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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow and Ben Quinn

Corbyn will be on Labour leadership ballot, NEC rules – as it happened

Jeremy Corbyn greets jubilant supporters after NEC vote

A discussion about scenarios in the event of Corbyn retaining his leadership is taking place between Diane Abbott and Sunder Katwala, director of BritishFuture.

Abbott, a key ally of the Labour leader and the shadow health secretary, rejects the suggestion that opponents of Corbyn could try to elect a new parliamentary party leader. They would have to set up a new party, she adds.

Lance Price, a former director of communications under Tony Blair, has said it’s a hollow victory for Jeremy Corbyn.

The part is going into uncharted waters, he says, although he adds that he is not as “apocalyptic” as John McTernan and other Corbyn opponents.

He believes that Corbyn can be beaten in a leadership contest. Nevertheless, he believes that the potential for the party to split is there.

A Labour MP, Paul Flynn, is calling on Angela Eagle to stand down however:

Updated

Burgon adds that a split would have taken place in the Labour Party if the NEC had “denied the democratic rights” of Labour Party members

Richard Burgon, one of Corbyn’s allies in Labour PLP, has said that it is “time to stop treating the party’s members with disrespect”.

He told BBC News that he was delighted by the NEC’s decision, which he said had put an end to an anti-democratic attempt to deny the rights of Labour members.

“If the result had been any other way it would have been morally wrong and simply unfair,” said Burgon, who said that Corbyn had won all four of the byelections that have taken place under his leadership and had raised the party’s support.

He added: “Labour has nosedived in the opinion polls since this attempted coup started. Thanks to the behaviour of some Labour MPs I am afraid... we are now seven points behind.”

Updated

Momentum, the organisation set up to build on Jeremy Corbyn’s elevation to the Labour leadership last year, has put out a new statement calling on Ben Bradshaw to withdraw his claim that it is encouraging its supporters to intimidate MPs. (See 5.32pm.)

Ben Bradshaw’s comments are unsubstantiated slurs. Momentum are not thugs but ordinary people building a movement for a better society. Momentum has never called for intimidation.

If we receive allegations of intimidation by one of our members, we will investigate them according to our complaints procedures and in accordance with our code of ethics. There is no place in politics for harassment and nor for unsubstantiated, politicised slurs.

We call on Bradshaw to withdraw his slurs against Jeremy Corbyn, Momentum and ordinary Labour members.

Corbyn’s opponents in the parliamentary party are also stepping up their campaign now too. There was this from Rachel Reeves in the last few minutes

John McTernan, Tony Blair’s Director of Political Operations from 2005 to 2007, has also come out with some extremely strong words against the NEC decision in the meantime.

Its vote was a vote “to kill the Labour Party,” he’s just told BBC News.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, has been quick out of the blocks in the last few minutes meanwhile in making this appeal to Labour members (including MPs no doubt) who are disillusioned with their leader:

The Labour leadership contest has not even taken place and talk has turned to the possibility of a split in the party, a scenario which some commentators suggest is more likely if Corbyn wins.

The Spectator’s James Forsyth writes that a Corbyn victory in any leadership contest would spell the end of the party as a “serious force”.

This is a massive victory for Corbyn and his wing of the party. He is now favourite to win this leadership election and if he does, the 172 Labour MPs who voted no confidence in him will either have to shut up or split off and form their own party.

Crucially, if they leave after Corbyn has won again, it will be Corbyn and the hard left who will be left in possession of the Labour name and the party apparatus. This will mean that any new party that Labour MPs form will face a huge challenge to make itself electorally competitive by 2020.

Q. How can you hope to persuade the majority of your MPs who don’t think you are up to it?

A. I am sure that Labour MPs will understand that the party has to come together. I have been elected 10 months ago with a very large mandate.

Corbyn adds he hopes that there will not be a legal challenge. There was a very long discussion today about the process, he says.

Corbyn then spoke to a woman who appeared to be a supporter, before shaking hands with others and leaving.

Updated

Q. What about your competence as leader?

A. I am reaching out to everyone in our party so that all the talents can be used and I say to anyone who has any disagreements to come and speak about it.

Jeremy Corbyn has just emerged from Labour headquarters, to the sound of supporters chanting his name.

He tells the press that he is delighted with the result and that he will be campaigning on inequality and poverty - “all the things that matter”. There’s a few questions now...

Caroline Flint, an MP and one of Jeremy Corbyn’s most outspoken critics inside the Labour party, has been speaking to Sky News in the wake of the NEC vote. Asked if the Labour party was likely to split in future, she replied: “We’ll have to cross that bridge if we come to it.”

She insisted though that she did not want the party to split.

So – barring the decision being challenged in the courts (which is a strong possibility in the eyes of many) Corbyn will face Angela Eagle and perhaps also Owen Smith in a Labour leadership contest.

