this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm tim willcox. our top stories: borisjohnson is no longer conservative leader but will stay on as caretaker prime minister. in his announcement, not a word about his mistakes. he blamed his colleagues instead. as we have seen at westminster, the herd instinct is powerful. when the herd moves, it moves. and, my friends, in politics, no—one is remotely indispensable. we'll take a look at who might replace borisjohnson, as the list of potential candidates grows by the hour. and how this resignation is being seen beyond the uk. we'll examine the global reaction to borisjohnson�*s downfall.

also on the programme — an injured rafael nadal withdraws from wimbledon, missing an opportunity to achieve a new grand slam record. and the american actorjames caan — best known for playing the gangster sonny corleone in the godfather — has died at the age of 82. hello and welcome to the programme. borisjohnson is no longer leader of the conservative party, but he's still british prime minister — following an extraordinary day at westminster. shortly after 12.30pm this afternoon, he walked out of the door of number 10 to confirm he will resign as tory leader and that he intends to stay in charge until a successor is chosen. many of his colleagues, along with opposition parties,

are deeply unhappy with that and have called on him to go immediately. remember, this time yesterday, mrjohnson was insisting he would not stand down. but after the avalanche of resignations over the past 48 hours, today, everything changed. our political editor chris mason begins our coverage. at breakfast time, there was talk of a constitutional crisis, a prime minister who wouldn't budge, and more and more ministers resigning. butjust after nine o'clock, news borisjohnson would resign today. this, the most powerful street in the country, suddenly packed. those arriving for work here capturing the moment, too. at lunchtime, a lectern. those normally inside, outside — an audience awaits. and then a moment at once personal, political, and constitutional.

hi, everybody. it is clearly now the will of the parliamentary conservative party that there should be a new leader of that party, and therefore a new prime minister. so, i want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019, many of them voting conservative for the first time, thank you for that incredible mandate. and the reason i have fought so hard in the last few days to continue to deliver that mandate in person was notjust because i wanted to do so, but because i felt it was myjob, my duty, my obligation to you, to continue to do what we promised in 2019. he fought hard and lost, his cabinet and his party abandoning him, but listen still to his defiance. in the last few days, i've tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we're delivering so much.

this was boris johnson forced to articulate that his imagined future here was being crushed. the boy who dreamed of being world king, ejected. as we've seen at westminster, the herd instinct is powerful, and when the herd moves, it moves. and, my friends, in politics, no—one is remotely indispensable. i know that there will be many people who are relieved, and, perhaps, quite a few who will also be disappointed. and i want you to know how sad i am to be giving up the bestjob in the world. but them's the breaks. that's life, mrjohnson acknowledging, a painful personal moment, a splash of history unfolding, too. being prime minister is an education in itself. i've travelled to every part of the united kingdom,

and in addition to the beauty of our natural world, i've found so many people possessed of such boundless british originality, and so willing to tackle old problems in new ways, that i know that even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden. thank you all very much. what a moment. a man who won a big majority at a general election just 2.5 years ago is going, humiliated by his party, the borisjohnson era will soon be over. liar! few are indifferent to borisjohnson. a primary colours prime minister provoking colourful reactions to the near end. a great man brought down. that is all i can say at the moment, thank you. the country will rue this day. they will regret it - like they did with thatcher. this will be a mistake.

but plenty of others within the conservative party and beyond think borisjohnson should be standing down as prime minister pretty much immediately, and notjust as conservative leader. the former prime minister sirjohn major is among them. in a letter, he wrote... sirjohn suggested that the deputy prime minister could take over for a bit, or a caretaker prime minister could be drafted in. would theresa may fancy it? laughs: look, i don't think... from everything i hear, i don't think there is going to be a caretaker prime minister in the sense of somebody else coming in to do that role. and what does an opposition party

leader do on a day like this? one option is to smile and go and watch some tennis at wimbledon, having said this about borisjohnson... he needs to go completely, none of this nonsense about clinging on for a few months. he's inflicted lies, fraud and chaos in the country, and, you know, we're stuck with a government which isn't functioning. there will be an overwhelming - and very widespread sense of relief | today that boris johnson's time | as prime minister, which should probably never have been allowed to happen in the first place, - is coming to an end. the problem is the conservative party, conservative mps, have stood by him for so long. they propped him up, they enabled him to fail to lead our country properly, and my heart goes out to the millions of families and pensioners who have not

been helped properly because his government has been so incompetent. attention now turns to those who aspire to come next in downing street, a fourth prime minister in a little over six years. are you going to make a bid for the leadership, sir? - there's the former chancellor. the foreign secretary liz truss is likely to be in the picture. and perhaps the former cabinet ministerjeremy hunt, too, among others. a beauty pageant to lead the country is onlyjust beginning. and after the intrigue and anguish, plotting and resignations, a leader departs, soon—ish. 0ur political editor chris mason. the process of selecting a new conservative leader effectively begins now, with the exact timetable to be decided by the leadership of the 1922 committee of backbench conservative mps. there's no shortage of names already being talked about, as our political correspondent ben wright reports. at cabinet on tuesday, borisjohnson was circled by possible successors. some have been campaigning quietly for months, eyeing up the topjob, waiting for the gun to be fired.

