Theresa May says she will make success of Brexit as prime minister – as it happened

The first of Tuesday’s front pages are coming in – with an extremely happy looking Theresa May dominating the coverage.

The Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson, who has backed May from the outset, has offered the new leader her support “and the support of the entire Scottish party” as she takes on the role of prime minister. Davidson said: “The country needs certainty and stability going forward, and that’s exactly what a Theresa May premiership can provide.”

“In Mrs May, we have a prime minister who has the experience, the judgment and the leadership to start that job from day one. The dignified manner of Andrea Leadsom’s withdrawal today allows for that transition to be as smooth and as swift as possible.”

The Ukip MEP Jonathan Arnott has announced his candidacy for his party’s leadership, amid furore over new rules for the contest, which will block many of the party’s best-known figures from standing. The party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) has said all candidates to replace Nigel Farage must have been a member for at least five years.

It means that Ukip’s only MP, Douglas Carswell, ex-MP Mark Reckless and prominent former spokeswoman Suzanne Evans, who is temporarily suspended from the party, will not be able to enter the contest.

The most intriguing political comparison between Theresa May and another major figure is arguably not with Thatcher, but with Gordon Brown, writes Gaby Hinsliff, in this meaty piece on what makes Britain’s next prime minister tick.

Brown was the last political figure dominant enough to become prime minister basically by acclamation, she notes, adding:

Two serious-minded children of religious ministers, steeped in moral purpose, both possessed of an iron need to control. May is a famously reluctant delegator, needing to know exactly what her juniors are doing and to chew over every detail of decisions – a micromanagement style she cannot hope to apply to an entire government – and like Brown, she demands unswerving loyalty. (Although unlike him, she generally won’t say behind your back what she wouldn’t say to your face.)

Yet for all her apparent stubbornness, in private, May is surprisingly open to a well-sourced argument. A former junior minister who observed her playing hardball in negotiations says she will usually do a deal in the end: “It’s not just ‘because I say so’ – if you make a good argument to Theresa, she can be willing to change her position.”

She may not be adored, but she commands admiration, a wary respect, and deep gratitude from many Tory women for what the business minister Anna Soubry calls the “proper sisterhood” that she has built inside the party. There is something fitting about the fact that over a decade after May overhauled the candidate selection system to bring more women and minority ethnic MPs up the ladder behind her, her party briefly volunteered an all-female shortlist for the top job.

We’ve been hearing from some new Labour members who signed up in anticipation of a leadership election. Here are some snippets from two of them:

Richard Moore, 45, Buckinghamshire

I joined again to stop what was increasingly feeling like a hijack of the party I’d grown up with.

I want Corbyn to go. I genuinely feel that getting elected saves lives, and lives are worth compromise. I don’t dislike Corbyn, but the business of politics is the winning of elections, and Corbyn is a bad businessman.

Kester Leek, 21, London

I officially joined the Labour party half an hour before Angela Eagle took the stage to formally announce her leadership bid, though have been a proactive Labour supporter since Jeremy Corbyn stood for the same position.

Mr Corbyn is that rarest of things in politics: an honest man – and that matters more than anything. For too long, behind-the-scenes plotting and backroom deals have been taken for granted in politics. To achieve social reform, we need to change that, and Jeremy is the man I believe is willing to do so.

Dexit? Or should that be Caxit? With the removal van expected to roll up at the back entrance of No 10 on Wednesday, the Guardian’s Rowena Mason has been told that David Cameron’s exit plan is still being worked out.

If he follows the pattern of his predecessors, he would leave No 10 alongside his family before heading to see the Queen in order to tender his resignation formally.

The most likely plan would be for him to then return to his constituency home in West Oxfordshire, as the official residence in Chequers will no longer be his to enjoy, and his pre-2010 home in Notting Hill has been rented out since then.

Larry the cat, the official Downing Street moggy, will not be moving out with him because he is the pet of the staff who work there.

Here’s a rather different business reaction to the Theresa May news. The FTSE 100 index burst into bull market territory after she emerged as successor to David Cameron, providing a further boost to surging stocks on both sides of the Atlantic, reports the Guardian’s Larry Elliott.

Within minutes of Andrea Leadsom announcing that she was leaving the field clear for May to become leader, the index of Britain’s biggest listed companies rose to the point where it had gained more than 20% since February’s low – the technical definition of a bull market.

