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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow and Mattha Busby

Rory Stewart knocked out of Tory leadership contest in third round - as it happened

Closing summary

  • Rory Stewart bowed out of the Tory leadership election following the third ballot of Conservative MP’s this evening, leaving Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt remaining in the race to be the next prime minister.
  • The international development secretary could not resist another swipe at Johnson, saying he “frequently” doesn’t know what he “actually believes about anything” and that he was worried he will let people down as PM.
  • Speculation swirled around Westminster over whether dark arts were employed by Johnson supporting MP’s to oust Dominic Raab, after Stewart received less votes than he did in the previous ballot – though he conceded his performance in last night’s debate was unremarkable.
  • Communities secretary James Brokenshire, a supporter of Johnson, said the former foreign secretary could “lift the spirit of the nation” as PM, while appearing to accept the frontrunner was a Marmite-type figure and saying he was a man who stated his views clearly.

Some people may like that, others may not. But I think its actually that cut through that he’s able to achieve, that he was able to demonstrate in those campaigns [for London mayor]

  • Johnson himself said very little following the result, which came on the day of his 55th birthday, retweeting a photo of himself at an earlier meeting on animal welfare proposals and thanking colleagues for their support with a photo of himself exchanging a left-handed handshake with a member of the public.
  • Later in the evening he retweeted another photo:
  • Javid refused to step down from the race, saying: “I’m in it to win it”, and attempted to position himself as a force for change. While supporter, and Home Office colleague, Victoria Atkins echoed the fourth-placed candidate’s remarks.
  • He also posted a moving letter he received from his daughter.
  • Foreign secretary Hunt distilled his CV into 280 characters: negotiator, entrepreneur, reformer, statesman, and campaigner. Earlier, he said that he would give Johnson the “contest of his life” if he makes it to the final two.
  • Gove tweeted a video saying he was “delighted to have made it through” and close the gap on second place. He announced he will seek to make the Tory leadership race “a contest of ideas” on the road to building “a better Britain.”

Here is Andrew Sparrow’s earlier analysis of the third round results. (18:29)

1) The contest between Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove for a place alongside Boris Johnson on the ballot out to party members is too close to call. Hunt has been ahead in all three votes so far, but Gove has been closing the gap (six votes, then five votes, now three votes) and it is not obvious which of them will prevail in the end. Two rounds of voting will take place tomorrow, unless Sajid Javid drops out. We will know the names of the final two on the ballot by this time tomorrow.

2) Sajid Javid seems to have very little chance now of making the final two. He would need to pick up a majority of Rory Stewart’s votes to make it into the final two, but Javid has been hardening up his Brexiter credentials (last night he said the UK would have to leave by 31 October in all circumstances), whereas the Stewart support came from Brexit realists. But Javid and Stewart had 65 votes between them today, which would be reallocated assuming Javid is out before the final ballot. Many of those are likely to go to Boris Johnson, but Hunt and Gove will be well placed to pick them up too. There is no one obvious factor that will decide how these votes split.

3) Rory Stewart’s bandwagon has been exposed as a lot less sturdy than it looked yesterday. Maybe his performance in the debate did not help (he admitted himself he was lacklustre), maybe the copy-and-paste text messages sent to MPs did not help, but there is also speculation that his total yesterday was inflated by some dark arts Johnson operation intended to push Dominic Raab out of the race.

4) Boris Johnson remains the overwhelming favourite to become next prime minister.

That’s all for tonight, thank you for joining us, and for all your comments.

Updated

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the imprisoned British-Iranian dual national, is being held “hostage” by Iran, foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has told LBC Radio.

My message to Iran through all of this has been ‘of course we can have disagreements as a country’ and we profoundly disagree with some of the things Iran is doing right at the moment.

But don’t make an innocent woman suffer for this, don’t take someone hostage - who is absolutely nothing to do with this - and destroy her life because of a disagreement you might have with the UK.

Asked if her release would be less likely if Boris Johnson became prime minister, Hunt said:

I don’t want to answer that question because I think the worst possible thing in Nazanin’s situation is if it became a brickbat in a Conservative leadership campaign.

I know that Boris wants to get Nazanin home every bit as much as I do, and I know that whoever is prime minister will do everything they can to get her home.

Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, today described a Johnson premiership as a potential threat to national security, as our diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour reported.

He said a story in the Sun newspaper, written on the day he met Johnson as foreign secretary, had given him false hope and antagonised the Iranians.

The story claimed Johnson had won a Whitehall agreement to repay a £400m debt owed by the British government to the Iranians arising from the sale of Chieftain tanks in the 1970s.

He said the story turned out to be a bigger problem for her cause than an earlier mistake by Johnson at a foreign affairs select committee hearing, in which he said Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been teaching journalism in Tehran. Her family insist she was on holiday.

Ratcliffe said the mistake by Johnson at the hearing was still being used by Iranian news outlets to justify laying a second set of charges against her.

Johnson’s allies say the error at the hearing may have been off the cuff, but the Sun briefing was a considered decision by a senior political figure in the Foreign Office that raised expectations in Tehran, but served only to deepen the distrust of Johnson.

Updated

What’s next? There will be two candidates left in the contest by tomorrow night.

Boris Johnson appears almost certain to make it on to the final ballot, which will go to the 160,000 Tory members to decide the next prime minister. Two more rounds of voting will determine whether Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove or Sajid Javid will face him.

The fourth ballot, in a Commons committee room between 10am and noon tomorrow, will see Tory MPs eliminate another candidate, leaving just three contenders – with the result announced around 1pm.

Rory Stewart is the latest contender to be knocked out of the Conservative leaderhip contest, after receiving the least votes in the third ballot.
Rory Stewart is the latest contender to be knocked out of the Conservative leaderhip contest, after receiving the least votes in the third ballot. Photograph: PA

The final round of voting will take place between 3.30pm and 5.30pm, with the result announced around 6pm.

With that all done and dusted, attention will turn to the first hustings for members on Saturday in Birmingham, organised by the party which is aiming to hold hustings in all 12 regions of the UK.

The final two will both be invited to appear in special TV programmes on the BBC and Sky, and Tory members should receive their ballots by 8 July before the final hustings in London during the week commencing 15 July.

A week later, the new leader will be announced following the ballot of Conservative members and from then on it’s over to the Queen.

