrea Leadsom in the final ballot.

YouGov poll of Tory members.
YouGov poll of Tory members. Photograph: The Times

It also suggests Conservative members back Theresa May’s position on EU nationals remaining in the UK (which is to refuse to promise them now that they can stay, because she wants to secure reciprocal rights for Britons living in the EU as part of the withdrawal negotiations). This is interesting because many Tory MPs, and all the other four leadership candidates, want to assure EU nationals now that they can remain.

Updated

Farage says he is disgusted Theresa May is refusing to promise EU nationals they can stay in UK

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Claire.

Nigel Farage, the outgoing Ukip leader, has been on LBC this morning. He has joined the large chorus of Brexit politicians (and remain ones too) criticising Theresa May for refusing to promise EU nationals living in the UK that they will definitely be allowed to stay. These are from LBC’s Theo Usherwood.

It was mainly Conservative MPs who were drinking in the House of Commons bars last night as many discussed how the leadership candidates had performed in the hustings.

Some joked that Andrea Leadsom had lost them when she began to talk about “frontal lobes” and her “3 B’s – Brussels, banks and babies”. The reference was to the attachment theory between parents and newborns and the impact on brain development, something she is passionate about.

Many said Michael Gove and Liam Fox performed best, but said Theresa May got the best reception and described Stephen Crabb as solid.

Around 25 MPs went on to a later session in which the candidates addressed the party’s 2020 group, a set of MPs thinking about winning the next election, in half-hour sessions.

But others went to a special karaoke session in which I’m told all the leadership candidates, apart from Leadsom, turned up for a singalong that stretched into the night.

Sources suggest Crabb came out with a belter: Don’t Stop Me Now!

The karaoke was organised by the deputy leader of the house, Therese Coffey, and dozens of MPs came, singing a variety of songs including Mr Brightside, Mack the Knife and Summer Nights.

Crabb: 'being gay is not a sin'

Crabb voted against same-sex marriage and has come in for criticism – particularly since he launched his leadership bid – for his views.

He told the BBC his objection had been on the “narrow issue of protection of religious freedom”:

I’m very happy with the outcome of the vote … I totally, totally support equal marriage in law. I don’t want anybody in society feeling second best. I don’t believe that being gay is a sin.

Crabb also said that quotes circulating on social media in which he allegedly backed “gay conversion therapy” were a “complete falsehood”, adding that he does not believe that being gay is something that can be “cured”:

It’s certainly not part of my Christian outlook.

Updated

Asked about his proposal for a £100bn Growing Britain fund – borrowing to invest in infrastructure projects – Crabb mentioned (a few times) the need for “bold choices”:

We’re at a major turning point … if we’re going to turn this [Brexit] to our advantage, we need to make some different economic choices.

The plan sounds similar to that outlined in Labour’s manifesto in the 2015 election, presenter Mishal Husain tells him. Does he want to pay tribute to Ed Balls?

Astonishingly, he does not.

Crabb also insists he’s not abandoning government policy:

It will always be a hallmark of a Conservative government to put a really strong emphasis on fiscal discipline and controlling spending.

[But] Britain has to forge a new future in the world.

‘Peston on Sunday’ TV show, London, UK - 03 Jul 2016EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO MERCHANDISING Mandatory Credit: Photo by Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock (5744546av) Stephen Crabb ‘Peston on Sunday’ TV show, London, UK - 03 Jul 2016
Stephen Crabb: not a huge Ed Balls fan. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Crabb: 'no rush' to trigger article 50

Stephen Crabb, work and pensions secretary and wannabe prime minister, is on the Today programme. He’s repeated his argument that the status of EU nationals already living in the UK should not be used as bargaining chips in Brexit negotiations:

The idea that we will be at some sort of Checkpoint Charlie scenario, arguing over who’s going to live in which countries … is not going to happen.

And on the key issue of triggering article 50 – there’s no rush:

I think it’s a mistake for people to rush out to set out a timetable right now for activating article 50 … The dust hasn’t begun to settle. [The new PM] needs to take stock and work up a clear vision of what is in the national interest.

Some of the other candidates … have felt under pressure to set out now what their timetable would be. We need to take a whole UK perspective on this … the mayor of London has got a role in those kinds of discussions.

(He did mention Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too.)

Crabb said it would not matter if the final two were to be him and Theresa May – two remainers, warning such descriptors carried a “serious risk of splitting the party; we’ve got to make this leadership election about the future”.