The FTSE 100 has now risen by 1,145 points since it hit a 2016 nadir of 5,537 on 11 February, when investors were anxious about the low oil price and threat of global recession.

Share prices had already been supported by growing speculation that the Bank of England is ready to cut interest rates from 0.5% to 0.25% on Thursday as a confidence-building measure at the first meeting of its nine-strong monetary policy committee since the Brexit result.

Theresa May’s proposals to crack down on boardroom excess and rebuild trust between corporate Britain and voters have received a mixed reaction from business leaders, the Guardian’s business team reports.

The moves, announced by the incoming prime minister just minutes before her rival, Andrea Leadsom, pulled out of the leadership contest, include allowing employee and consumer representatives to sit on company boards, and making shareholder votes on executive pay legally binding. “It is not anti-business to suggest that big business needs to change,” she said.

However, a leading figure in the retail and consumer industry, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian:

On what basis can a prime minister, who has no popular acclamation either through party members or a general election, pursue policies unconnected to the manifesto on which her party was elected?

How, contractually, will binding votes on pay work? Look at what happened with employee representatives at the Co-op.

Farewell then (for now), Andrea Leadsom. This piece by the Guardian’s Rob Booth on how her leadership challenge eventually went pear-shaped is well worth a read.

Her withdrawal ended an unlikely tilt at Downing Street that chilled some parliamentary colleagues as it thrilled others.

Leadsom had risen to prominence alongside Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage as a figurehead of the victorious Leave campaign in last month’s EU referendum.

But last week her fellow minister Nick Boles had reflected alarm in parts of the parliamentary party at the speed of her rise when he told Tory MPs he was “seriously frightened about the risk of allowing Andrea Leadsom on to the membership ballot”. Her run delighted supporters such as Lord Tebbit, who voiced approval when the former City banker allowed herself to be cast as the next Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister, whose portrait adorns her office wall.

Read on here.

Jeremy Corbyn has been attending a parliamentary reception for the “Miami Five”, a group of Cuban men who were jailed in the US after being charged with espionage.

The Cuba Solidarity Campaign tweeted this picture of the Labour leader earlier:

Diane Abbott followed Eagle on Channel 4 news and immediately went on the attack over Eagle’s support for the Iraq war, as well as other controversial policies associated with the Blair era, including ID cards.

She also said that she was confident that Labour’s National Executive Committee would state that Jeremy Corbyn should be on the ballot in an upcoming leadership election. “It would make no sense [for him not to be]. It would be contrary to all the rules of natural justice, contrary to fairness, and I am sure the NEC will see that,” she said.

The NEC is due to meet at 2pm tomorrow to decide the terms of the contest, including whether the party’s current leader appears on the ballot paper automatically.

The shadow health secretary also insisted that Labour was prepared to fight a snap general election, although she sidestepped the question of whether she would vote to initiate such a poll in parliament. She’ll do whatever the shadow cabinet, as a whole, agrees.

She also insisted that the party is not split: “The people who actually fight an election at the grassroots are the people who go out and knock on doors, and they are not split.”

Angela Eagle has said that it’s “about time” that the Labour party had its first female leader as she suggested that Owen Smith should allow her to have a clear run in her bid to replace Jeremy Corbyn. Eagle was interviewed in the last few minutes on Channel 4 News, where she was asked about Smith’s widely reported interest in challenging for the leadership.

“The Conservatives have their second woman prime minister. The Labour party is the part of equality, who pioneered anti-discrimination legislation. It’s about time that they had their first women leader,” said Eagle, who added that she did not know what Smith was going to do.

She went on the offensive against Corbyn over his suggestion on the morning of the referendum result that article 50 – the formal mechanism for leaving the European Union – should be triggered swiftly. “I was shocked when Jeremy came out and said that we should trigger article 50 straight away,” said Eagle.

Asked whether she would try to reverse the result of the referendum, she replied: “I think we have to accept that the country has voted to leave, but that does not mean we should trigger it before we have done all the work [of negotiating].”

The UK should not be rushing towards the exit, said Eagle, who was also pressed on her support for the Iraq war. “I do regret the vote on the Iraq war, and if I had known then what we do now, I would not have voted for it,” she said.

This clip of a microphone picking up David Cameron humming a little tune to himself after announcing that he would be tendering his resignation this week has gone rather viral.

Some have interpreted it as the outgoing prime minister keeping his spirits up. Of course, another is that it’s the sound of a man who is a little demob-happy.

