Voting begins in race to become next prime minister

Voting starts in Tory leadership contest

At 10:00 BST, voting will begin on who will replace Theresa May as prime minister. There are 10 candidates, all of them Conservative Party MPs – and it is their fellow Tory MPs who will vote today.

Candidates need at least 17 votes to stay in the race. Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Sajid Javid, Dominic Raab and Jeremy Hunt are expected to make it. Matt Hancock, Rory Stewart, Andrea Leadsom, Mark Harper and Esther McVey have less support – for now, at least. The result will be announced around 13:00. Next week, MPs will vote again until two candidates remain. Then, Conservative Party members will have the final say.

Read a run down of the candidates here, and compare their Brexit policies here.

Police sorry over football coach abuse case

Police have apologised to six victims of football coach Bob Higgins for the way their case was handled in the 1990s. Higgins has been sentenced to 24 years in jail for indecently assaulting 24 boys. But six other victims were told their allegations could not reach court, because the claims were part of a 1991 case against the coach. Their lawyer is now calling for “double jeopardy” laws to be changed.

British man gives frostbitten toe to bar

A former British commando has donated his severed toe to a remote Canadian hotel. Nick Griffiths lost his big toe to frostbite while competing in an extreme winter marathon in 2018. Mr Griffiths has now sent it to the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City – home of the Sourtoe Cocktail. The cocktail’s famed ingredient is another mummified human toe. A local saying goes: “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips must touch the toe.”

Boris Johnson and the art of Brexit compromise

By BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg

The reason why Boris Johnson is, at the moment, clearly out front in this race is because although you might love to hate him, or hate to love him, he is almost impossible to ignore.

When he spoke on Wednesday, the room was full of Conservative politicians from a party that has spent the last three years knocking lumps out of each other and strikingly, they were from both wings.

There were hard-core Eurosceptics and properly convinced Remainers, all there supporting Mr Johnson.

It was notable too that he was plain that leaving with no deal was not his desired outcome, even though he has suggested to some of the Brexiteer parts of his party that he would pursue that course of action gladly.

Does trying to square off former Remainers who are desperate to avoid the turmoil of no deal, and Eurosceptics who are resolute that it must be a genuine option remind you of anyone?