Updated

The Bank of England will released its latest financial stability report at 10.30am, assessing the state of the UK’s economy. It looks rather more unstable than two weeks ago, of course, since the EU referendum vote turned politics on its head and put business confidence on its knees.

Then at 11am, Mark Carney will hold a press conference to explain the Bank’s thinking, and any new measures it is taking to tackle the crisis.

This will be Carney’s second set piece event in a week; last Thursday, he all-but promised interest rate cuts and more stimulus measures this summer.

So what could he do today?

The Bank could choose to relax the capital rules imposed on banks, to give them more leeway to handle the fallout from Brexit. That would be a symbolic move to ease pressures on the City; it’s only six months since the BoE tightened those rules, which are meant to protect us from a financial crisis.

Carney could also signal that more credit will be thrown at the economy, by beefing up the existing Funding for Lending. That would also help to prevent a credit crunch clogging up the economy.

Updated

Buzzfeed’s Jim Waterson reports that Raheem Kassam, editor-in-chief of the UK outlet of rightwing news site Breitbart, and a former aide to Nigel Farage, is thinking of throwing his hat into the Ukip leadership ring. Sort of:

I intend to shake up the leadership contest. Maybe by running. Maybe another way. Farage knows and he told me by way of third party that it was a good idea. Don’t know if that is true or not, to be honest.

On BBC’s Newsnight last night, Kassam defended the Leave.EU “Breaking Point” poster, widely condemned during the referendum campaign:

Updated

If you had to pick one of the Tory leadership contenders to describe as a “warrior for the dispossessed”, who would it be?

For Nicky Morgan, writing in the Telegraph this morning, it’s her predecessor as education secretary, Michael Gove. And so he ought to be the prime minister, she says:

It needs someone who will stand up for what’s right and not hide from big decisions. Someone with the ideas, passion and energy to get the job done. Someone who, through courageous and long-overdue education reforms (which I’ve had the privilege to build on) and wide-ranging changes to the way the criminal justice system works, has done more to transform the life chances of the most disadvantaged than any other Cabinet minister of recent times. Someone with an unshakeable commitment to being a ‘warrior for the dispossessed’.

Michael Gove offers the change and the leadership we need if we are to meet this moment with the hard-headed response it demands.

Updated

Should Suzanne Evans – currently suspended from the party – be allowed to stand in the Ukip leadership, Nuttall is asked.

[It’s] not my decision, unfortunately. Suzanne is a fantastic frontwoman for the party and I hope Suzanne comes back into the party. If the national executive committee says that Suzanne is able to stand, then I will back them absolutely 100%.

Nuttall also, he says, gets on very well with Ukip’s sole MP, Douglas Carswell – who responded to news of Farage’s resignation with a smiley-faced emoji tweet.

I don’t have a problem on a personal level with Douglas Carswell at all … unity is the key.

Updated

Reminded of a blogpost he wrote on 2010 (deleted but archived here) saying that “the very existence of the NHS stifles competition”, Nuttall tells the BBC:

I said that back in 2010 … I believe that lack of competition within the NHS does stifle … particularly in procurement. We could bring in private companies to buy on behalf of the NHS. The NHS should still be free at the point of delivery … I’ve never said anything else.

Updated

Ukip also needs to stick around, Nuttall argues, to make sure Brexit actually happens:

We have to be there to ensure we hold the next prime minister’s feet to the fire to ensure they don’t backslide.

Paul Nuttall celebrates the leave victory in the referendum.
Paul Nuttall celebrates the leave victory in the referendum. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Updated

Paul Nuttall, Ukip’s deputy leader and likely contender to stand for the top job after Nigel Farage’s resignation, has been speaking on the Today programme.

Farage really is going this time, Nuttall says:

Nigel has been a brilliant leader … he’s taken us from literally nothing … He really is going out on a high.

But Ukip isn’t going anywhere, he insists – despite essentially achieving its central goal:

Ten years ago Ukip was a single-issue pressure group … That isn’t the case any more.

He says the party should be going after traditional Labour voters, adding that “there is now a clear disconnect” between them and the party.

Updated

Jo Johnson – previously backing his brother Boris (and we know these things aren’t guaranteed) – has switched his support to Theresa May:

Morning briefing

Good morning and welcome to our daily politics, leadership jousts and Brexit fallout coverage. I’m kicking things off with the morning briefing to set you up for the day ahead and steering the live blog until Andrew Sparrow takes his seat.

Do come and chat in the comments below or find me on Twitter @Claire_Phipps.

