The EU's chief Brexit negotiator has issued a warning to Conservative leadership contenders vying to replace Theresa May, telling them the current withdrawal agreement is "the only option".
Michel Barnier made the remarks as Tory contenders publicly declare their intentions to make changes to the UK-EU agreement - including the contentious Irish backstop - despite repeated refusals from Brussels.
His comments came as the Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon issued a fresh attack on frontrunner Boris Johnson, claiming he would be a "disaster" as PM as she cited his "ridiculous" tenure as foreign secretary.
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The race to succeed Theresa May risks descending into a Nigel Farage lookalike contest, with consequences that could blight the Conservatives’ electoral prospects for a generation, Michael Heseltine has warned.
The former deputy prime minister said the Tories are in danger of being captured by the “narrow nationalism and phobia-filled and poisonous politics” of Mr Farage, driving away millions of Conservative voters who support a Final Say referendum on EU membership.
He warned that if the new prime minister rejects a public vote, he or she will be faced with the bleak alternatives of a harmful no-deal Brexit or a general election which could lead to a Jeremy Corbyn-led government.
He added: "You cannot do it immediately. They [technologies] must be fully operational. I was the French minister of agriculture — how do you control a single cow or a truckload of pork? You need technology. You need technical infrastructure to do that. And this takes time."
Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said Boris Johnson would be a "disaster as prime minister" and has slammed his time as the UK Government's foreign secretary.
In an interview with BBC Scotland's The Nine, Ms Sturgeon said there was "no part of" her wanting to see the former London mayor in Number 10 - even after suggestions it would help her cause.
She told the programme: "I think Boris Johnson would be a disaster as prime minister, he was a disaster as foreign secretary.
"I know I'm a politician and everybody thinks all politicians are dreadfully Machiavellian about these things. I don't want to see damage done to my country. I don't actually want to see damage done to the UK.
"Brexit has trashed the UK's international reputation as well as seriously damaging its economy and other aspects of society.
"But the next biggest thing that has damaged the UK's international reputation in recent years has been Boris Johnson's ridiculous tenure as foreign secretary.
"If Boris Johnson is prime minister then yes, I think that will probably make a lot more people in Scotland think it's time we were an independent country but that's not the same... I didn't want Brexit to happen, I don't want things to happen that damage the interests of Scotland or indeed the wider UK."
Shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "Now there will be a review, which is appropriate.
"I don't want to cut across this review, I'm not part of that process. I would not like to see this drag on."
She added: "Political parties have rules about people who support other parties, but I hope this case will be reviewed."
Dramatic divisions between London and the rest of the UK are set to widen unless drastic action is taken, according to the former head of the civil service.
Lord Kerslake branded previous efforts to reduce stark regional inequalities as "sticking plasters" and warned that divisions were growing, causing "disturbing disparities in people's life chances".
The former mandarin argued that tackling the north-south divide could help to heal tensions exacerbated by Brexit and restore trust in politicians, in a foreword to a new report by the UK2070 Commission, an independent inquiry into regional inequalities.
"I thought - this is going be a very strange afternoon to walk - but it may be that the family was so poor they put very little opium in the pipe."
Answering questions after launching his bid to succeed Sir Vince Cable, Davey was asked whether he could contemplate a pact of any kind with either.
He replied: "I think people's stomachs are turning. The idea that we have anything in common with Boris Johnson or the Tory Party when they are promoting this no-deal Brexit? Just no way.
"And then Jeremy Corbyn? I don't trust him on Brexit - his own party don't. And I don't trust him on the economy either.
"We are not going into coalition with these people... You won't be getting a coalition with Tories or Labour."
He declined to say whether there were any Change UK figures he would not welcome into the party because of their previous comments about the Lib Dems.
"I think we should be open-minded and generous and forgiving," he said. "People are entitled to make mistakes and if they sign up to liberal democracy and sign up to helping us stop Brexit, they are welcome to join our party."
Allies of Boris Johnson have denounced the move to summons him to court to face allegations that he lied to the public during the 2016 EU referendum when he claimed the UK handed £350m a week to Brussels.
The frontrunner in the Conservative leadership contest may face trial for allegedly “lying and misleading the British public” about the consequences of Brexit.
But an aide said that the crowd-funded private prosecution, brought by campaigner Marcus Ball, was “nothing less than a politically-motivated attempt to reverse Brexit and crush the will of the people”.
Tory leadership hopeful Rory Stewart has apologised for smoking opium in Iranwhile travelling in the region more than a decade ago.
The international development secretary admitted that he had sampled the class-A drug at a wedding but it had "no effect" on him because he was walking up to 30 miles a day.
Mr Stewart, a former tutor to Prince William and Harry, has travelled extensively in the Middle East and wrote a successful book on his solo walk across Afghanistan in 2002.
“She has had some very well-documented ups and downs with Campbell over the years, but she thought the way he was kicked out was appalling.”
“In common with many, many other Labour Party members and supporters, she also voted Liberal Democrat in the hope that enough people would do the same thing and Labour would shift its position."
“She is not making a big thing of it. She also knows other people who have done exactly the same thing and are being made to feel they may be expelled, which is utterly absurd.”
Liberal Democrat leadership hopeful Sir Ed Davey has branded Boris Johnson a "preacher of division" as he launched his bid to succeed Sir Vince Cable.
Sir Ed lumped Mr Johnson in with right-wing figures like Nigel Farage and Italy's deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, and drew a direct comparison between the rise of their populist politics and the fascism of the 1930s.
He ruled out the possibility of coalition with a Johnson-led Tory party or Labour under Jeremy Corbyn in a hung parliament, saying the prospect of either was stomach-turning.
Ministers risk repeating "another Windrush scandal" if the Home Office fails to get the detail of the contentious EU citizens' settlement scheme right post-Brexit, a group of MPs claim today.
In an alarming warning, the Home Affairs Committee claims individuals from the bloc legally resident in the UK could be left in a "uncertain situation" regarding their rights to remain.
"The hardship and injustice experienced by some members of the Windrush generation has been shameful, and lessons must be learned to avoid similar consequences befalling EU citizens," the committee's report urges.
Theresa May’s resignation has freed cabinet ministers to talk about what is likely to happen to Brexit, rather than having to stick to the script, writes political commentator John Rentoul.
Tory leadership candidate Esther McVey says parents should be able to withdraw children from LGBT relationships lessons
Former work and pensions minister told by Tory colleague: 'You can't pick and choose on human rights and equality'"I have never seen so many people lining up and there may be more."
Mr Duncan Smith said that instead of the candidates being whittled down by one during each vote of Tory MPs in the coming weeks - to leave two in a final head to head - two or three should be removed in each ballot to "accelerate the process".