The election of the next PM by Tory members is “unprecedented and unconstitutional”, according to former Commons clerk Dr Dorian Gerhold in a recent letter.

This view was echoed in our editorial today (which will be in tomorrow’s paper).

For a country that takes pride in the venerable stability of its democracy, Britain is strangely prone to constitutional improvisations. For example, if the current Conservative party leadership contest proceeds as far as a ballot of party members, it will be the first time a prime minister is chosen by that method.

In 2016, Theresa May’s rivals withdrew before the final round. In previous applications of the rules it was the leader of the opposition being chosen, not a head of government. The system itself only dates back to 1998. Fine-tuning of the rules was completed by the 1922 Committee just three weeks ago. The process looks undemocratic and has no basis in ancient precedent.

Updated

For anyone catching up with events this evening:

And, cartoonist Steve Bell’s take on yesterday’s debate.

Copyright Steve Bell 2019/All Rights Reserved
Copyright Steve Bell 2019/All Rights Reserved Illustration: Steve Bell/The Guardian

Updated

An assortment of reaction from Conservative MP’s.

Updated

Glowing commiserations for Rory Stewart here from Jeremy Hunt.

And from others.

Along with independent MP, John Woodcock.

Updated

Sajid Javid defiantly refuses to step down as a candidate, saying: “I’m in it to win it.”

He also tells the BBC that he is the “change candidate”.

Updated

Speaking to the BBC, Rory Stewart has again called into question the strength of Boris Johnson’s convictions, adding that he thinks his fellow Tory MP’s were not ready for his own message.

Elsewhere, a consolatory endorsement from former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron.

Updated

The former foreign secretary David Miliband has said Boris Johnson’s Brexit stance is “straight out of Never Never Land” ahead of giving the annual Fulbright lecture in Edinburgh.

The Press Association have filed this report:

Questioned on Labour’s position on a second referendum, he said holding a “people’s vote” is democratically the right choice. “That would be the democratic thing to do.”

He added: “The Brexit now on offer is so different, I think it would be undemocratic not to have a second referendum.”

He continued: “What [Boris Johnson’s] said about Brexit in the leadership campaign has come straight out of the Never Never Land of Brexiteer fantasy, which is if we shout louder and stamp our foot more we’ll get a different answer. I just don’t see that.”

He questioned the appeal of any of the candidates for prime minister, adding: “Who won the debate? Well Jeremy Corbyn won the debate.”

However, he criticised the Labour leader’s Brexit position, saying: “[Jeremy Corbyn’s] claimed he’s trying to speak for remainers and leavers and the truth is he’s not really appealed to either of them.

“That’s not the right dividing line, of course you should appeal to the whole country not just a part of it, but you appeal to the whole country by being clear on what you want, not by leaving everyone confused about what you want.”

The former Labour leadership contender, now president of the International Rescue Committee, said he was “one of the few people who voted for Labour in the European elections”.

He said one thing Brexiters got right was recognising Brexit is a core domestic issue as well as foreign policy.

His lecture argued people are living in an “age of impunity” as global powers become less accountable and those engaged in conflict worldwide now believe they can get away with anything, including atrocities such as using chemical weapons.

He said this is reflection of weakening constraints on power both nationally and internationally, including from the US and by Brexit.

He argued Britain was not immune to this “political emergency”, adding: “The promise of Brexit was to make Britain an independent rule-maker, but in an interdependent world that is a mirage.

“In fact Brexit reduces our power in global rule-setting, makes us prey to the trade policies of the world’s big powers like the US and China, and castrates our foreign policy as the recent silence over the Hong Kong protests shows.”

He continued: “The retreat of key parts of the liberal democratic world from global responsibility, starting before the Trump administration but dramatically extended by it, has created a vacuum, which is being filled by a range of bad actors, who are exacting a terrible price from the world’s most vulnerable.”

He called on checks on power to be upheld at home and abroad and said there is new dividing line in politics “between those who believe that laws and norms to protect individual rights, in foreign policy and at home, are there to be observed and strengthened, and those who say the law is for suckers.”

Updated

Sky have spoken to James Brokenshire, the communities secretary, a supporter of Boris Johnson, who he says could “lift the spirit of the nation” as PM.

Asked whether the former foreign secretary was now unstoppable, he said: “No, I don’t think any of us are taking anything for granted, even at this stage. Clearly, we’re confident and really positive about tonight’s result, and I think real momentum with people from across the party coming behind Boris .. and recognising he has that positive agenda and could really lift the spirit of the nation.

“But equally, has that determination to deliver on Brexit and I think that’s what’s appealing to colleagues and that ability to bring the party together afterwards, but equally then, taking that message to the country.”

Questioned on why he, a remainer and longtime supporter of Theresa May, had chosen to ally himself with her “nemesis” rather than perhaps someone like Jeremy Hunt, Brokenshire said: “Its interesting because I look at this on how best we get a deal for the country, how best we secure that deal with the EU and land that deal here in parliament; and yes, this has been hugely difficult, hugely challenging. Indeed, Boris has acknowledged this is not straightforward ... but I judged he is the best person to get that deal with the EU, to be able to have those conversations with our European partners. And just as importantly, to make that case out here.”

On Johnson as a divisive, Marmite-type politician, Brokenshire said that Johnson was a man who states his views clearly.

“Some people may like that, others may not. But I think its actually that cut through that he’s able to achieve, that he was able to demonstrate in those campaigns [for mayor].”

These victories, in 2008 and 2012, underlined his ability to reach out in a way other senior Tory MP’s cannot, Brokenshire said.

Updated

A source from Sajid Javid’s campaign has warned against ever counting their man out, while congratulating Rory Stewart on his campaign after Javid’s magnanimous tweet about his former leadership rival just earlier.

“Rory fought a great campaign, challenging the party to modernise and to be a broad church,” a campaign source said. “We’re delighted to have the support of more MPs off the back of a strong week and a strong campaign and we’ll be in the ballot tomorrow morning. Saj has a funny habit of defying the odds.”

Updated

Reaction from Hunt, Gove and Johnson

Jeremy Hunt has put his CV into 280 characters. Earlier, he said that he would give Johnson the “contest of his life” if he makes it to the final two.

Michael Gove is “delighted to have made it through” and will seek to make the Tory leadership race “a contest of ideas”.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is staying on message.

Updated

Rory Stewart has been speaking to both Sky and the BBC in the lobby.