The big picture

Voting begins today to eject the first of the five would-be prime ministers from the Conservative leadership running. Tory MPs pick from Theresa May (the favourite by pretty much all reckonings), Andrea Leadsom, Michael Gove, Stephen Crabb and Liam Fox, with the loser evicted from the Big Westminster House without even a chance to sob in the diary room.

Most predictions have Fox as the first to go but what do predictions know?

Leadsom on Monday won the backing of Boris Johnson (he was the future once), who said she had “the zap, the drive, and the determination” to be prime minister and praised her trustworthiness. Because where are you if you can’t trust your closest political chums?

Boris Johnson and Andrea Leadsom ahead of a referendum debate last month. He now thinks she should be PM.
Boris Johnson and Andrea Leadsom ahead of a referendum debate last month. He now thinks she should be PM. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

All five candidates on Monday night took part in hustings in front of their colleagues. It wasn’t a public event but, well, people will talk. Here’s what we can glean:

The deadline for voting is 6pm; expect to know who’s soared and who’s stumbled by 7pm. Non-defeated but embarrassed candidates have until Wednesday morning to pull out if they don’t want to go forward to the next knockout round on Thursday.

Less snappily, the Labour leadership … contest? challenge? muddle? … trundles on. Today, the party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, meets trade union bosses in what is being billed as a last-ditch attempt at a deal that would ease Jeremy Corbyn out of his seat while also keeping Labour as one big happy family. Well, maybe not happy.

Tom Watson watches Jeremy Corbyn
Tom Watson watches Jeremy Corbyn. We’re down to the last roll of the dice, Labour’s deputy leader says. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

At a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party yesterday evening – not attended by Corbyn or his shadow chancellor, John McDonnell – Watson reportedly told MPs the union meeting was a “last throw of the dice” after he had asked Corbyn earlier that day to step down (he didn’t step down).

Former leader Neil Kinnock apparently moved some MPs to tears, telling them Labour could not split:

We are not leaving our party. We are going to fight and we are going to win!

On Monday, Fabian Hamilton, the shadow Europe minister, became the 65th member of the Labour frontbench to resign. Another ex-shadow, Angela Eagle, proved we are way past coded messages with a gauntlet-chucking statement:

I have the support to run and resolve this impasse, and I will do so if Jeremy doesn’t take action soon.

A defiant Corbyn did take action. He made a video: but is it a greatest hits package or a leadership career retrospective?

When we do things together we are very strong. Now is the time to come together.

Jeremy Corbyn addresses Labour members: come together now

And because there just aren’t enough leadership spats going on, we’re likely to see some runners and riders emerge to take Ukip into its next phase. Unless Nigel Farage un-resigns again.

Has the UK Brexited yet?

No. And according to the Austrian finance minister, Hans Jörg Schelling, perhaps it never will. Schelling told German newspaper Handelsblatt (here in English):

Britain will remain a member of the EU in the future. In five years, there will still be 28 member states. When you look at all of those [companies] who want to move to the EU, it’s a wakeup call for Britain not to leave in the end.

On the other hand, Alain Juppé, former prime minister of France and the favourite to win next year’s French presidential election, thinks the UK should leave tout de suite:

When you get divorced, you do not get to stay at home. You have to leave the common house.

Juppé also raised the prospect – rejected by the French government but potentially a future flashpoint should he end up in the Elysée Palace – that the Le Touquet agreement, which allows the UK border force to operate in Calais, could be scrapped.

We cannot continue with a system in which on French territory the British authorities decide the people that can be welcomed and can be rejected. That is not acceptable.

A UK immigration service official checks vehicles at the ferry terminal in Calais
A UK immigration service official checks vehicles at the ferry terminal in Calais. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

You should also know:

The big question

Will the £3 registered Labour supporters who signed up in droves last year – and who are widely credited with placing the crown on Corbyn’s head – be voting in any new leadership contest?

The answer is: not necessarily.

As Rowena Mason and Jessica Elgot report:

Registered supporters have no “ongoing” relationship with the party and would thus have to sign up again, under Labour party rules. There is also no rule on the registered supporter fee remaining at £3, or on the timeframe in which new members should be allowed to sign up, which is a matter for the national executive committee (NEC) to decide.

“It could be free, it could be £50,000 – there’s nothing to say it has to be £3,” a Labour source told the Guardian.

Another source confirmed it was the case that there was “no formal ongoing relationship conferred upon them [registered supporters] because they paid to participate in one leadership election. That only allows them to vote in that leadership election.”

