• UK politics Boris Johnson withdraws from Tory leadership race after surprise entry by Gove

    • Michael Gove says Johnson 'cannot provide leadership required'
    • Theresa May launches 'one-nation' campaign
    • Jeremy Corbyn expected to face Labour leadership challenge

    • Slovakian foreign minister 'I will support any measure to stop Brexit'

    • Labour MPs divided over how to depose Jeremy Corbyn

    • Panel verdict How will Johnson’s departure change the Tory race?

       

      Boris Johnson says he is out of Tory party leadership race after Gove challenge – live

      Follow live coverage and get the latest news as leadership elections in Britain’s main parties get under way in earnest
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      Boris Johnson rules himself out of Tory leadership race
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      Severin Carrell
      The bloc of 13 Scottish Labour MSPs who have backed demands for Jeremy Corbyn to stand down includes two former Scottish party leaders - Iain Gray and Johann Lamont - who both resigned after suffering humiliating election defeats, and Anas Sarwar, formerly deputy leader under Jim Murphy and once acting Scottish Labour leader.
      Their decision to support the Corbyn rebellion en masse, following party leader Kezia Dugdale’s lead from yesterday, opens up a schism inside the Labour group at Holyrood.
      Three leftwing colleagues - deputy leader Alex Rowley; Nick Findlay, a former leadership hopeful; and former GMB official Richard Leonard - issued their own joint statement backing Corbyn earlier on Thursday. Earlier this week, Corbyn was backed by the only openly pro-Brexit Labour MSP in Holyrood, Elaine Smith.
      Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale with Jeremy Corbyn and London mayor Sadiq Khan at a Remain event the day before last week’s EU referendum.
      Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale with Jeremy Corbyn and London mayor Sadiq Khan at a Remain event the day before last week’s EU referendum. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
      The new anti-Corbyn letter refers to the rebellion against his leadership at Westminster: “As parliamentarians, and the elected representatives in a parliament representing millions of people - including Labour voters - across Scotland, we would expect any leader to reflect seriously on such a substantial vote of no confidence. As Kezia Dugdale rightly said, if she could not command the confidence of 80% of her Labour Group then she would consider her position...
      “[It] is deeply regrettable that we have to make such a statement, but for the good of the party and, more importantly, the country we believe Jeremy Corbyn, who is a principled man, must do the right thing and allow the party to once again provide effective opposition and regroup as a credible party of government.”
      The other signatories include Jackie Baillie, Claire Baker, Claudia Beamish, Neil Bibby, Mary Fee (Scottish parliament Labour group chair), Mark Griffin, Daniel Johnson, James Kelly, Lewis Macdonald and Colin Smyth.

      Peter Walker
      Energy minister Andrea Leadsom
      Energy minister Andrea Leadsom has about 10 backers so far in the Tory leadership race - some distance behind Theresa May. Photograph: Matt Frost/Rex/Shutterstock
      With the first vote to whittle down the five Conservative leadership candidates to two coming on Tuesday, the five hopefuls are frantically wooing fellow MPs for support.
      Michael Gove, the surprise last-minute entrant to the race, spent Thursday meeting colleagues to persuade them to back him, with a series shifting their support from the departed Boris Johnson to him, including Dominic Raab, Nick Boles and Jacob Rees-Mogg.
      Theresa May was also busy gathering pledges of backing. A Guardian interim tally of which Tory MPs had publicly backed the five candidates showed May was by far the leader with about 70 supporters.
      Gove had little more than a dozen backers, though more than 30 former Johnson supporters had yet to reveal their new choice. About half the 330 Conservative MPs had said either nothing or promised to consult constituents and ponder the various candidates’ merits before deciding, so this total seems set to rise.
      Stephen Crabb, the work and pensions secretary, was also doing well, with about 20 MPs saying they would back him. The other two candidates are lagging behind: Andrea Leadsom, the fiercely pro-Brexit energy secretary, has about 10 backers; Liam Fox, the other hopeful, had just four – the MPs who had nominated and seconded him, and two others.

      Kwasi Kwarteng.
      Kwasi Kwarteng MP. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian
      Several Tory MPs have been speaking to Channel 4 News.
      Kwasi Kwarteng switched his support from Boris Johnson to Theresa May, accusing Michael Gove of “student politics”. The MP for Spelthorne added: “I think Michael Gove has behaved in an extraordinary way. I feel very let down.”
      Jacob Rees-Mogg, who switched from backing Johnson to Gove, told Channel 4: “I think [Gove] wanted to support Boris and decided he couldn’t. I think people in politics are entitled to change their mind.”
      Meanwhile Nadhim Zahawi, who had been a prominent supporter of Johnson, also switched his support to the home secretary. In a Huffington Post article he said: “I have been convinced today by Theresa May that she is the one to deliver. This is a time for experience, and Mrs May has the most of those on offer.”

      Anushka Asthana
      Lisa Nandy speaks at the Labour party conference in Brighton last September.
      Lisa Nandy speaks at the Labour party conference in Brighton last September. Photograph: Mark Thomas/Rex Shutterstock
      Labour MPs have been urged to contact the police about threatening behaviour amid reports that the attempted coup against Jeremy Corbyn has resulted in some politicians receiving death threats.
      Sarah Mulholland, the parliamentary Labour party’s director of political services, writes in an email: “It is clear that some of our MPs are currently experiencing abuse and threats. As per the security briefings, this information should be passed to the police immediately.”
      She says the party wants to monitor the situation so is asking MPs to pass on information. In the note, seen by the Guardian, she acknowledges that many Labour MPs are facing a challenging time.
      Vicky Foxcroft MP revealed that she had been threatened with violence if she refused to back Corbyn, Lisa Nandy said that colleagues had been bullied and harassed, while John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, responded to complaints by urging supporters not to protest outside MPs offices.

