Evening summary
Here’s a round up of the key developments from today:
- Tom Tugendhat has been knocked out of the Tory leadership race after only receiving 31 votes in the third round of the vote. The results for the other candidates are as follows: Kemi Badenoch received 58, Penny Mordaunt got 82, Rishi Sunak got 115 and Liz Truss received 71.
- The government has won tonight’s vote of confidence with 349 in support. Meanwhile 248 MPs voted that they don’t have confidence in the government. This result was expected given had Conservative MPs voted that they had no confidence in the government, an early election would likely had to have been called.
- Boris Johnson has defended his three years in power during a combative speech that hinted at a “deep state” plot to drag the UK back into the EU when he leaves office. He said some people think his departure will prove the end of Brexit. He urges his party to prove them wrong.
- Although Keir Starmer’s speech was largely focused on Boris Johnson, as well as attacking the prime minister, he also attacked the Conservatives for electing him in the first place, and for sustaining him in office for so long. Labour fears that, once Johnson leaves, the Conservatives will recover some of their popularity. For Starmer it is important to ensure that opprobrium attached to Johnson sticks to the Tories too
- Sky News announced it cancelled the Tory leadership debate planned for tomorrow night after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss said they would not take part. Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the Conservative party, exposing disagreements and splits within the party, Sky News said.
- The government’s emergency committee, Cobra, has been meeting to discuss how to handle the heatwave, but Boris Johnson has not been chairing those meetings himself. At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson defended his decision to leave it to a junior colleague.
- One of the biggest shocks of the day was Kemi Badenoch, the former equalities minister, firmly, for the first time, committing to the UKs climate commitments and saying she would not row back on net zero. She previously disparaged the target, causing alarm among green Tories.
- Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, has written to Nadhim Zahawi, challenging him to provide more clarity about his tax and financial affairs.
- On Wednesday next week Guardian Live is hosting a discussion on who will be the next Conservative leader. The panel includes my colleagues Jonathan Freedland and John Crace, and Salma Shah, a former special adviser to Sajid Javid. Full details of the event, and how to get tickets, are available here.
We are closing this liveblog now. Thanks so much for joining us.
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Updated
The government wins confidence vote
The government has won tonight’s vote of confidence with 349 in support.
Meanwhile 248 MPs voted that they don’t have confidence in the government.
This result was expected given had Conservative MPs voted that they had no confidence in the government, an early election would likely had to have been called.
Updated