Asked if he was deflated, he told Sky News: “No, I’m feeling energised: the reality is you never know what MPs get up to in a secret ballot. They clearly decided that they were going to back a winner and they’re going to go in other directions.”

Stewart expressed his surprise at losing 10 votes, amid speculation MP’s lent him their vote to oust Dominic Raab, and the international development secretary said he did not understand why.

“But something in the air must have made them sense that something was going in the other direction.”

He would not say who he would now back, and added that he was looking forward to seeing his two children, aged two and four. “I’ve been getting up at six in the morning and going to bed at two in the morning.”

Updated

Sajid Javid does not seem ready to give up before the next ballot.

That’s all from me for this evening.

My colleague Mattha Busby is taking over now.

Updated

These are from Rory Stewart.

Third round results - Snap analysis

And here are some thoughts on the results.

1) The contest between Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove for a place alongside Boris Johnson on the ballot out to party members is too close to call. Hunt has been ahead in all three votes so far, but Gove has been closing the gap (six votes, then five votes, now three votes) and it is not obvious which of them will prevail in the end. Two rounds of voting will take place tomorrow, unless Sajid Javid drops out. We will know the names of the final two on the ballot by this time tomorrow.

2) Sajid Javid seems to have very little chance now of making the final two. He would need to pick up a majority of Rory Stewart’s votes to make it into the final two, but Javid has been hardening up his Brexiter credentials (last night he said the UK would have to leave by 31 October in all circumstances), whereas the Stewart support came from Brexit realists. But Javid and Stewart had 65 votes between them today, which would be reallocated assuming Javid is out before the final ballot. Many of those are likely to go to Boris Johnson, but Hunt and Gove will be well placed to pick them up too. There is no one obvious factor that will decide how these votes split.

3) Rory Stewart’s bandwagon has been exposed as a lot less sturdy than it looked yesterday. Maybe his performance in the debate did not help (he admitted himself he was lacklustre), maybe the copy-and-paste text messages sent to MPs did not help, but there is also speculation that his total yesterday was inflated by some dark arts Johnson operation intended to push Dominic Raab out of the race.

4) Boris Johnson remains the overwhelming favourite to become next prime minister.

Updated

Third ballot Tory leadership results

And here are the results with changes from yesterday, and overall percentages (rounded up).

Boris Johnson - 143 - up 17 - 46%

Jeremy Hunt - 54 - up 8 - 17%

Michael Gove - 51 - up 10 - 16%

Sajid Javid - 38 - up 5 - 12%

Rory Stewart - 27 - down 6 - 9%

Rory Stewart knocked out of Tory leadership race

Charles Walker, the joint acting chair of the 1922 Committee, is now reading out the results.

All 313 Tory MPs voted, he says. There were no spoiled ballot papers.

Boris Johnson - 143

Jeremy Hunt - 54

Michael Gove - 51

Sajid Javid - 38

Rory Stewart - 27

From the BBC’s Peter Ruddick

Here’s a Twitter prediction, from the Sun’s Steve Hawkes.

Here are the results of the first two ballots, on Thursday last week and yesterday.

The result of the third Tory leadership ballot is about to be announced. This is from the FT’s Sebastian Payne.

This is from my colleague Heather Stewart on the shadow cabinet today.

These are from ITV’s Robert Peston, backing up the theory that Jeremy Corbyn may be preparing to back a second referendum with the proviso that senior party figures would be allowed to campaign on different sides. (See 4.53pm.)

Rory Stewart being interviewed by Steve Bray (left), the Westminster anti-Brexit campaigner, earlier today.
Rory Stewart being interviewed by Steve Bray (left), the Westminster anti-Brexit campaigner, earlier today.
 Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

The People’s Vote campaign has given a qualified welcome to the latest Labour statement about a second referendum. (See 4.53pm.) It has released this statement, from the Labour MP Ian Murray.

Step by step the Labour leadership are coming closer to the increasingly clear view of the party’s supporters, voters and members, that we must have a people’s vote on any Brexit outcome and that staying in the European Union must be an option in that final say referendum.

In recent months Labour has been losing support to parties that have a clearer stance in support of a people’s vote by a factor of four to one in comparison to those that support no-deal or a harder form of Brexit. That erosion in our support is now extremely serious and threatens any prospect of Labour winning a future election, and so our party needs to speak clearly and loudly in support of a people’s vote.

The New Economics Foundation, a leftwing thinktank, has published an analysis of three of the tax plans being proposed by Tory leadership candidates: cutting the basic rate of income tax (a Sajid Javid idea); raising the threshold for employee national insurance contributions (an idea backed by Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson); and increasing the threshold for the higher rate of income tax (Johnson’s key idea). It says all three options would help richer families more than poorer families.

This is from Alfie Stirling, head of economics at the NEF.

It’s easy to forget that last night’s TV sound bites could become government policy in a matter of weeks. Committing to cut taxes may sit well with Conservative party members. But look beneath the bonnet and it is clear that all the proposals being put forward would serve to benefit the very richest more than anyone else.

“Whatever the outcome of Brexit, any of these reforms would leave Britain a more unequal society with higher levels of poverty for both children and adults. For everyone feeling the impact of increased NHS waiting times, overcrowded school classes and unaffordable social care, these tax cuts will come as a double blow: foregoing billions of pounds in revenues that could otherwise have been used to boost public services.

Analysis of impact of tax plans of Tory leadership candidates
Analysis of impact of tax plans of Tory leadership candidates Photograph: NEF

Counting starts after third Tory leadership ballot closes

Voting has now closed in the third ballot of the Tory leadership candidate. The Conservative 1922 Committee will count the papers, and the result will be announced at about 6pm.

More from the committee corridor.

Lewis Baston, an elections expert, has also challenged the argument in the briefing given to the shadow cabinet today about how becoming more remain could allegedly cost Labour seats. (See 4.09pm.) He explains why in a thread starting here.

Corbyn says Labour second referendum offer would have to include 'real choice' for leave and remain voters

Labour has now released a statement that Jeremy Corbyn made to the shadow cabinet today on the second referendum issue. Here it is in full:

We have committed to respecting the result of the referendum, and have strongly made the case for an alternative plan for Brexit as the only serious deal that could potentially command the support of the House.

At conference last year we passed our policy, the members’ policy. Over the past nine months, I have stuck faithfully to it.