The Guardian’s Anushka Asthana has an early heads-up on the reaction from Eagle:

Not everyone fancies her chances :

Then again:

Updated

Here’s the party statement following the NEC decision:

The NEC has agreed that as the incumbent leader, Jeremy Corbyn will go forward on to the ballot without requiring nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party and the European Parliamentary Labour Party.

All other leadership candidates will require nominations from 20% of the PLP and EPLP.

Updated

The reaction to that vote is coming in thick and fast. One particularly happy man is Jon Lansman, the founder of the pro-Corbyn organisation Momentum.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn’s name must appear on the ballot paper in the forthcoming leadership election triggered by Angela Eagle’s challenge, Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) has ruled.

The Guardian’s Heather Stewart has filed a full story on what has just transpired during a crunch meeting attended by Corbyn at Labour’s Victoria headquarters, and what it now means for the party:

Iain McNicol, the party’s general secretary, had sought legal advice over the interpretation of a key paragraph of the rules for electing a Labour leader, which were revised by Ed Miliband.

Rule 2Bii in the party’s rulebook, says: “Where there is no vacancy, nominations may be sought by potential challengers each year prior to the annual session of party conference. In this case any nomination must be supported by 20% of the combined Commons members of the PLP and members of the EPLP. Nominations not attracting this threshold shall be null and void.”

Corbyn’s allies – including Len McCluskey, the leader of the Unite union – had argued that the 20% threshold should only apply to challengers, not to a sitting leader. Corbyn would be unlikely to meet the threshold, since more than 80% of Labour MPs backed a no-confidence motion against him.

McCluskey insisted it would be undemocratic to force Corbyn to secure the backing of Labour MPs before he could be allowed to stand, accusing the parliamentary party of launching a “squalid coup”.

Read on here.

Updated

NEC votes to put Corbyn on the ballot

Corbyn is going to be on the ballot, the NEC have voted.

Here’s how it broke down, according to Michael Crick of Channel 4 News.

A vote at the NEC is due to take place shortly it seems.

Stephen Kinnock, who is backing Angela Eagle to be leader of the Labour party, has claimed that the Labour membership is “shifting” against Jeremy Corbyn.

His mailbag suggests this is the case, the MP told Channel 4 News, insisting that the party was unable to function in a situation with a leader who could not command the support of 80% of his parliamentary party.

“We need a leader who is a persuader, not a protester. With all due respect to Jeremy he spent his entire career in rooms where everyone agreed with him,” said Kinnock, who added that it was time now for “serious politics”.

There was a slightly comic moment when Krishnan Guru-Murthy reminded Kinnock that large numbers of new members had joined the party in recent times and were likely to back Corbyn vociferously. The camera panned over to one of them, Barbara Ntumy, who waved across at him at this point.

She insisted there was nothing in the Labour rulebook that prevented the incumbent leader from being on the leadership ballot paper.

“People want to remove him because they know that if he is on the ballot then he is likely to win,” she added.

Updated

Hang on, maybe this won’t take quite as long as we anticipated.

Then again, four crates of sandwiches have now been taken into Labour HQ in the last half an hour apparently. (Crates?)

Updated

As a diversion from Labour politics for a moment, spare a thought now for Boris Johnson (remember him?).

A new opinion poll from YouGov finds that London has fallen out of love with its Conservative former mayor.

Dave Hill has been pondering the seeming end of the affair between Johnson and the UK’s Europhile capital.

YouGov asked Londoners, 60% of whom voted to remain in the EU last month, how they felt about Johnson campaigning to leave.

A meagre 9% said they felt more favourable towards him as a result compared with a giant 29% who felt the opposite.

Of those whose feelings had not changed, 36% had already taken a dim view of Johnson while just 15% still thought well of him.

Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson – the end of the affair? Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Sitting comfortably? Seems like it might be a long evening for Labour-watchers. Still, some light relief is being provided in the form of this Jeremy Corbyn lookalike outside Labour headquarters.

Bob Marshall-Andrews, the barrister and former Labour MP, told Radio 4’s PM programme that he thought it was almost inevitable that Labour would split.

I think, whichever way it goes, there is a near inevitability that the Labour party will split, perhaps not immediately, but certainly within the year.

If it’s a divided left then we will never gain power again, particularly in view of Scotland. We need a unified coalition of the centre left and, outside the Westminster bubble, there’s an enormous appetite for that, for a new party, common ground – not a bad name when you come to think of it – between the majority of the parliamentary Labour party, the Lib Dems, the Greens, coming together to discuss and address the problems of the 21st century.

Marshall-Andrews also said that the leadership contest rules were “completely ambiguous” but that he had always taken the view that it was down to challengers only to have to come up with nominations.

That’s all for me for tonight.

My colleague Ben Quinn is taking over now.

Updated

This is from my colleague Stephen Moss.

It could be a long night. These are from Channel 4 News’ Michael Crick.

