Liam Fox, Andrea Leadsom and Stephen Crabb complete the line-up for the leadership election.
Angela Eagle did not announce her bid for the Labour leadership as expected.The party has gained some 60,000 new members in the past week, bringing the total to about 440,000 - more than at level in 1997.
The launch of a report into antisemitism in the Labour party has been overshadowed by criticism of Jeremy Corbyn, who was accused of comparing Israel to Isis.
David and Samantha Cameron at Il Posto restaurant. Photograph: Rick Findler/PA
As the five candidates for the Tory leadership sought to win support from MPs tonight, David Cameron and his wife Samantha popped into Il Posto on Vauxhall Bridge Road near Victoria station for a spot of dinner. He had earlier attended a memorial service to commemorate the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey.
The PM declined to comment on Thursday’s twists and turns in the race to succeed him.
No word, either, on what the Camerons ate at the Italian restaurant, which - according to its website - was established in 1892. “The ambiance (sic) is friendly and relaxed,” it also notes. “A favourite haunt for locals and visitors.”
If you’re looking for a laugh - if that’s quite the right word - take a stroll back through Boris Johnson’s Twitter account, full of gems like this one:
Theresa May is at the US ambassador’s London residence, Winfield House, for the annual Fourth of July celebration tonight. I ask her if she’d give Boris Johnson a job in her cabinet. “I’m not offering any jobs at the moment,” she replies.
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. 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.
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 MP. Photograph: Martin Godwin/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.”
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