A no-deal Brexit would plunge us into the worst excesses of disaster capitalism and trash our economy on the back of fantasy Tory trade deals or worse, very real and very damaging trade deals with Donald Trump, opening up our NHS to American companies.

I have already made the case, on the media and in Dublin, that it is now right to demand that any deal is put to a public vote. That is in line with our conference policy which agreed a public vote would be an option.

A ballot paper would need to contain real choices for both leave and remain voters. This will of course depend on parliament.

I want to hear your views, I will be hearing trade union views next week, and then I want to set out our views to the public.

Mostly this is just a confirmation of a policy shift that Corbyn executed after the European elections, which saw Labour coming third behind the Brexit party and the Lib Dems. Until then Labour’s position had been that it would support a second referendum to prevent a “damaging Tory Brexit” or “no deal”. But it was not necessarily committed to a referendum on a Brexit deal approved by Labour (a ‘good Labour Brexit’, if you like).

Ahead of a visit to Dublin at the end of May Corbyn shifted, and said any Brexit deal (including a Labour-approved one) would be put to a public vote. He said (my bold type):

Faced with the threat of no-deal and a prime minister with no mandate, the only way out of the Brexit crisis ripping our country apart is now to go back to the people. Let the people decide the country’s future, either in a general election or through a public vote on any deal agreed by parliament.

Today’s statement, which comes two days after deputy Labour leader Tom Watson used a speech to say Labour should explicitly be a remain party, more or less just restates the Dublin position. But the comment about how a ballot paper would “need to contain real choices for both leave and remain voters” could be taken as implying that Labour would not necessarily take sides in such a referendum. (If there were “real choices” for leave and remain, Labour seems to be saying there would be merit in both. In a referendum the party could agree to differ, as it did in 1975.) This is just my interpretation of the words, but party sources, while not accepting it, are not saying it is wrong either.

Although in some quarters this is being seen as a shift in the second referendum direction, in reality Corbyn is still managing to hold off the Watson/People’s Vote crowd quite successfully. That’s because: 1) he has not yet committed to backing remain in any such referendum and ; 2) he has not yet committed to including a second referendum in a Labour manifesto.

Jeremy Corbyn at a march commemorating the second anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire at the weekend.
Jeremy Corbyn at a march commemorating the second anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire at the weekend. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Meanwhile 26 Labour MPs have signed a letter to Jeremy Corbyn opposing a second referendum and saying at commitment to one would be “toxic to our bedrock Labour voters”. It has been coordinated by Caroline Flint.

My colleagues Jessica Elgot and Heather Stewart have all the details here.

Updated

Briefing to shadow cabinet claims Labour could lose seats if it becomes more pro-remain

As my colleague Heather Stewart reported in an overnight story, the shadow cabinet was meeting today to discuss Brexit, with Jeremy Corbyn planning to use a speech soon to outline the party’s thinking on a second referendum.

Shadow ministers were being shown a presentation on polling. The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg has been shown an extract, which is arguing that the party could suffer electorally by adopting a more pro-remain stance.

Rob Ford, the politics professor and co-author of Revolt on the Right, the key book about the rise of Ukip, thinks the argument in this extract is flawed. He explains why in a long Twitter thread starting here.

Here are his final two tweets.

More from outside committee room 14

From Sajid Javid

Former Raab backers switch to Johnson as MPs vote in Tory leadership

More from the committee corridor

David Davis was backing Dominic Raab until yesterday.

Boris Johnson is 55 today.

Suella Braverman, the former Brexit minister who was backing Dominic Raab until yesterday, is now voting for Boris Johnson.

MPs start voting in third ballot for Tory leadership

Tory MPs have now started voting in the third round of the leadership contest.

Here are some tweets from reporters outside committee room 14, where the ballot is taking place.

On the World at One Dominic Raab, the former Brexit secretary who is now backing Boris Johnson after being eliminated from the Tory leadership contest yesterday (see 11.50am), was asked about concerns that Johnson is not as wholly committed to leaving the EU by 31 October as he claims to be.

The presenter, Ed Stourton, asked Raab if Johnson had looked him in the eye and said the UK would definitely be out by 31 October, no ifs, no buts. “Yes,” said Raab.

“And you believe him even though he has a record of lying?” Raab would not engage with that, but he said he absolutely believed that Johnson was committed to this and the politicians had to tested to keep their promises.

From the Observer’s Nick Cohen

Tory supporters think Boris Johnson won BBC debate, says YouGov and Opinium polls

Boris Johnson was the clear winner of last night’s BBC debate among viewers who voted Conservative in 2017, according to two opinion polls.

YouGov and Opinium have both released polls of viewers who were asked who performed best.

According to YouGov, Johnson was ahead among Tories, on 34%, followed by Jeremy Hunt (20%), Rory Stewart (18%), Michael Gove (12%) and Sajid Javid (5%).

And, according to Opinium, Johnson was also ahead by the same sort of margin. Among Tories, Johnson was on 33%, Hunt on 18% and Stewart on 10%.

But, as for who won among viewers overall, YouGov and Opinium were split. YouGov gives it to Stewart.

But Opinium gives it to Johnson.

Sometimes viewers change their opinions of politicians when watching debates like this. But, more often than not, what people tell pollsters about who won after a debate corresponds to a considerable extent with who they liked most before the debate started. Given Johnson’s standing among Tories (he is more popular and better known than most of his rivals), it is not that surprising that he was judged the winner among this demographic.

The YouGov poll is based on a survey of around 2,000 people, while Opinium questioned 700 people.

Updated

These are from the FT’s Sebastian Payne.

Abdullah Patel has also been suspended from the mosque where he is an imam, the Press Association reports. (See 2.03pm.) In a statement the executive members of the Masjid e Umar mosque in Gloucester said:

We are fully aware of that allegations made against our imam, Abdullah Patel, regarding the contents of historic tweets.

We have decided to act immediately and have chosen to give him some time away to allow us the opportunity to conduct a detailed investigation into this matter.

This is the official stance of the mosque’s executive committee and we hope you respect our right to privacy as we conduct this deeply sensitive investigation.

Even Theresa May's husband doesn't know who she voted for in leadership contest, No 10 says

It seems that Theresa May, whose response to journalists on being asked who she is voting for in the Tory leadership contest has been: “None of your business”, is extending this policy closer to home. Even Philip, her husband, has been left in the dark.