Yesterday it emerged that the US government decided not to pursue criminal charges against HSBC for allowing terrorists and drug dealers to launder millions of dollars after George Osborne and the UK banking regulator intervened to warn that prosecuting Britain’s biggest bank could lead to a “global financial disaster”.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, says Osborne needs to explain his conduct. It is unacceptable for any bank to be above the law, he says.

The chancellor urgently needs clarify whether he thinks that there are circumstances in which it is acceptable for financial service companies to potentially break the law and avoid prosecution. And he should clarify if he had received representations from HSBC prior to writing to Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke, seeking to sway the US investigation.

It is not acceptable for any institution to place itself above the law, however powerful or financially important. It is hard to envisage circumstances where the chancellor of the Exchequer should be using his office to interfere in a criminal investigation.

Here is more from the NEC doorstep.

From the Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire

From the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush

From the Guardian columnist Paul Mason

Updated

Momentum has rejected Ben Bradshaw’s claim that it is encouraging its supporters to intimidate MPs. (See 5.32pm.) It has posted these messages on Twitter.

Updated

This is from the FT’s Jim Pickard.

More from the long NEC doorstep.

From the BBC’s Ross Hawkins

From the BBC’s Vicki Young

From the New Statesman’s George Eaton

From the Guardian’s Heather Stewart

From the BBC’s Iain Watson

Updated

Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP and former culture secretary, told BBC News earlier that Jeremy Corbyn should do more to stop MPs being intimidated by his supporters. Echoing what Angela Eagle said (see 3.28pm), Bradshaw told the BBC:

I’m afraid that these ritual condemnations from Jeremy Corbyn are just not enough. We need action. He always condemns, he always says it shouldn’t happen, he never actually does anything. He could call off these Momentum thugs now. The people around him control them. He should call them off, take them off now and expel these people if they’re members of the party.

UPDATE: Momentum has rejected Bradshaw’s claims. See 6.01pm for more detail.

Updated

A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn has said that reports he had refused to leave the NEC meeting when asked (see 4.34pm) were “a total fabrication” and that he left straight away.

Updated

This is from the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush.

This blog by Tom Dale contains an interesting analysis of how Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents could find the votes to win in the NEC today, plus a spreadsheet showing how NEC members are likely to vote.

This is from Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt.

Now Jeremy Corbyn has left the room, Sky’s Jon Craig reports.

UPDATE: A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn has said that reports he had refused to leave the NEC meeting when asked were “a total fabrication” and that he left straight away.

Updated

According to Channel 4 News’s Michael Crick, Jeremy Corbyn is now refusing to leave the room. As the Labour leader, Corbyn has a seat on the NEC, but some members think he should have to recuse himself when his situation is being discussed.

Updated

This is from Channel 4 News’s Michael Crick.

Updated

The Labour party is fond of long meetings. The NEC is two hours in, and it seems they might not even be halfway through.

Updated

Here is more reaction to the secret ballot decision.

From Sky’s Sophy Ridge

From the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush

From the Times’s Lucy Fisher

Updated

NEC to hold secret ballot on Corbyn's inclusion in leadership contest

The NEC is holding a secret ballot on whether Jeremy Corbyn will be included in the ballot, George Eaton reports.

This increases the chance of the NEC voting against Corbyn automatically being included on the ballot.

(He would still be able to be a candidate if he could get the 51 nominations from MPs or MEPs, but it is thought that he would find this impossible.)

Updated

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, gave a speech to a press gallery lunch today and her jokes went down a storm. My colleague Anushka Asthana has collected some of the highlights.

  • Davidson mocked Andrea Leadsom.

Before politics not only was I a BBC journalist but I singlehandedly saved the British banking system during the Barings collapse ... A little known fact was that I was the original Misha the bear at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and that was the same year I won Eurovision. Which speaking as a mother ...

  • She explained why she did not take part in the EU referendum debate alongside Angela Eagle.

I’d had a phone call from Craig Oliver saying we want you to do the Wembley debate, Labour are putting up Angela Eagle. That is great Craig but are you absolutely sure you want two short-haired, flat shoes, shovel-faced lesbians with a northern accent?

I think he’d never been spoken to like that before as he turned into Hugh Grant and (grunts) ... Then we got Sadiq.

  • She mocked Labour.

Everyone else in UK politics is either resigning, getting knifed, bottling it, withdrawing, failing, declaring, or falling on their sword.

I think the mad thing in all of the last few weeks is that the last man standing is Jeremy Corbyn. Although I am pleased that the PLP is about to show how united they are by putting forward a second unity candidate against the first.

That’s the difference between our two parties – Labour is still fumbling with its flies while the Tories are enjoying their post-coital cigarette. After withdrawing our massive Johnson.

  • And then she mocked Leadsom again.

I didn’t say that, you can’t report that, and it would be gutter journalism of the highest order if you wrote down exactly what I’ve just said.

Ruth Davidson.
Ruth Davidson. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Updated

Shortly before the 2pm start of the NEC meeting, Jeremy Corbyn fought his way into Labour’s new headquarters in Victoria, central London, through a scrum of photographers and television crews. He was followed by Jon Trickett, his election co-ordinator.