Stay with it to the end, where the microphone picks him up as saying, “Right.” Presumably it was just before he got down to the serious business of packing.

As Angela Eagle mounts her bid to become leader of the Labour Party, reaction in her constituency ranges from total apathy to abject fury.

The Guardian’s Frances Perraudin has been visiting Wallasey, where Eagle doubled her majority in the last election, but where she is now facing a vote of no-confidence from local members.

“I don’t think she’s very highly thought of around here,” says Anthony Zausmer (pictured below), owner of the Coasters cafe in the seaside town of New Brighton. “I think people vote for her simply because they vote Labour and that’s it. If they put up a stuffed monkey, they’d vote for them.” He isn’t a fan of Jeremy Corbyn, but says he doesn’t think Eagle would make an effective leader of the Labour party.

Asked what the reaction was locally to the news that Eagle would stand against the Labour leader, Zausmer says: “I think there’s apathy, to be honest. I don’t think many people will care one way or the other, but I would imagine that my feeling about her not being an effective leader will be shared. She’s showed no leadership skills as a local MP.”

Read on here.

She’s been described as Britain’s answer to Angela Merkel (the jury’s out on that one for now) and “a bloody difficult woman” (© Ken Clarke).

The Guardian has put together this video profile of Theresa May as she prepares to become to become the 76th British prime minister.

Away from the action around Theresa May, there has been a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) this evening.

The party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, has been addressing MPs. The Guardian’s Peter Walker and the New Statesman’s George Eaton pass on these snippets:

Nicola Sturgeon has said that she expects “early engagement” with the new prime minister over the Scottish government’s attempt to to maintain Scotland’s EU status.

Congratulating Theresa May, Sturgeon said: “As part of her pitch to her Conservative colleagues earlier today, Ms May made clear that she would be pressing ahead with plans to leave the EU – as such, it is vital that Scotland is involved and consulted at every step of the way.”

“But that involvement does not mean we accept that Scotland should leave the EU. On the contrary, I have made clear that I intend to pursue every possible avenue to secure Scotland’s continued place in Europe and in the world’s biggest single market, and that all options must be on the table in order to achieve that.

That is something I reiterate today to the incoming Prime Minister.”

For all the talk of how May’s thoughts earlier today sound not unlike an Ed Miliband stump speech from 2015, there’s still no shortage of commentators insisting that she’s certainly not to the left of David Cameron.

Victoria Honeyman, a lecturer in British Politics at the University of Leeds, writes in this profile: “For May, there will be no “third way” or “Liberal Conservatism”. She is seen as being to the right of Cameron, who represents the more centre-right element of the party.

The likely names in Theresa May’s first cabinet range from existing big hitters to fresh faces. The Guardian’s Rowena Mason has drawn up a list of those who might be expected to take up key roles.

One Tory MP familiar with May’s thinking told Rowena that trust matters to her hugely to Britain’s next PM, so those who have worked with her in the past are likely to be rewarded.

The ‘newbies’ who might be in line make for particularly interesting reading I think:

Karen Bradley, James Brokenshire, Mark Harper and Damian Green – All worked for May in the Home Office and could be in line for cabinet promotions or senior minister of state jobs, if some room is cleared at the top.

Margot James – Was an early supporter of May and is widely regarded as a talented figure in the party who was overlooked by Cameron. She would be suited to a role as development secretary or a ministerial job in the Foreign Office.

Harriett Baldwin – Has impressed as City minister and could be in line for a promotion in that department. Alok Sharma is another tipped for the Treasury.

Alan Duncan – Was also one of May’s first cheerleaders and could make a return to the ministerial ranks or a party job such as chairman. Michael Ellis, Gavin Williamson, Sam Gyimah, Richard Harrington and Gavin Williamson have been key in her campaign and are all likely to get key promotions.

Chris Grayling, tipped for a senior post in the incoming May cabinet, has rejected calls for a snap election.

The cabinet minister told the Press Association: “It’s 15 months since the Conservative Party got a mandate with her as one of its key leading members - I think the last thing this country needs right now is a general election.”

More than a few others reading the political runes earlier also believe that Britain’s won’t be going to the polls any time soon:

She probably won’t lose too much sleep over it, but here’s a record which Theresa May misses out on as a result of securing the keys to Downing Street:

So what does the UK’s next prime minister really believe? The Guardian’s Jessica Elgot has been looking at where Theresa May stands on a range of issues.