Asked who she had chosen to back, a No 10 source said:

When the PM said she was not saying who she was backing, that includes her husband.

It’s also not at all clear whether May will be able to vote in person if there is a second vote tomorrow. The No 10 source said the PM would be around in time to vote in person for the first round, which starts at 10am. But she will be en route to Brussels when a second one, if needed, starts at 3pm. The source had no information on what might happen in such a situation. A proxy vote is possible – but who could May trust to deliver it, and never divulge who it was for?

Theresa May and her husband, Philip.
Theresa May and her husband, Philip. Photograph: David Hartley/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

This is from Sajid Javid, the home secretary and Tory leadership contender, criticising Abdullah Patel, the imam who raised Islamophobia in the BBC debate last night and who has subsequently been suspended by the school where he works after it emerged he posted offensive tweets in the past. Patel’s Twitter comments have been widely described as antisemitic, although he himself has described them as just critical of Israel.

“Words have consequences” was the phrase Patel used in his question last night, which referred in particular to the Boris Johnson column describing women in burqas as looking like letterboxes.

Updated

Boris Johnson denounced as 'racist' by SNP’s Ian Blackford at PMQs

This is what the Press Association has filed on Ian Blackford calling Boris Johnson a racist at PMQs.

Tory leadership contender Boris Johnson has been branded a “racist” who is “not fit for office” by the SNP’s Westminster leader.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Ian Blackford asked: “Does the prime minister realise, not only is the member racist, he is stoking division in communities and has a record of dishonesty?”

The remarks came as the Labour MP Virendra Sharma labelled immigration policies Theresa May has presided over as home secretary and prime minister “racist”.

Blackford’s comments prompted the Speaker, John Bercow, to intervene and urge him to “weigh his words” as Tory MPs shouted “Withdraw”.

Bercow said: “I think it would be much better if for now he would withdraw any allegation of racism against any particular member. I don’t think that this is the forum and I don’t think it’s the right way to behave.”

Blackford replied: “The member has called Muslim women ‘letterboxes’, described African people as having ‘watermelon smiles’, and another disgusting slur that I would never dignify by repeating.

“If that’s not racist, Mr Speaker, I don’t know what is. Does the minister honestly believe that this man is fit for the office of prime minister?”

Theresa May replied: “I can say to [him] that I believe any Conservative prime minister in the future will be better for Scotland than the SNP.”

Blackford began his exchange by asking: “Does the prime minister agree with the frontrunner set to succeed her that the Scottish people are a verminous race that should be placed in ghettos and exterminated?”

May responded: “The Conservative and Unionist party takes the people of every part of this UK not only seriously, but we welcome the contribution from people of every part of this UK, because that is what makes the UK the great country it is and long may Scotland remain part of it.”

Blackford went on: “Well, of course, words matter and actions matter. The man who published those words in his magazine, the prime minister thought was fit for the office of a top diplomat and he hasn’t stopped there.”

Updated

PMQs - Snap verdict

Theresa May has got four or five more PMQs before she stands down (the exact number depends upon when the new Tory leader is announced, which has not been confirmed) and, judging by today, they are all going to be dominated by arguments about her legacy. Her achievements list does not stretch far, and today she faced criticism on issues like immigration, policing, poverty, benefits, the prosecution of soldiers in Northern Ireland and hospice funding. The questions on immigration, particularly from Labour’s Virendra Sharma and the SNP’s Deidre Brock, were probably the harshest. In response to the latter, who asked about the Windrush scandal, May tried what sounded like a new line of defence: that it was all the fault of previous governments that did not issue the correct paperwork to Windrush migrants. It was a transparent attempt to cover up for the part played by the “hostile environment” measures she introduced as home secretary, and it was unconvincing.

Jeremy Corbyn went for May on another legacy issue, the Grenfell Tower fire. On this, May actually had something to say in her defence, She sought to take credit for setting up the inquiry, and was able to list in some detail fire safety measures taken by the government in response. But Corbyn argued it had not gone far enough. It wasn’t one of his more memorable performances, but it was a well-constructed takedown and he had the upper hand.

Corbyn, though, was over-shadowed by the SNP’s Ian Blackford, who used PMQs not to attack this PM, but the probable next one. Given that Westminster is already more interested in Boris Johnson than May, that made a lot of sense and Blackford seemed surprised when the Speaker, John Bercow, let him get away with calling Johnson a “racist”. If Johnson does, as expected, become PM towards the end of July, expect a lot more of this. PMQs is going to liven up considerably.

Updated

The SNP’s Neil Gray say in-work poverty has risen dramatically. Isn’t that May’s legacy?

May says the relative poverty has gone up because pensioners are better off. Gray may want to see pensioners worse off, but she doesn’t.

Julian Lewis, a Conservative, asks what May feels about the principle of bringing a dying soldier to court in Northern Ireland on the basis of no new evidence.

May says no one wants to see cases like this coming to court. But previous investigations have been found to be not lawful. She says she wants to see terrorists being properly brought to justice.

Updated

Labour’s Rosena Allin-Khan asks about a stabbing in her Tooting constituency. This could have been avoided with more policing and good youth provision. Will May leave a legacy to prevent this, or can we see more of the same?

May says none of us want to see people die in circumstances like this. The government has introduced a serious violence strategy. This is not just a question of funding and police numbers. Anyone who denies that fails to understand the nature of the problem.

Anna Soubry, the Change UK MP, says May wants to secure a legacy of acting in the country’s best interests. Will she legislate to ensure the Commons is sitting in September and October so MPs can legislate to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

May says the sitting dates for September and October will be announced in due course.

Updated

Labour’s Sarah Jones asks if May agrees that ministers should have taken the advice on fire safety they received after the Lakanal House fire, and before the Grenfell Tower fire.

May says this issue will be considered in the second phase of the Grenfell inquiry.

Labour’s Mary Creagh asks why the government rejected plans from the environmental audit committee (which Creagh chairs) for a fast-fashion tax.

May says the government has addressed many of the points raised by the committee’s report.

Updated

James Gray, a Conservative, asks May to praise volunteers. They are the big society, he says.

May says we should celebrate the work of volunteers, and thank them too.

Labour’s Mike Hill says Hartlepool now has seven food banks. Is that a legacy that May is proud of?

May defends universal credit, which she says is working.