The veteran MP Dennis Skinner, as he entered the the building, compared Labour MPs seeking to depose Corbyn to the UDM – the breakaway miners’ union that was set up to rival the National Union of Mineworkers.

The meeting is taking place on the 8th floor of the office building known as Southside, which is half a mile from the Houses of Parliament. The building has been nicknamed “the Darkside” by Corbynistas who believe that it is occupied and controlled by friends of the parliamentary party.

According to Labour sources, all but one of the 33 NEC members have attended today’s meeting. Reports claim that the member who has failed to turn up is a GMB representative – interesting because of rumours that the GMB is less than enthusiastic about Corbyn, despite its public support.

Dennis Skinner arriving for the NEC meeting.
Dennis Skinner arriving for the NEC meeting. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

Updated

Eagle says Corbyn must 'get control' of his supporters and stop the bullying

Angela Eagle has said that Jeremy Corbyn needs to “get control” of his supporters and stop the threats being issued to his opponents. Talking about the attack on her office, she told the BBC:

This isn’t the kinder or better politics that we were promised and I think Jeremy Corbyn needs to condemn these acts and he also needs to ensure that people who are supporting him don’t continue to behave this way in the future.

When it was put to her that Corbyn had condemned the attack (see 12.49am), she implied that he had not gone far enough. She said:

They are being done in his name and he needs to get control of the people who are supporting him and make certain that this behaviour stops and stops now. It is bullying. It has absolutely no place in politics in the UK and it needs to end.

Angela Eagle.
Angela Eagle. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

And this is from the Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh.

Updated

Here is the latest from the NEC meeting, according to Channel 4 News’s Michael Crick and the New Statesman’s George Eaton.

Updated

Paul Flynn, the shadow leader of the Commons and shadow Welsh secretary, says his comments to Jeremy Corbyn (see 2.57pm) have been “maliciously distorted”.

Which is not quite the same as saying he did not say Corbyn should resign ...

(The Guardian has now been told by two sources that Flynn did say Corbyn should resign.)

Paul Flynn, the leftwinger who was a surprise appointment as shadow leader of the Commons and shadow Welsh secretary two weeks ago, told Jeremy Corbyn he should resign at this week’s shadow cabinet meeting, the FT’s Jim Pickard reports.

A reader has been in touch to point out that it is not just opponents of Jeremy Corbyn who have been receiving threats. She highlights this Morning Star story as evidence that some Corbyn supporters are also facing intimidation from their Labour opponents.

Updated

Here is Jeremy Corbyn arriving for today’s NEC meeting.

Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Labour HQ in Westminster, London, for today’s NEC meeting.

And here are some tweets about his arrival.

Updated

Lunchtime summary

  • Jeremy Corbyn has cancelled an appearance at a conference in Brighton to allow him to attend a crucial national executive committee meeting starting at 2pm that will decide whether or not he can stand in the Labour leadership contest. Angela Eagle, who is challenging him, has the support of 51 MPs and MEPs (20% of the total) but Corbyn currently does not, and there is a dispute about whether the rules allow him on to the ballot without the nominations. Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has said excluding Corbyn would be a “sordid fix” and Unite is threatening to take the party to court if it tries to block Corbyn. At this stage it is not clear what will happen, but here is the latest from the New Statesman’s George Eaton.

It has also been reported that the Corbynites made a last-minute effort to boost their chances on the NEC by getting Jon Ashworth removed from it, but that the shadow cabinet blocked this. If the NEC were to vote in favour of Corbyn not automatically being on the ballot, he could in theory become a candidate by getting the support of 51 MPs or MEPs - but it is thought he would find this impossible.

  • Corbyn has condemned an attack on Eagle’s constituency office overnight. He has also revealed that he himself has received death threats this week. (See 12.49pm.) Eagle has also had to relocate an event planned for today after the original venue was threatened. Jane Kennedy, the Merseyside police and crime commissioner and a former Labour MP, said the attack would not deter Eagle. She said:

This is going to make her more determined to carry forward the debate, to make her case and then let the Labour party decide and then, God willing, let the country decide ... This behaviour is completely unacceptable. It doesn’t matter what their views are, this is not acceptable. If they want to dispute it, come and dispute it and talk and argue – but don’t sneak up as a coward does and smash a window and run away like a child does at school.

[Cameron] said a few words about the honour and pleasure it had been to chair cabinet for the last six years. He recounted some of the things that the cabinet had done during that time – the fact that they had met several times around the country from Aberdeen to Bradford, Bristol and elsewhere, that over the course of those 215 meetings they had discussed over 900 items of government business with the PM personally leading the discussion on over 150 of those.

He talked about his pride at the record of achievement of the government and echoed the comments he made yesterday in the street about Theresa May taking over as the new prime minister.

He wished her the support and friendship he had received and said she would be the right person to lead the country wisely through the difficult times ahead.