Poll position

A YouGov/Times poll of Conservative party members – who’ll get to pick the next prime minister, lucky things – finds that if, as predicted, the final two are Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom, May would take it at a sprint with a thumping 63% to Leadsom’s 31% (and 6% don’t-knows).

Pitted against the other candidates, May also comes out as the winner: the poll says she’d beat Stephen Crabb by 63 points, Michael Gove by 51 points and Liam Fox by 50 points.

Diary

  • Voting by Tory MPs goes on until 6pm, with a result expected by 7pm, when the lowest-scoring candidate is ejected.
  • Tom Watson meets with union bosses over Jeremy Corbyn’s future.
  • There’s some parliamentary Brexitery, with a Lords debate at 11.30am on the referendum.
  • At noon, the foreign affairs select committee ponders the implications of leaving the EU; Oliver Letwin – newly minted minister for Brexit – will be there. He also turns up at 4pm to a Lords committee on the same topic with Europe minister David Lidington.
  • The secretary of state for communities, Greg Clark, and the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, address the Local Government Association conference in Bournemouth.
  • At 6pm, Green MP Caroline Lucas, new shadow defence secretary Clive Lewis and Vince Cable speak at an event in London on building post-Brexit alliances.
Caroline Lucas.
Caroline Lucas. Photograph: Niklas Halle'N/AFP/Getty Images

Read these

Le Monde carries an interview with Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, in which she says “we do not have the slightest idea of the timing or the outcome of the negotiations between London and the EU”:

Le vrai facteur d’incertitude, c’est, à supposer que l’article 50 soit déclenché, les conditions dans lesquelles le Royaume-Uni effectuera des transactions commerciales avec l’Union européenne (UE). L’hypothèse favorable, c’est un accord à la norvégienne. C’est politiquement difficile, car le pays y aurait toutes les obligations des membres de l’UE, notamment la libre circulation des personnes, mais aucun droit. Mais ce serait le plus raisonnable économiquement …

Mais nous n’avons pas la moindre idée ni du délai, ni de l’issue des négociations entre Londres et l’UE.

Christine Lagarde
Christine Lagarde. Photograph: SIPA/Rex/Shutterstock

Theresa May, in the Daily Mail (scroll down), says as leader she’d get to work on building a Trident replacement right away:

It would be sheer madness to contemplate even for a moment giving up Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent. And there is no room for compromise, and no room for cheese paring.

We need a full fleet of four submarines, capable between them of providing what the military call ‘Continuous At Sea Deterrence’, or permanent, around-the-clock cover. Doing so will send an important message that, as Britain leaves the European Union, we remain committed to working alongside our Nato allies and playing our full role in the world …

A lot of parliamentary business has, for obvious reasons, been put on hold until the leadership election is complete and a new prime minister is in post. But when it comes to the nuclear deterrent, the national interest is clear, the Conservatives are united, and we have waited long enough.

In the Times, Rachel Sylvester examines what a Labour party split would look like:

A former shadow cabinet minister describes this as a ‘clause 1 rather than a clause 4 moment’ because the first line of the party’s constitution defines its purpose as ‘to organise and maintain in parliament and in the country a political Labour party’.

What is fascinating, though, is that a growing number of MPs, peers, candidates and advisers now believe that it is time to start again with a new party of the centre left. Three months ago it was seen as foolish, or even heretical, to suggest such a thing, but since the EU referendum the idea has become mainstream. The Brexit vote has changed everything, with a former cabinet minister talking of the exciting possibilities for a ‘party of the 48%’ … One of those involved behind the scenes [says]: ‘There’s a massive opportunity for a pro-business, socially liberal party in favour of the EU.’

(Hang on – isn’t that … the Liberal Democrats?)

And today’s Guardian long read: Rafael Behr on the inside story of the doomed remain campaign.

Celebrity endorsement of the day

Actor Christoph Waltz – not a Brexit fan – could at least give his hearty backing to the resignation of Nigel Farage:

Of course the head rat would leave the sinking ship.

Welcome distraction of the day

After a five-year voyage, Nasa’s Juno spacecraft has reached Jupiter and successfully entered its orbit. So humans are capable of great things. Also, perhaps we could move there. #Juxit

The day in a tweet

OK, it’s strictly speaking yesterday in a tweet, but in some parts of the US it’s still 4 July:

If today were a nursery rhyme

It would be There Were Five in the Bed … and they all rolled over and one fell out. Tune in again on Thursday to see what happens when the remaining four all roll over.

And another thing

Would you like to wake up to this briefing in your inbox every weekday? Sign up here.

Updated

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