Caroline Johnson, a Conservative, says hospices for children are struggling. Can May ensure they get the £40m they need to provide good palliative care across the country?

May says families must get the help they need. Palliative care is a priority in the next NHS plan. These children and their families deserve the very best care, she says.

Labour’s Paul Williams asks if May thinks she cut police numbers too much.

May says police forces are getting more money this year. How they spend it is up to them.

Gordon Henderson, a Conservative, says police officers and firefighters retire at 60. But prison officers retire at 66, and that may go up to 68. Is that fair?

May says she will ask the Home Office to look at this.

Updated

Labour’s Alex Cunningham asks about a constituent, a refugee at risk of being deported. Will May show her compassion?

May says she will ensure the home secretary looks at this case.

Andrew Griffiths, a Conservative, asks about the case of a boy receiving just £20 in compensation from the rapist who abused him.

May says the child abuse inquiry, which she set up, is intended to ensure victims get justice.

Updated

The SNP’s Deidre Brock asks May if she will apologise for her record on immigration, and its contribution to the Windrush scandal.

May says the Windrush scandal happened because people coming to the UK were not given documentary evidence of their status. People faced difficulties caused by this under Labour and Conservative governments. Now people are getting the help they need.

Nigel Adams, a Conservative, asks about the skills Olympics, and the British bricklaying team.

May says the UK needs skills like this. She wishes the bricklayers luck in the competition.

Updated

Labour’s Virendra Sharma says May has failed to reduce immigration. And her “racist” polices have been unjust. Will she admit her record has been a failure?

May says the government backs immigration. But it is important that people have confidence in the system.

Ken Clarke, the Tory former chancellor, says economic competence has been very important for the Tories. Does May agree that it would be wrong for leadership candidates, or the outgoing government, to make reckless spending promises that should properly be part of a spending review.

May praises Clarke for the legacy he left as chancellor. She says she will not make any reckless commitments. But she thinks public services need to be supported properly.

Updated

Labour’s Diana Johnson asks why the victims of the contaminated blood inquiry are having to wait until it is over before being paid.

May says victims and their families should get justice. She says the government is considering as a matter of urgency how victims can get more support.

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, asks if May agrees with Boris Johnson that the Scottish people are a verminous race who should be exterminated.

(This is a reference to a poem published in the Spectator by Johnson when he was the magazine’s editor.)

May says her party takes the people of every part of the UK seriously.

Blackford says Johnson is racist. That provokes loud jeering from the Tories.

John Bercow, the Speaker, says Blackford should not be accusing any MP of being racist.

Blackford says he did warn Johnson this was coming up. Johnson described Muslim women as letterboxes, and referred to African people having watermelon smiles. If that is not racist, Blackford says he does not know what is.

  • Boris Johnson denounced as “racist” by the SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford.

May says Blackford should be asking her about what she has been doing. Any Tory PM would be better for Scotland than the SNP.

Updated

Tim Loughton, a Conservative, asks May to back a coastal schools challenge fund, to replicate the success of the London schools challenge fund.

May says this sounds like a bid for the spending review.

Corbyn suggets it should not take long to amend the Freedom of Information Act to apply to social housing run by housing associations. You cannot put a price on people’s lives, he says. The PM said austerity was over. Can May promise to increase fire fighter numbers and funding next year.

May says she can increase funding because the Tory government takes a balanced approach to the economy.

Corbyn says the legacy of this government is 10,000 fire fighter jobs cut. May said action on Grenfell would be part of her legacy. But too little has changed. The pain of survivors continues. The government has failed to rehouse all the survivors, to retrofit sprinklers, and to hire more fire fighters. Will the government be able to say, next year, never again?

May says all survivors have been offered temporary or permanent accommodation. She quotes the figures. She summarises again the government’s response to Grenfell. She says she has met survivors on a number of occasions. She says their pain is indeed great. It will never go away. It isn’t just about buildings. It is about support, including mental health support. We must do all we can to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again.

Corbyn says May should commit to doing the work by the end of this year. At the current rate, it will take three years.

He says more than 1,000 other buildings, like schools and hospitals, have problems with cladding. And the government has not accepted the recommendation for all high rise blocks to have sprinklers fitted.

May says the coroner’s report Corbyn referred to said councils should consider fitting sprinklers. It did not say they should have to fit sprinklers.

Corbyn says the report said sprinklers would make blocks safer. We should not be playing around with semantics, he says. Two years on from Grenfell, when will the government strenghten tenants rights and apply the Freedom of Information Act to housing associations.

May says one of the most distrubing aspects of Grenfell was that tenants’ warnings were ignored. So the government asked if this was happening elsewhere. The government has been trying to strengthen tenants’ voices. In future they will be heard.

Jeremy Corbyn also mentions the Finsbury Park attack. He says our diversity is our strength.

He pays tribute to those who have worked on the floods.

And he mentions the Grenfell Tower fire, and asks May to sign up to the campaign to ensure it never happens again.

Why do so many homes still have the same Grenfell-style clading?

May says she met people from the Grenfell community in Number 10 yesterday. She says she is glad to see Emily Thornberry back from her re-education camp (a joke about Thornberry being replaced as Corbyn’s stand-in at PMQs). Turning back to Grenfell, she says the inquiry will establish what went wrong. On cladding, the government has decided to fully fund the replacement of cladding on private buildings because owners are not doing enough.

Corbyn says May’s answer is of no comfort to 60,000 people in high rise tower blocks. They are worried. More than 70 block owners have no plan in place to get this down. Will May set a deadline for the end of the year to get this job done? And will she introduce fines for owners that refuse to do this.

May says all buildings in the social sector have been inspected. Remedial work has started or finished in three quarters of buildings. Building owners were expected to take action. They have not done so, and so the government has acted.

Updated

Marcus Jones, a Conservative, asks what can be done to allow town high streets to thrive, particularly in Nuneaton, his constituency.

May says refers to the Nuneaton programme, and says its bid for money from the high streets fund is under consideration.

Theresa May starts by saying it is two years since the terror attack on the Finsbury Park mosque. It was a cowardly attack intended to divide us. But London remains united.

She pays tribute to the emergency services and the military for their work on the recent floods.

PMQs

PMQs is about to start.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

PMQs
PMQs Photograph: HoC

Here are two questions from readers below the line that deserve an answer.