  • Cameron has used his final visit to announce 31 new free schools.

Updated

Police offer protection after threats lead to Eagle meeting being relocated

Angela Eagle has confirmed that she has had to move a meeting taking place today after the original venue was threatened. The meeting is going ahead in a new location, and the police have offered protection. A spokesman for Eagle said:

A brick was thrown through the window of Angela Eagle’s constituency office in Wallasey either overnight or this morning.

The police were informed and have visited.

A members meet-and-greet and Q&A in Luton today with local MP Gavin Shuker had to be relocated after the venue, a hotel, apparently received threats.

Police were informed and have offered protection for the event.

Angela is continuing with the visit as planned.

Updated

Ray Collins, who was Labour general secretary at the time the current rules about leadership challenges were drawn up (see 1.14pm), has just been on the World at One saying that as he understands the rules they do require Jeremy Corbyn to obtain the same number of nominations as anyone challenging him for the leadership.

But Martin Howe, the lawyer who wrote to the current general secretary on behalf of Unite, threatening legal action if Corbyn is kept off the ballot (see 9.33am), also spoke to the programme and said the rules were “carefully crafted, unambiguous and crystal clear”. They did not require Corbyn to obtain fresh nominations, Howe said.

Updated

Powell says Corbyn's support amongst party members is 'falling very quickly'

Lucy Powell, the former shadow education secretary, was on the Daily Politics a few minutes ago talking about the challenge to Jeremy Corbyn. She is one of the many MPs opposed to his leadership. Here are the main points she made.

  • Powell said that she thought Corbyn would lose a leadership contest because he was losing the support of members. She said:

I think the support for him amongst party members is falling and is falling very quickly indeed. If you look at the polling that is happening amongst party members, amongst trade union affiliates, what’s coming up from the grassroots. If you look at my own party in my own constituency, I’ve had many, many emails and phone calls from people who voted for Jeremy last year who now think that it is untenable that he can continue without the support of his parliamentary colleagues.

On that basis, she said, she she was not worried about him being on the ballot.

  • But she also said she thought Corbyn should be excluded from the ballot because the party’s rules should be enforced. She claimed the rules were “pretty clear”. She cited two pieces of evidence for this. First, she quoted rule 2Bii in the rule book, which says:

Where there is no vacancy, nominations may be sought by potential challengers each year prior to the annual session of party conference. In this case any nomination must be supported by 20 per cent of the combined Commons members of the PLP and members of the EPLP. Nominations not attracting this threshold shall be null and void.

(This is the key text, but lawyers are divided as to whether “any nomination” applies just people challenging the leader, or to anyone wanting to take part in the ballot, including the leader.) Powell also quoted this passage from the Collins Review into Labour Party Reform published in 2014.

However, in recognition of the fact that the leader of the Labour party has a special duty to head the parliamentary Labour party in Westminster, MPs will retain the responsibility of deciding the final shortlist of candidates that will be put to the ballot.

Powell went on:

Whilst I would be confident of any contest, I think that our forefathers and those that drew up our constitution, including many trade union leaders, would have never imagined a circumstance where a leader of the Labour party was seeking to continue on the basis of having less than 20% support of his MPs.

  • She said that she thought Owen Smith, the former shadow work and pensions secretary, would have more chance of beating Corbyn than Eagle because he was more of a fresh face. But she said she admired Eagle for being “ballsy” and challenging Corbyn.
Lucy Powell.
Lucy Powell. Photograph: Jon Super/REX/Shutterstock

Corbyn condemns attack on Eagle's office

Jeremy Corbyn has condemned the attack on Angela Eagle’s constituency office. (See 11.56am.)

It is extremely concerning that Angela Eagle has been the victim of a threatening act and that other MPs are receiving abuse and threats. As someone who has also received death threats this week and previously, I am calling on all Labour party members and supporters to act with calm and treat each other with respect and dignity, even where there is disagreement. I utterly condemn any violence or threats, which undermine the democracy within our party and have no place in our politics.

This is from ITV’s Carl Dinnen.

And this is from the Financial Times’s Jim Pickard.

This is from ITV’s Paul Brand.

My colleague Owen Jones has written his verdict on David Cameron’s premiership. He thinks it was the “most disastrous” since Neville Chamberlain’s.

Chris Grayling, the leader of the Commons and Theresa May’s campaign manager, has said May will choose the best people available for her cabinet and appoint a “strong, balanced, sensible team”.

Theresa May will unite Conservatives, says Chris Grayling

Here is some more on this morning’s cabinet meeting from the Number 10 lobby briefing. These are from Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh.

This is from the Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop.

He is referring to this picture.

This is from the Sunday Times’ James Lyons.

Lorna Hughes, a reporter on the Liverpool Echo, has more on the attack on Angela Eagle’s office.

Theresa May headed for the wrong car as she left Number 10 this morning. The Press Association’s Scott D’Arcy has some video.