May’s views on general elections in particular are going to come under particular scrutiny.

In 2007, after Gordon Brown took over in Downing Street from Tony Blair, May was on the Conservative frontbench pushing for a general election. “The prime minister is running scared of a general election,” she said.

But when May officially launched her Conservative leadership bid, she ruled out an early general election. “There should be no general election until 2020,” she said.

Here is the Independent’s John Rentoul’s speculation about what Theresa May’s cabinet will look like.

That’s all from me. My colleague Ben Quinn is now taking over.

In her speech this morning Theresa May said three times that Britain should not be a country that works just for the privileged few. She said it again in her statement just now. (See 5.45pm.)

Tom Baldwin, Ed Miliband’s former communications director, says she’s nicked the phrase from his old boss.

Her case is based on three things, she says: the need for strong leadership, and to make a success of Brexit; the need for unity; and the need for a vision for the future, and for a Britain that works for everyone.

And that’s it. It was a cursory statement that basically just restated her “three priorities” summary. (See 11.08am.)

And here is another picture from the meeting posted on Twitter by a Tory MP.

Here is a picture from inside the meeting with Tory MPs. It is from the Tory MP Sarah Wollaston.

This is from Channel 4 News’s Michael Crick.

Stewart Jackson, a Conservative MP who backed Andrea Leadsom, tells Sky News that Theresa May’s speech was upbeat and positive.

This is from the Labour peer Jack McConnell.

Patrick McLoughlin, the transport secretary, tells BBC that Theresa May told MPs that Brexit would mean Brexit and that her priority would be bringing the country together.

This is from Reuters.

In the Commons the Labour MP Helen Goodman tabled an urgent questions about the government using article 50 of the Lisbon treaty to trigger the EU withdrawal process.

Goodman said that parliament should be consulted first. She told MPs:

If the royal prerogative is used to trigger Article 50, wouldn’t this be a clear breach of the promises made to the public during the referendum campaign by the Brexiters - that they would take back control and restore parliamentary sovereignty?

How could it be right to initiate negotiations with important and far-reaching significance for citizenship rights, immigration rules, employment and social rights, agriculture, trading relations with the EU and third countries, Scotland and Northern Ireland, without seeking Parliament’s approach for the aims, objectives and red lines?

John Penrose, the Cabinet Office minister, told MPs that it would be up to Theresa May to set out her approach to this.

Louise Haigh, his Labour shadow, said the government should not trigger article 50 until there is a “clear plan” about what the UK will be negotiating and how it will be achieved.

One of the first tasks to confront a new prime minister, after an audience with the Queen, is to write the “letter of last resort”.

If past practice is observed, Theresa May will be asked to write to (unnamed) commanders of a Trident missile submarine on patrol somewhere near the bottom of the Atlantic. She will tell them whether or not she (presumably dead at the time) would be willing to retaliate by firing a nuclear missile after a devastating attack on Britain.

May will be asked to write the letter as soon as she takes office after being “indoctrinated” by the chief of the defence staff, Sir Nicholas Houghton, who should explain precisely what damage a Trident missile could cause. David Cameron’s letter will have already been destroyed.

As prime minister, with ultimate responsibility for Britain’s nuclear deterrent, May has to write the letter, in her own hand, giving quite detailed instructions about what the UK’s response should be in the event of a pre-emptive nuclear attack.

The letter would then be opened by the commander of the Trident submarine, who would have to assume that the prime minister was no longer in a position to take “live” command of the situation. The options are said to include the orders: “Put yourself under the command of the US, if it is still there”; “go to Australia”; “retaliate”; “or use your own judgment”.

The historian and now peer, Lord Hennessy, has observed: “The nuclear bit shakes them all. Then you realise you are prime minister, at a deeper level”.

Tony Blair, when asked to write and sign the letter, immediately went white, said onlookers. James Callaghan is said to have authorised retaliation. When John Major had to make the decision, he cancelled a weekend at Chequers and went home to Huntingdon.

Theresa’s May’s orders would be sent by special low frequency or satellite communications to the Trident submarine commander. They would first be verified by two officials in the Cabinet Office, and then two at the armed forces’ permanent joint headquarters in Northwood, northwest London.

May would be asked to sign the letter less than a week before the Commons is asked to give the go-ahead for the construction of four new Trident submarines officially estimated to cost between £31bn and £41bn. Jeremy Corbyn has said he would never sanction the use of Trident nuclear missiles.