Is there a threshold in the Tory ballot today?

User avatar for Venetia Caine

Andrew. What is the threshold this time please? Presumably not still 33?

No. There are never normally thresholds in the Tory leadership ballots for MPs. The Conservative 1922 Committee introduced some for this contest, because there were so many candidates, but the 33-vote threshold only applied for the second vote. Today it will just be the person coming last who will drop out. It is probable that all the candidates will be above the 33-vote threshold anyway.

Does the new Tory leader have to show they have the confidence of the Commons to become PM?

User avatar for WelshPaul

Andrew, regardless of who eventually is chosen to be Conservative Party leader, what is the procedure for him taking office?
Does a new Prime Minister have to demonstrate to the Queen that they can command a majority in Parliament, and if so, how would they do this under current circumstances where the Conservatives only hold 313 of the 650 seats?

Under the cabinet manual, a guide to constitutional procedure, if a general election results in a hung parliament, the sitting PM is not meant to resign until able to recommend to the Queen a successor best able to command the confidence of the Commons. The same principle would apply if a PM lost a no confidence vote.

At one point a week or so ago Number 10 implied that Theresa May could hang on until sure that her successor has the confidence of the Commons (ie, that half a dozen or more Tories have not resigned the whip because it is Boris Johnson). But then Number 10 said May had no intention of hanging on. When the new Tory leader is elected, she will resign as PM and the Queen will appoint the new leader as her replacement.

And if there is an immediate vote of no confidence (which seems unlikely, at least in the early days)? Perhaps Johnson has to call Nigel Farage .... (See 11.21am.)

Raab says he is backing Johnson because he believes he is committed to Brexit by 31 October

Dominic Raab, the former Brexit secretary who was eliminated from the Conservative leadership contest yesterday, has told the Evening Standard that he is now backing Boris Johnson. Raab received 30 votes in yesterday’s ballot and the Standard says most of those votes are also likely to go to Johnson. Raab told the paper:

The only candidate who will now [definitely take the UK out of the EU by 31 October] is Boris Johnson — and so I’ll be supporting him to become our next prime minister.

We must leave the EU on October 31 — we’ve had enough delays and we need to get on with it so we can deliver on the task the British people gave us as politicians.

Boris will make sure we leave the EU on time and move on to uniting the country behind a positive programme where everyone can benefit from the UK’s success.

Johnson has repeatedly said he would deliver Brexit by 31 October, but other Tories are less inclined than Raab to take him at his word. This morning Jeremy Hunt said he could no longer be sure that this was Johnson’s firm intention. (See 9.49am.) And there have been various hints from Johnson himself that he might relax this deadline. At his campaign launch Johnson refused to say he would resign if the UK was still in the EU after October, and in an interview with the World at One on Friday he said it would be wrong “at this stage” to signal a willingness to delay Brexit into November. Yesterday, when Johnson told business leaders in a private meeting that he would take the UK out of the EU by 31 October, some of them weren’t convinced.

Boris Johnson in the BBC TV debate last night.
Boris Johnson in the BBC TV debate last night. Photograph: Handout/Jeff Overs/BBC via Getty Images

Farage says Brexit party would be willing to agree electoral pact with Boris Johnson to deliver no-deal

Turning away from the Tory leadership contest for a moment, this is worth noting; at a Daily Telegraph event last night, Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, said his party would be willing to form an electoral pact with a Boris Johnson-led Conservative party in an election held to get a mandate for a no-deal Brexit. He said such an election might happen if Johnson lost a confidence vote in the Commons in these circumstances. As the Telegraph reports, Farage said:

If [Johnson] has the guts to be prepared to be voted down by parliament, to call an election on a clean Brexit [ie, no-deal], then I would suggest that ... logically there is a deal that could be done, and in those circumstances Boris would come back with a massive, massive majority ...

If he was prepared to do that of course I’d want to work with them, of course I’d do that.

Drug prices for NHS would soon rise under no-deal Brexit, MPs told

Crashing out of the EU on 31 October will have serious implications for hospitals, patients and pharmacies, with shortages of some medicines within weeks, MPs have been told by the medicine industry.

Critical medicines, short shelf life medicines, some of which may need to be refrigerated until they are consumed, will be most vulnerable in a no-deal scenario, the Brexit select committee heard on Wednesday.

“We would expect medicine shortages and a lot of price rises for the NHS pretty quickly and some shortages in some constituencies for sure,” Martin Sawer, executive director of the Healthcare Distribution Association told them.

Counterfeit and substandard drugs could also find their way into pharmacies if the UK is forcibly detached from a new system introduced by the EU in February requiring all medicines to have their unique barcode, Sawer told the committee. He went on:

If we leave with no deal, we could be unplugged from that system and therefore medicines in the UK we believe could be less safe because there is evidence already of organised crime trying to get into regular prescription market. They have already picked up some packets through this new system in Holland which often [supplies] comes the UK.

The Michael Gove camp are also dismissing the notion that Gove might stand aside for Rory Stewart. (See 10.37am.) A Gove source said:

We are in it to win it and obviously we would welcome the support of any candidate that wanted to drop out and support us.

Michael Gove leaving the BBC after last night’s debate.
Michael Gove leaving the BBC after last night’s debate. Photograph: Vudi Xhymshiti/AP

Following Rory Stewart’s revelation on the Victoria Derbyshire show that he is in talks with Michael Gove about a pact (see 10.37am), a source from the Stewart camp has been in touch to play down the idea that Stewart might stand aside for Gove. The source said:

Clearly at some point people will need to combine teams

But any team that gets combined, Rory wants to lead it - Rory believes he is the only one with a chance to beat Boris in the final two and to provide the clearest choice

He’s the one out polling in the areas we need to win.

Rory’s in this to win, whether on his own or with other people coming behind him.

The BBC has put out this statement about Abdullah Patel, the imam featured in the BBC Tory leadership debate last night who has posted anti-Israel comments on Twitter. (See 10.11am.) A spokesperson said:

We carried out background research into the online and social media profiles of all our questioners for last night’s debate.

Following the debate, one individual reactivated a public twitter account he had previously deactivated, whose tweets were not visible during our research period.

Had we been aware of the views he expressed there he would not have been selected.