Updated

A brick was thrown through the window of Angela Eagle’s constituency office overnight, BuzzFeed reports. This happened after she confirmed on Monday that she was challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership.

Removal van arrives at Downing Street

Here are more pictures of the removal van arriving at the back of Downing Street.

You might think that this is mere diary column trivia, but the removal van arriving at Downing Street is, in many respects, the defining image of British democracy - because it represents the transfer of power.

One moment someone can be prime minister, with all the machinery of the state at their disposal, but then if it all goes wrong, they’re out, and it is all summed up by a guy in a Simply Removals T-shirt and a large stack of cardboard packing boxes.

A removal van at the back of Downing Street.
A removal van at the back of Downing Street. Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA

Updated

Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, said there were “lots of lovely” tributes to David Cameron at today’s cabinet meeting

And Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, said it had been a “very sad” morning but that there had been some “wonderful tributes” to Cameron.

Jeremy Hunt outside Downing Street this morning.
Jeremy Hunt outside Downing Street this morning. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/REX/Shutterstock

A removal van has arrived at the back of Downing Street.

A removal man at the back of Downing Street.
A removal man at the back of Downing Street. Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson hasn’t even spoken at her main engagement today - a Westminster lunch of lobby journalists - but is already causing a stir in London.

There was some curiosity about her appearance at Downing Street this morning.

And, in response to Davidson’s comments in advance of the lunch, describing the SNP’s calls for a second independence referendum in the wake of the Brexit vote as “irresponsible and unjustified”, Nicola Sturgeon has already fired back.

The SNP leader says that Davidson should be apologising rather than lecturing:

Some words of contrition and apology from Ruth Davidson would be more appropriate than trying to lay down the law in an out of touch lecture, given it is the irresponsibility of her own party which has put Scotland in this position.

It is the selfish and reckless irresponsibility of the Tories which has brought Scotland to the brink of being taken out of EU against our will, with all the damage and upheaval which that would entail for many years to come for our economy, society, rights and place in the world.

You can read all the Guardian’s Conservative leadership coverage here.

And here are four articles from other papers about David Cameron, Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom that are worth reading.

Even if David Cameron has concerns about what the future holds, he has just banked £800,000 to help cope with life outside No 10.

Just days before the European Union referendum, perhaps sensing which way the result was going, the prime minister and his wife, Samantha, mortgaged their four-bedroom family home in Notting Hill, west London. It was bought without a mortgage for £1.125 million in 2006 and has been let out while the family lived in Downing Street. The tenants are believed to have been given notice to quit.

The house is now estimated to be worth £3.5 million, and the £800,000 lump sum will come in useful for the Camerons’ planned business ventures, campaigns and charity work. It would also help to pay for a more luxurious holiday than the bodyboarding in Cornwall and budget airline trips to Portugal and Ibiza that they settled for while Mr Cameron was prime minister.

In a perverse way, the relentless barrage was a compliment, a sign that Leadsom was seen as a real threat. That attitude was best summed up in a contemptible text to Tory MPs from Nick Boles: “What if Theresa stumbles? Are we really confident that the membership won’t vote for a fresh face who shares their attitudes about much of modern life?”

Whatever it took, Leadsom had to be kept away from the hustings where her smiley, down-to-earth style, experience of the real world and spirited fight for Brexit might endear her to the rank and file.

Well, the skullduggers succeeded. Critics will say it simply proves Leadsom wasn’t up to being PM. Privately, I suspect she would agree.

A friend suggests Andrea put herself on the ballot to secure a key Brexit negotiating role in a Boris-Gove government. After the two men destroyed each other, a shell-shocked Leadsom was no longer in the running for A Job. She was up against Theresa May for The Job.

She was sensitive to questions that took her outside her comfort zone. She refused to answer the Times’s traditional and light-hearted “quick fire” questions, insisting that it was “divisive” to ask her whether Jamie Oliver or Delia Smith was her favourite cooks. “These are not jokes; they would kill me,” she said as she became increasingly agitated.

And she burst into tears when she started talking about her mother’s struggle to make ends meet — working in a dress shop by day and a pub by night when the children were growing up. “I’m not after any sob stories, I’m just a bit tired at the moment,” she said.

It was only a few days into what would have been a gruelling nine-week campaign. Mrs Leadsom’s critics insisted it was “no time for a novice” — and in the end she appears to have reached the same conclusion herself.

Mrs May is now set to become Ukip’s greatest recruiting sergeant.

In recent years, the Tory ranks have shrunk from around 400,000 to something more like 150,000. Bitterly disappointed party members who campaigned successfully for Brexit now fear that the remainers have managed to turn defeat into victory and will join Ukip – alongside sensible Labour voters disgusted with both Mr Corbyn and Ms Eagle alike.

Updated

David Cameron’s final cabinet meeting is over. It lasted less than an hour. Cabinet ministers are leaving Number 10 now.