In David Greig’s play, Letter of Last Resort, first performed at London’s Tricycle Theatre in 2012, - a Whitehall official tells a new prime minister - a woman - that “inside each Trident submarine is a safe, and inside that safe is another safe and inside that safe is an unopened letter.”

He continues: “That letter contains your orders in the event that the captain of the submarine believes that the United Kingdom has suffered a
devastating and decapitating nuclear attack .... The letter is the means by which we ensure that, even in the very last resort, the correct democratically elected hand remains on our nuclear trigger.”

This, from the BBC’s Daniel Sandford, is a delight. David Cameron had his mic on as he returned to Number 10 and was recorded humming loudly, before coming out with a purposeful “right” as the door closed behind him.

ITV’s Vincent McAviney thinks Cameron was humming the opening notes of the West Wing theme tune.

The Conservatives and Labour are not the only parties to announce significant leadership contest developments today. Ukip is also looking for a new leader and, as Huffington Post’s Owen Bennett reports, it has announced that only people who have been members for five years will be able to stand. Bennett says this rules out some key figures.

Clacton MP Douglas Carswell, party donor Arron Banks and Welsh Assembly member Mark Reckless are all unable to stand for Ukip leader under the rules, as is the currently suspended former deputy chairman Suzanne Evans.

MEPs Steven Woolfe and Diane James are eligible to take part in a leadership bid, as is former Tory MP Neil Hamilton - although he has already ruled himself out.

Theresa May’s almost-certain early arrival in Number 10 is bound to trigger calls for the UK to speed up its EU departure.

During the campaign, the home secretary said the formal process for leaving the EU should not begin until the British negotiating strategy was agreed. This meant, she said, the UK would not trigger article 50 before the end of this year.

Even before Andrea Leadsom dropped out of the race, that timetable was already too slow for the rest of Europe. European leaders are looking for the UK to trigger article 50 in the autumn, although the EU has no good legal way to force the issue.

But other EU leaders are likely to welcome the fact that May is a known quantity. As home secretary, she has been a regular and active attendee at EU justice and home affairs councils. Observers who have seen her in action say she is respected and well-informed. “She did not read from her papers,” said one source. “You could see she knows the dossier and is well-briefed.”

The British home secretary is known for taking tough positions on security issues and was a champion of the long-disputed passenger-name records database.

In contrast, Leadsom was unknown in Brussels, until she made her ill-fated bid to become prime minister. But some EU leaders would have approved of the fact she wanted to trigger article 50 immediately, giving away the UK’s strongest negotiating card at a stroke.

European politicians promised to work with whoever is the next British prime minister. “We look forward to working with whomever comes out of this democratic process,” said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, who chairs the eurogroup.

Behind the scenes, EU leaders may be glad they are dealing with a more experienced politician. Britain’s next prime minister is seen by some European papers as more in the mould of the German chancellor, rather than the populist American presidential candidate that her Tory rivals are seen as emulating. “If there is Donald Trump in Boris Johnson, there is Angela Merkel in Theresa May,” was Le Monde’s verdict.

But May will be under pressure to come up with a Brexit plan fast, not least as the rest of the EU will evolve without the UK.

Hours before Leadsom dropped out of the race, François Hollande announced a mini-tour of Europe next week, to give “new impetus to a Europe of 27”, i.e. the remaining member states excluding the UK. The French president will meet leaders in Portugal, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ireland on 19-21 July, following earlier meetings with the Angela Merkel and Matteo Renzi.

The sudden end to the leadership campaign means Britain’s next prime minister is likely to be under more pressure from the rest of the EU to act soon.

George Osborne, the chancellor, is in America. Speaking to MSNBC, he said that he expected May to become prime minister in the next few days.

She is now the overwhelming choice to be our country’s prime minister.

I have worked with her for six years. She’s got the steel, the determination, to do the job.

The economy doesn’t need uncertainty, it needs certainty.

So I think now, in the next few days, we should move to put her in the position of prime minister so she can lead the country, provide unity, and provide that direction, so that Britain is open to business, open to the world, free trading, out there taking our rightful place in the planet.

There is much speculation about what post, if any, Osborne will have in a May government. Osborne shows no sign of wanting to give up government and it is not inconceivable that he could stay as chancellor, although a move to the Foreign Office seems more likely, provided a leave Tory takes charge of the Brexit negotiations.