Rory Stewart says he is considering pact with Michael Gove

Rory Stewart told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire that his team was in talks with Michael Gove’s about combining to take on Boris Johnson. He explained:

We’re talking about combining forces, because it’s clear that Boris is going into the last round and the question is, who is best placed to sit on the stage with Boris Johnson and who is best placed to ask the testing questions that need to be asked and who has the vision of Britain that is going to excite people, get young people involved again in politics, and show us that we can build a much better country.

But when Derbyshire said it was hard to see how they could unite, given their differing views on Brexit (Stewart thinks MPs should pass Theresa May’s deal; Gove thinks it needs to be changed), Stewart admitted this could be a problem. He said:

By sitting down and thrashing through that very issue ... We would have to sit down and come to a common position. I would have to say to him, ‘How is it that you think you are going to get a different deal through Brussels’ How would you get a no-deal through parliament?’ We would have to agree to compromise. And if neither of us were prepared to budge on our analysis of the situation, then of course we couldn’t combine as a team.

Rory Stewart
Rory Stewart Photograph: BBC

Rory Stewart, the international development secretary and another Tory leadership contender, has just told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show that he was up until 3am texting MPs asking them to support his campaign. He has had two new pledges, he said.

A BBC presenter has apologised after an imam who questioned the Tory leadership contenders about Islamophobia was found to have made critical comments about Israel. As the Press Association reports, Nicky Campbell, who had Abdullah Patel on his breakfast show on BBC Radio 5 Live the morning after the live TV debate, said the imam had made “extremely disturbing” remarks on Twitter, and that he was “sorry” the broadcaster had not checked beforehand. In tweets unearthed by the Guido Fawkes website, Patel wrote:

Every Political figure on the Zionist’s payroll is scaring the world about Corbyn. They don’t like him. He seems best suited to tackle them!

Patel also shared an image endorsing the relocation of Israel to the US as a way of solving the Israel/Palestine conflict. He has since taken down his Twitter account.

Campbell tweeted:

I would like to apologise. We had the Imam from the BBC Tory leadership debate on our programme this morning. His social media comments have been extremely disturbing. We should have checked. We didn’t. I’m sorry.

In his Today interview Jeremy Hunt confirmed that he wanted an independent inquiry into allegations of Islamophobia in the Conservative party. He said:

I think we should have an independent inquiry because the cancer of racism and prejudice is not restricted to any one political party.

We have been very vociferous calling out Jeremy Corbyn and anti-Semitism and if we are going to do that, and I think we are right to do that, then we have to be whiter than white ourselves.

In last night’s BBC debate Sajid Javid, the home secretary, appeared to bounce all the candidates into agreeing to such an inquiry.

Hunt suggests Boris Johnson can't be trusted to keep his Brexit promises

Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, retained his second place in yesterday’s Tory leadership ballot, but Michael Gove is catching up on him and there is a good chance that Gove could get more votes today (because 30 Brexiter Dominic Raab votes are now available). And Rory Stewart is only nine votes behind Hunt, meaning the race for the number two slot on the final ballot, up against Boris Johnson, now looks much more unpredictable than it did this time last week, when Hunt’s second-place status looked more secure.

Hunt was on the Today programme this morning (for the 11th time this year) and he seems to be responding by taking an increasingly aggressive stance towards Johnson. On Monday Gove used his Today interview to tone done his criticism of Johnson, and he ended up spending most of the interview defending his rival. By contrast, Hunt depicted Johnson as thoroughly untrustworthy, with unworkable ideas on Brexit, and partly responsible for the continued imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran. He did not put it quite as bluntly as that, of course - he is, after all, the country’s chief diplomat - but Tory MPs will have understood exactly what he was saying.

Here are the main points.

  • Hunt implied that Johnson could not be trusted to deliver on his promise to take the UK out of the EU by 31 October. He said:

Boris has made a big play of saying that we will definitely leave, deal or no-deal, on 31 October. Yesterday, frankly, he suggested that he would not be so absolute in that.

Nick Robinson, the presenter, said that in the BBC debate last night Johnson did not explicitly say he would “guarantee” to deliver Brexit by 31 October. But Johnson did say that date was “eminently feasible”. In response Hunt said:

Well, I am not entirely sure what he believes on this, having listened to him last night.

My point is, you have to think these things through because prime ministers have to make these judgments.

  • Hunt implied that EU leaders would not trust Johnson if be became MP. He said that he (Hunt) would be well placed to deliver a deal with the EU because he would be someone they would trust. When Robinson said Hunt was suggesting they would not trust Johnson, Hunt replied:

Well, I don’t want to make highly personal accusations against other candidates. I want to put this positively.

Robinson framed the question in another way. Did he think they trusted Johnson? Hunt replied:

I’m going to answer it this way. I believe that they would trust Jeremy Hunt as prime minister.

  • Hunt said one of the Brexit ideas floated by Johnson in the BBC debate last night was flawed. Johnson said after Brexit there would be no tariffs on British exports to the EU because article 24 of the WTO treaty would allow the current arrangements to continue. The BBC’s Reality Check team explain here why Johnson is wrong. And, referring to Johnson’s article 24 claim, Hunt said:

That’s what some people claim. It is certainly not what the European Union are saying, and so that’s why I think there’s a lot of doubt about that.

Of course [the comments] had consequences. The main difference they had was, obviously, they enabled a propaganda campaign that was run against Nazanin.

Hunt was asked if Ratcliffe was right. Instead of defending Johnson, and saying his comment did not make the situation worse, Hunt just said:

I think that is for Richard Ratcliffe to comment on. I think it would be incredibly unseemly when we have an innocent woman in prison, separated from her five-year-old daughter, for there to be any kind of point scoring by candidates for the leadership of the Conservative party. My job as foreign secretary now is to get her out, and that’s what I’m going to focus on.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.15am: The Commons Brexit committee takes evidence from the Chemical Industries Association, Universities UK International, UK Research and Innovation, the BioIndustry Association and the Healthcare Distribution Association.

10.15am: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, speaks at the World Forum on Climate Justice in Glasgow.

12pm: Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.

2.30pm: Rory Stewart, the international development secretary and a Tory leadership contender, gives evidence to the Commons international development committee.

3pm: Conservatives start voting in the third round of the leadership contest. Voting closes at 5pm.

6pm: The result of the Tory leadership ballot gets announced.

As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web, although I will be focusing almost exclusively mostly on the Tory leadership contest and the debate. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another at the end of the day.

You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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