      Author and former Telegraph journalist Robert Colville gets a football analogy into the mix:
      — Robert Colvile (@rcolvile) June 30, 2016
      Until recently, it would have been as crazy to bet on a Tory leadership shortlist w/out Boris and Osborne as on Leicester winning the league
      Jeremy Corbyn - who is still the Labour leader in case you were wondering - was engulfed in a fresh row over Israel earlier today when he appeared to compare the government of Binyamin Netanyahu to Islamic extremists. His comments came at the launch of an independent review into antisemitism in the Labour party.
      Paul Waugh, the Huffington Post’s politics executive editor, tweets:

      The European parliament building in Strasbourg, France.
      The European parliament building in Strasbourg, France. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
      Europe now has yet another reason to grumble about the UK’s Brexit vote: it has prompted credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s to cut its credit rating for the European Union.
      S&P Global Ratings said it was lowering its long-term rating on the European Union from AA+ to AA after the vote to leave triggered “greater uncertainty” over the EU’s revenue forecasting, long-term capital planning and adjustment to key financial buffers.
      The agency said it had to review its “previously favourable opinion of solidarity within the EU” from positive to neutral because its previous view was based on all 28 member states remaining inside the EU. The outlook was stable despite the “greater uncertainty”, S&P added.
      Updated
      Holly Watt
      In Wroclaw in west Poland, the UK’s Brexit decision has been met with bewilderment and regret. Szymon Rozwadowski, a 25-year-old welder, said he had been shocked by how British politicians had fought the Vote Leave campaign.
      “It feels like the British politicians lied and none of them actually wanted to leave, but they won anyway. I hope people realised that the politicians didn’t care about them, just their own careers,” he said.
      Rozwadowski said he was also surprised by the political response in the week since the referendum: “Now Cameron has put down the whole thing and run off. Everyone has run off. It was a democratic choice, though, and that is important.”
      Michal Draszanowski, 27, a bank worker, said that his friends had been shocked by the British vote and were now concerned that the EU might break up. “We were all very surprised. The British people didn’t think about the long-term effects. I think the decision will affect us all and it is very sad,” he said.
      Rafal Bielewicz, 28, a colleague of Draszanowski, said that he hoped that European leaders would work together to resolve the situation. “It was not a good decision by the UK at all,” he said. “I think they voted without thinking about the effects, for Europe or the UK.”
      Rafal Bielewicz
      Rafal Bielewicz. Photograph: Holly Watt for the Guardian
      “It is very bad for Poland because a lot of people travel to Britain and now they may have to come back to Poland,” Bielewicz added. “It is important for Europe to work together, because of the political situation, but I worry that everything could be destroyed now.”
      Ilona Krlol, a 32-year-old florist working at her stand in the town square said that she was concerned for her friends and family in England. Arranging flowers for a bouquet, she said that her Polish friends in the UK were worried about their future in England.
      Ilona Krlol
      Ilona Krlol. Photograph: Holly Watt for the Guardian
      Krlol was astonished by reports that people were trying to find out the implications of voting to leave Europe only after they had cast their vote: “People voted to go out and then they were trying to work out what it means,” she said. “You look at them and you say, ‘What are you doing?’”
      With Johnson out of the race, Theresa May appears to have built a commanding lead in winning the support of the 329 Tory MPs to become the next Tory leader and thus prime minister. She and her four rivals – Michael Gove, Liam Fox, Andrea Leadsom and Stephen Crabb – have until Tuesday to drum up support.
      Whichever of the hopefuls proves least popular is eliminated until just two remain from whom the wider Conservative party membership will choose. Bookmakers make May the odds-on favourite to be the next PM, with Gove the clear favourite to be her rival. Fox is set to win the fewest backers, behind Leadsom and Crabb.
      Theresa May arriving for her campaign launch this morning.
      Theresa May arriving for her campaign launch this morning. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
      Here’s a list of MPs whose allegiances have been verified by the Press Association so far:
      Theresa May (42 MPs):
      Peter Aldous, Lucy Allan, Stuart Andrew, Caroline Ansell, Edward Argar, Harriett Baldwin, Karen Bradley, Robert Buckland, James Cartlidge, Damian Collins, Tracey Crouch, Byron Davies, Mims Davies, Caroline Dinenage, Mike Freer, Edward Garnier, Mark Garnier, Nusrat Ghani, Chris Grayling (Proposer), Justine Greening (Seconder), Oliver Heald, George Hollingbery, John Howell, Ben Howlett, David Jones, Brandon Lewis, David Mackintosh, Alan Mak, David Mundell, Mike Penning, Claire Perry, Chris Philp, Sir Eric Pickles, Mark Pritchard, Amber Rudd, Julian Smith, Sir Nicholas Soames, Anna Soubry, Mark Spencer, Caroline Spelman, Maggie Throup, Stuart Andrew.
      Michael Gove (7 MPs):
      Michael Fabricant, Andrea Jenkyns, Daniel Kawczynski, Nicky Morgan (Proposer),
      Dominic Raab (Seconder), Ed Vaizey, Shailesh Vara.
      Stephen Crabb (10 MPs):
      Alun Cairns, Sajid Javid (Proposer), Johnny Mercer, Mark Pawsey, Chloe Smith (Seconder), Gary Streeter, Julian Sturdy, Craig Williams, Mike Wood, Jeremy Wright.
      Andrea Leadsom (9 MPs):
      Steve Baker, John Baron, Julian Brazier, Penny Mordaunt (Proposer), Anne Marie Morris, James Morris, Tom Pursglove, Martin Vickers, William Wragg (Seconder).
      Liam Fox (2 MPs):
      Robert Goodwill (Proposer), Scott Mann (Seconder).

       

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