Here is the full text of the speech Theresa May gave this morning.

I will be posting a full analysis of it soon. For obvious reasons it has not had much attention today, but it was fascinating. I will explain why soon.

Here is an extract from Gary Gibbons’ blog about Andrea Leadsom’s announcement for Channel 4 News.

Allies say Theresa May would’ve hated a series of hustings round the country. She’d have had to play to the gallery a bit and maybe make promises to the Tory Right which she wouldn’t naturally make.

Moments before Andrea Leadsom’s announcement, one of her most ardent MP supporters was telling me that Mrs Leadsom would clear out the top echelon of Whitehall if she came to power: Mark Carney, the Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, the top EU-focused officials, “the lot,” he said.

When I asked Andrea Leadsom on Thursday about Mr Carney’s future she criticised him as lacking in impartiality, someone who’d made mistakes, someone who should be investigated by the Treasury Committee but (somewhat hard to believe) someone she would keep in post.

All those jobs look a bit more secure now.

Theresa May has just arrived back at the House of Commons.

The Fawcett Society, which campaigns on gender politics, has expressed concern about the press coverage of Andrea Leadsom. This is from Sam Smethers, its chief executive.

Andrea Leadsom was strongly criticised for her comments on motherhood and rightly so. But there is something about the way in which women in politics are judged, vilified and threatened that tells us that we are getting it badly wrong.

They are much more likely to be asked about their home life and scrutinised for what they wear. We highlighted this with our #viewsnotshoes campaign. It is a sign that some of our media still don’t treat them seriously as politicians but rather as imposters on the political scene.

Here is the text of the statement Angela Eagle read out as she launched her leadership bid (pdf).

And here is some footage from the end of her speech. Many of the journalists had rushed off to listen to Andrea Leadsom, leaving Eagle short of people to ask questions.

Theresa May’s team had invited lobby journalists to a drinks reception this evening. But, unsurprisingly, they’ve just cancelled. She has rather more important things to do - like planning a reshuffle, for starters.

The Evening Standard’s Joe Murphy thinks Theresa May could be prime minister by tomorrow.

Angela Eagle did not have much luck with the timing of her leadership challenge. But here is some video from the launch.

We have not heard yet when Theresa May will become prime minister, but there is speculation in the lobby that David Cameron will want to do one final PMQs. That could lead to May becoming PM on Thursday, and a reshuffle on Friday. But this is just speculation.

My colleague Roy Greenslade’s blog today about how the Tory press were covering Andrea Leadsom is worth reading in the light of Leadsom’s decision to withdraw from the leadership contest.

Writing before Leadsom’s announcement, Greenslade said the negative coverage Leadsom was getting was likely to get worse.

Aside from her faux pas over the motherhood matter, relevant questions have been raised about her “embellished” CV and about her apparent flip-flops over European Union membership. Then there is the important issue of her lack of political experience.

All in all, Leadsom should be a dead duck. But the editors of the blue quartet will leave nothing to chance. If Leadsom and her supporters think she can make a comeback from the negative press coverage, they should think again. They haven’t seen anything yet.

This is what Chris Grayling said about Andrea Leadsom.

Her actions this morning have shown what a principled and decent politician she is and how willing she is to put the interests of the country before her own. She is a true public servant.

He also said that Theresa May was “enormously honoured” to be entrusted with the task of being next prime minister. It was time for the party to unite, he said. May would “do everything she can to equip the country for the challenges ahead”.

Here is video of Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, making his earlier statement.

Boris Johnson has backed Theresa May for leader. In a statement he said:

Theresa May will provide the authority and the leadership necessary to unite the Conservative party and take the country forward in the coming weeks and months. Andrea’s decision, which is both brave and principled, allows that process to begin immediately. I have no doubt Theresa will make an excellent party leader and prime minister and I’m encouraged that she’s made it clear that Brexit means Brexit - that we will leave the EU. It is vital that we respect the will of the people and get on with exploiting new opportunities for this country.

Nigel Farage, the outgoing Ukip leader, has said he is disappointed by Andrea Leadsom’s withdrawal.

The Conservative MP John Redwood is on BBC News. He has just congratulated Theresa May, although he said it was a shame that the party would not have the chance to have a democratic debate.

Asked if he thought Brexiters would unite behind May, he said he thought they would.

Graham Brady told journalists explicitly, in response to questions, that he would not be reopening the leadership contest.