The TSSA transport union, which supports Jeremy Corbyn, has put out a statement this morning saying that Corbyn must be included on the ballot for the Labour leadership contest. It says:

With a new leader at the head of the Conservative party and the Tories looking set to remain in a prolonged period of bitter rivalry and infighting, it is for Labour to unite and be the source of national unity and stability for the country. As a union affiliated to the Labour party, we regret but recognise that a Labour leadership election is now likely and urge all sections of the party to act with dignity and respect for each other and party democracy at this time.

While each CLP, affiliated union and socialist society will rightly determine, their views on who they may support and nominate, there is currently no vacancy for a Labour leader. According to the party rules the democratically elected and incumbent leader of our party, in this case Jeremy Corbyn must as of right be on the ballot paper. Frankly, it would be nonsensical for an incumbent not to be allowed to defend their record against any challenger - it would be a sham. It would fly in the face of natural justice and the democratic traditions and the rules of our party.

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, is giving evidence to the Commons Treasury committee this morning. He is talking about the Bank’s Financial Stability Report, but inevitably much of the discussion will focus on Brexit.

My colleague Angela Monaghan is covering the hearing on the business live blog.

Mark Carney.
Mark Carney. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

The New Statesman’s George Eaton has an article on the Staggers blog saying that Labour’s national executive committee is set to give Jeremy Corbyn an automatic slot on the leadership ballot. Here’s an extract.

Those I spoke to yesterday suggested that the 33-member body could rule that Corbyn requires nominations – if a secret vote is held. But senior Labour figures told me this afternoon that there is “no doubt” that the leader has the numbers required to prevail (“whatever the legal advice”). As well as leftwing allies on the NEC, Corbyn crucially retains the backing of the 12 trade union delegates. A senior source told me the unions’ support was “on lockdown” even in the event of a secret ballot (which would require a show of hands). “Unite are flying Michael Mayer in by plane. The TSSA delegate has cancelled her holiday,” he said.

It is uncertain whether Corbyn will be permitted to attend the meeting. “Most of the time those with an interest leave,” an NEC member told me. “It will be improper if he does.”

Updated

David Cameron’s final cabinet meeting is just getting under way.

Here is Theresa May, the next prime minister, arriving.

Theresa May arriving for today’s cabinet meeting.
Theresa May arriving for today’s cabinet meeting. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn was due to speak at the Unite conference today but, according to the BBC’s Callum May, he has cancelled because of the NEC meeting.

Updated

Labour general secretary threatened with legal action if Corbyn excluded from leadership ballot

Jim Kennedy, a Unite official who sits on Labour’s national executive committee, has got lawyers to write to Iain McNicol, the party’s general secretary, threatening legal action if the party tries to exclude Jeremy Corbyn from the leadership contest.

The letter, from Martin Howe, threatens “injunctive action” if Corbyn is not automatically on the ballot. It says:

Our clients are very concerned that the purpose of the special meeting is to manufacture a situation whereby Jeremy Corbyn’s name will be omitted from the leadership ballot. That is wholly unacceptable.

Any attempt to keep Jeremy Corbyn’s name off the ballot for leader, whilst he remains leader, in light of the current challenge by Angela Eagle (or any other challenger) will be met with legal action for breach of contract, specifically for breach of the 2016 Rule Book Chapter 4 Rule 2Bii.

We put you on the clearest notice that we will be instructed to apply to the high court for immediate injunctive relief should Jeremy Corbyn’s name not go forward automatically to the ballot.

The letter also says that the case for Corbyn’s automatic inclusion on the ballot is “so patent and clear” that Kennedy is ready to pursue McNicol personally for costs if Corbyn is excluded.

The issue has arisen because the current rules are open to alternative interpretations, with some lawyers arguing that they mean a serving leader like Corbyn is automatically on the ballot if challenged for the leadership, and others arguing the serving leader needs to get the support of 20% of MPs and MEPs like other candidates.

Updated

And here is more from Len McCluskey’s Today interview, in which he said excluding Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour ballot would be a “sordid fix”. He explained:

I think that it would be alien to the traditions of the Labour party. It would be alien to the concept of natural justice that Jeremy Corbyn is not automatically on the ballot paper.

If Angela or Owen [Smith] or anybody else wants to challenge Jeremy, that’s fine. Jeremy should be on the ballot paper and we should try to conduct the campaign in a civilised manner.

I will accept the result but I won’t accept a fix and that’s unfortunately what appears to be developing at the moment, which is deeply regrettable.

Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, speaking at the union’s policy conference in Brighton
Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, speaking at the union’s policy conference in Brighton on Monday. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Updated

Angela Eagle, the former shadow business secretary who announced that she was challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership on Monday, was on the Today programme this morning. John Humphrys said Eagle describes herself as strong, but that she was heard sounding tearful in interviews two weeks ago as she talked about resigning from the shadow cabinet. Would someone like that be tough enough to take on President Putin, he asked. Eagle replied:

I tried for nine months to fulfil my promise to Labour party members to try to make Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership work and it was just emotion that I had been unable to deliver that. There is more than one way to be a leader and I think being in touch with your emotions is quite important ...