The Conservative MP Steve Baker, another Leadsom backer, has told BBC News that he too thinks May should be PM.

Leadsom says she has the support of less than 25% of the parliamentary party.

That is not enough to run a strong, stable government, she says.

She says she would have been privileged to be PM.

But the interests of our country are best served by having a strong PM now. She backs May, and offers her full support.

• Leadsom withdraws from the contest.

• She says that, with the support of fewer than 25% of Tory MPs, she would not have been able to run a strong government.

This is from the BBC’s Sima Kotecha.

Here is the scene outside the house in Cowley Street where Andrea Leadsom is about to make her announcement.

Angela Eagle says she is standing because she thinks she could be prime minister.

The country needs a strong Labour party, she says. Jeremy Corbyn cannot give the party the leadership it needs. “I believe I can.”

Angela Eagle is launching her challenge for the Labour leadership. But, as the Daily Mail’s Jason Groves points out, her audience has been shrinking.

My colleague Graeme Wearden says that the pound has risen on the news that Andrea Leadsom might be pulling out - but just a bit.

This is from the Labour blogger and lawyer Jolyon Maugham. He says the Conservative party rules suggest that the party would need to find an alternative to Andrea Leadsom to allow party members a choice.

It is worth noting that Leadsom’s team have now had time to deny that she is standing down - and have not done so.

If Andrea Leadsom does pull out, three things could happen.

1 - Theresa May could become prime minister very soon, perhaps even later today.

2 - May could be confirmed as party leader, but with David Cameron staying on for perhaps a few more weeks.

3 - The Conservative party board could decide to allow another candidate to enter. It would almost certainly be Michael Gove, who came third. The board could take the view that members are entitled to a choice between a leave candidate and a remain candidate.

If Andrea Leadsom does drop out of the Tory leadership contest, my understanding of the rules is that Theresa May becomes prime minister. Michael Gove came third in the ballot of MPs, but it is thought that he is definitely out of the contest.

But we are in unprecedented territory, and so it would be unwise to assume anything is definite at this point.

Guido Fawkes says Andrea Leadsom is pulling out of the contest.

Obviously we’re trying to get that confirmed ...

Q: If during the course of the negotiations the public mood changed, and people demanded a second referendum, would you grant one?

May says the people voted on this. Turnout was larger than in elections. So the people have given their instructions.

• May rules out a second EU referendum, even if the public mood changes.

And that’s it. The Q&A is over.

May is now talking about tax.

Conservatives believe in low tax, she says. But, she says, businesses do not succeed on their own. They are dependent on services paid for by the taxpayer.

(Some of this sounds like a straight lift from a famous speech by the leftwing US senator Elizabeth Warren.)

She says she wants to crack down on corporate tax avoidance and evasion.

May says workers and communities have a stake in big companies.

Two years ago AstraZeneca was almost sold to Pfizer.

She says she wants to the UK to have an industrial strategy that would stop takeovers like this happening.

May says she wants to make improving productivity a Treasury priority.

She wants more Treasury-backed infrastructure bonds.

And she wants plans to help not just Manchester, but all our great industrial cities.

May says today she will be talking mostly about the economy.

She says people feel frustrated with how little control they have over what happens.

Some taxes have gone down, but others have gone up.

There is little job security out there, she says.

It is harder than ever for young people to buy their first house.

And there is a chasm between London and the rest of the country, she says.

May stresses her desire to address inequality.

Right now, if you’re born poor, you will die on average nine years earlier than others. If you’re black, you’re treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than if you’re white. If you’re a white, working-class boy, you’re less likely than anybody else to go to university. If you’re at a state school, you’re less likely to reach the top professions than if you’re educated privately. If you’re a woman, you still earn less than a man. If you suffer from mental health problems, there’s too often not enough help to hand. If you’re young, you’ll find it harder than ever before to own your own home.

But, as I have said before, fighting these injustices is not enough. If you’re from a working-class family, life is just much harder than many people in politics realise. You have a job, but you don’t always have job security. You have your own home, but you worry about mortgage rates going up. You can just about manage, but you worry about the cost of living and the quality of the local school, because there’s no other choice for you.

She says she wants a society that works for everyone.

Saving Labour, the group trying to recruit people into the Labour party to vote against Jeremy Corbyn, has put out a statement this morning saying it hopes to get the Labour membership up to 1m. Here’s an extract.

Labour party membership is less than 1% of the population, and Tory Party members – 0.2% of the population – will decide our next prime minister. A generation ago 3.5m Britons were members of a political party. Today the figure is nearer one million.

We want people from all walks of life to join our campaign and help us save Labour by joining as a registered supporter or a member.

Here is some Twitter comment on Diane Abbott’s Star Wars simile.

From the Guardian’s Rafael Behr

From the Guardian’s Marina Hyde

From the Telegraph’s Asa Bennett

Angela Eagle has submitted her leadership challenge papers with Labour’s general secretary, she told reporters outside her home this morning.

Ellie Reeves, a member of Labour’s national executive committee, is consulting party members on Facebook on what they think about whether Jeremy Corbyn automatically being included in the leadership ballot.

It is worth noting that the phrase “keeping Corbyn off the ballot” has now become contentious. (See 9.41am.) This is from the Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, who is not Corbynista.

(Actually, interpreting the rules in that way does have the result of “keeping him off the ballot”, but you can see the point Bradshaw is making.)

Harriet Harman, Labour’s former deputy leader, told the Today programme this morning that she thought Jeremy Corbyn should have to obtain the backing of 51 MPs or MEPs (20% of the total) to stand again in the leadership contest. She told the programme:

The reason is because the leader needs to lead an alternative Labour government so that people in the country who are suffering what the Tories are doing in this country can look and see that there is an alternative Labour government. And nobody is saying, you know, that Jeremy Corbyn can’t enter the contest but he can’t say ‘I’ve got the right, once having got elected with the support of Labour MPs, now that I’ve failed and I’ve lost the confidence of those Labour MPs, I’ve got the right to carry on, come what may’.

The rules are clear about anyone challenging for the leadership needing the 51 signatures. But there is a dispute about whether they mean that a serving leader, if challenged, also needs the support of 20% of MPs or MEPs to be on the ballot.

Harman said it would be ridiculous if Corbyn were to go to court to challenge any decision to keep him off the ballot.

The idea that the leader of the party, having lost the confidence of Labour MPs, then takes the national executive of the party to court is just more dysfunction upon more dysfunction and the party is suffering.

She also rejected the suggestion that Labour MPs, who passed a motion of no confidence in Corbyn two weeks ago, did not give Corbyn a fair chance.

I think there are some Labour MPs who never supported Jeremy and expected him to fail and might now be saying ‘I told you so’; there are actually the overwhelming majority who, having not supported him, would still have wanted him to succeed and there are also those who voted for him and strongly supported him who have now lost confidence in him.

It is difficult to lead and he’s shown that, whilst nobody is saying he’s a bad man, he is not a leader.

It has emerged that Andrea Leadsom apologised to Theresa May by text. “Theresa was very grateful for the message and thanked Andrea for it,” a spokesperson for May said.

Here is the Guardian’s Chilcot report podcast. It’s a recording of a Guardian live discussion of the report featuring Paul Johnson, the Guardian’s deputy editor, Major General Tim Cross, Emma Sky who served in Iraq as a political adviser to the US army, Ewen MacAskill, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor from 1999 to 2006, and Sir William Patey, UK ambassador in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Christine Shawcross, a leftwinger who is on Labour’s NEC, told the Today programme that she thought the Labour rules were clear and that, as a serving leader, Jeremy Corbyn would not have to get 51 nominations to enter the leadership contest. She said:

The only reason we are having this argument is Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents want to keep him off the ballot paper because that’s their only hope of winning. When he’s on the ballot paper he will win.

The surge in membership was down to many of the £3 members who voted in the last leadership election converting to full membership, Shawcross said.

A lot of the membership increase we’ve seen in the last few weeks is those registered supporters signing up as full members, which is what the intention always was, we want full members of the Labour party.

Shawcross said if Corbyn were to win again, that would have to be respected, but dismissed the idea that the party could split, saying she still believed he could lead Labour to a general election victory.

I don’t think it’s about Jeremy’s leadership qualities, people are politically opposed to him. He’s brave, he’s honest, he’s principled, he doesn’t back down under pressure, they sound like good leadership qualities to us. I just hope everyone comes together.

When Tony Blair was leader I had to put up with it despite there being things I didn’t like, the invasion of Iraq being chief amongst them. You just have to accept a democratic decision.

Diane Abbott is obviously pleased with her simile, because she has been tweeting it.