It was a difficult day. Politicians ought to be human beings and leaders can be human beings ...

The issue here is whether you have got a vision for the country, whether you can provide strong leadership to unite the Labour party and heal our country in these dangerous times. I believe I have got all of those qualities.

Eagle was also asked about Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, claiming on Monday that those MPs trying to force out Corbyn would be “branded forever with the mark of infamy”. She replied:

To be honest, Len sounds a bit like he’s gone to too many am-dram performances.

Updated

Here is the scene in Number 10 earlier as reporters waited for ministers to arrive for David Cameron’s final cabinet meeting.

Media in Downing Street ahead of the final cabinet meeting with David Cameron.
Media in Downing Street ahead of the final cabinet meeting with David Cameron. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

The photographer have also taken pictures of a white van turning up - presumably on the off chance that it’s the one Cameron has hired to remove his belongings from the Downing Street flat (which is probably isn’t).

A white van arrives at the rear of Downing Street, London, ahead of Cameron’s final cabinet meeting.
A white van arrives at the rear of Downing Street, London, ahead of Cameron’s final cabinet meeting. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Unite boss says excluding Corbyn from Labour leadership ballot would be 'sordid fix'

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, and I’m blogging for the day.

Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has been on the Today programme. He said that if Labour’s national executive committee tries to exclude Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour leadership contest when it meets this afternoon, that would be a “sordid fix”.

Good morning and welcome to our daily politics live blog.

The big picture

It’s the day after Theresa May’s victory in the Conservative leadership contest and the day before the removal lorry reverses up to Downing Street.

Something of an interregnum then, but a crucial one as a spotlight falls on who is likely to serve in what positions in a May cabinet. With talks about the formation of that cabinet at an advanced stage, here’s Rowena Mason’s guide to the inners, outers, big hitters and fresh faces hoping for key roles.

Questions are also being asked about exactly what Britain’s second female prime minister ever has in mind once she gets her hands on the keys to No 10. Jessica Elgot has been taking a look at May’s historical position on a range of issues.

Gaby Hinsliff has also penned this piece on what Theresa May stands for, and suggests: “What makes a May premiership interestingly unpredictable is that she has always been driven less by ideology than by morality, a very personal sense of right or wrong.”

While one leadership context is over, meanwhile, one of a number of others under way is only just cranking up as Angela Eagle’s bid to head Labour moves into its second day. The Pontypridd MP Owen Smith is also expected to throw his hat into the ring, possibly today.

All political eyes however will be on Labour’s National Executive Committee, however. The party’s general secretary is facing protests over plans to hold a crucial meeting of the ruling body at short notice that could exclude Jeremy Corbyn from standing as leader.

Union representatives to the National Executive Committee have complained that some delegates may not be able to make the meeting on Tuesday, which will decide if the Labour leader is automatically included in the ballot.

Does anyone have a Brexit plan yet?

Theresa May says she does. “Brexit means Brexit and we’re going to make a success of it,” she said at her campaign launch on Monday. She’s likely to come under intense pressure to put some meat on the bones of that promise, not least from European leaders.

You should also know:

Poll position

Just over 32% of Labour-affiliated trade union members think that Jeremy Corbyn should lead the party into the next election, with 58% saying that he should step down, according to a YouGov poll.

Diary

  • 2pm: Labour’s NEC meets to decide the terms of the party’s leadership contest, including if Jeremy Corbyn’s name will go through automatically on the ballot.
  • 10am: Bank of England governor Mark Carney gives evidence to the Commons Treasury committee
  • 2.15pm: Immigration minister James Brokenshire gives evidence to Commons home affairs committee

Read these

• Rachel Sylvester, the Times journalist who will have a prominent position in history books recording how Andrea Leadsom’s Tory leadership challenge went off the rails, has penned a piece on how the MP was becoming an increasingly divisive figure. “Under the pressure that is inevitable in frontline politics – especially when seeking to hold the highest office in the land — she did not flourish, she cracked,” writes Sylvester.

• Jeremy Corbyn will be automatically included in the party’s contest without nominations, senior figures have told the New Statesman’s George Eaton. He adds that Owen Smith, who is considering standing, will now need to decide whether to fight Eagle to become the rebels’ “unity candidate”.

• Leading European political figures (or at least some of them) are looking forward to dealing with a “pragmatist” in the form of Theresa May, according to the FT. “I think she will be very very good [in the current Brexit crisis] because, like Angela Merkel, she is not vain like some men are, but has a clear sense of her own power,” it quotes one former EU minister who worked with May as saying.

The day in a tweet

If today were a film, it might just be The War of the Roses

The lawyers get involved as the marriage between different constituent parts of the Labour party begins to crack up.

And another thing

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

Andrew Sparrow will be taking over shortly. If you want to follow him or contact him on Twitter, he’s on on @AndrewSparrow.

Updated

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