you could be hearing a lot from these names over the summer. the next prime minister will be picked by the tory party and it's likely to be a crowded field, with no obvious frontrunner. so who might enter the race? well, there's rishi sunak, chancellor of the exchequer until he quit on tuesday. he is believed to be putting a leadership team together, but some tory mps are cross he didn't cut taxes. sajid javid has stood for leader before and was the first cabinet minister to resign this week. the foreign secretary liz truss has never hidden her intentions. she voted remain in 2016 but has been a fierce defender of brexit ever since. the grassroots seem to like her. penny mordaunt is a royal navy reservist and defence secretary under theresa may, now widely thought to be gunning for the topjob. and there's nadhim zahawi, appointed chancellor this week and ambitious — as they all are. the government's top legal officer, suella braverman, has already

put her hat in the ring and was gently teased about it by labour... and can i say what an honour it is to be at this despatch box facing the next prime minister, as she awaits her call from the palace? i know the right honourable lady loves to degrade these question sessions to petty politics. i'm not going to lower myself to her standards. the list goes on — there's a lot of chat about ben wallace, the defence secretary. and grant shapps, the transport secretary, is also seriously considering a run for leader. then there are the dark horses. backbencher tom tugendhat launches his leadership bid in tomorrow's daily telegraph. and then there are more. i've had enough experience within government to know i can chair the meetings and lead the people, i have the ideas, i can mobilise secretaries of state to do what needs to be done. i'm absolutely confident, if i seized power, i'd do a good job. borisjohnson plans to stick

around as prime minister, while tory mps and party members plough through the process of picking a new leader. but the rules for this election are not nailed down yet, and there are tory mps who want to see mrjohnson out sooner. i think what we need to do is appoint a caretaker, this weekend, somebody who won't run to be leader. i really worry, otherwise, we're going to get into a febrile hotjuly coronation of somebody in a hurry. and are you going to have a crack at it? no, i won't be running, but i will be working this summer to make sure we get the right person. this is crucial. we're in the last chance saloon. this party's packed with talent. the public haven't seen enough of it. restoring some calm after the chaos, rebuilding trust in political standards. the candidates will argue about the direction of the tory party, but they will all agree the culture of leadership has to change. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. joining me from westminster is uk political correspondent ione wells. she has been leading a lot of the breaking news on this story over the

past 48 hours. ione, let'sjust look the timeframe also is there a realistic chance the party could come up with two names, perhaps, before the summer recess, or is that just too optimistic which all that is certainly a possibility. the timetable still yet to be confirmed, really. irate timetable still yet to be confirmed, reall . ~ ., , . ., , really. we are expected to be confirmed _ really. we are expected to be confirmed next _ really. we are expected to be confirmed next week - really. we are expected to be confirmed next week after - really. we are expected to be l confirmed next week after that powerful backbench committee of tory mps, the 1922 committee, meets to establish it. the expectation is those initial stage of happen quite quickly. her member that, first, any hopeful leadership candidates need to get supportive enough tory mps and get through the first stages, then the crucial test. getting the vote of tory party members. whoever wins that battle, of course, then becomes the new consumer party leader and then the —— conservative party there and then by default the new prime minister. the exact timeframe is unclear, but as we've heard and some of my colleagues

reports just then, there are some tory mps not happy with how long this is going to take. this is not the end of borisjohnson�*s discontent yet. there are some of his tory colleagues today saying he should gone immediately and an interim leadership and appointed. this comes, after days of days of extreme resignations, from mps across the board, there are some who feel he does not feel he has the authority to captain the ship once it has sunk. authority to captain the ship once it has sunk-— authority to captain the ship once it has sunk. ~._ ., ., , it has sunk. theresa may, who was defenda stranded _ it has sunk. theresa may, who was defenda stranded before _ it has sunk. theresa may, who was defenda stranded before him, - it has sunk. theresa may, who was defenda stranded before him, she| defenda stranded before him, she lobbied against —— he lobbied against her... lobbied against -- he lobbied against her. . ._ lobbied against -- he lobbied against her... lobbied against -- he lobbied auainst her... ., ., against her... the debate raging at the moment _ against her... the debate raging at the moment is _ against her... the debate raging at the moment is about _ against her... the debate raging at the moment is about what - against her... the debate raging at the moment is about what the - the moment is about what the logistics are going to be about in the next couple of days, things could move very quickly once that timeframe is established. as i say, certainly what we know this evening is that is the expectation, that by

the summer, we live candidates battling out against each other, with an expected new leader by the end of the summer recess. qm. with an expected new leader by the end of the summer recess. 0k, lone, thank ou end of the summer recess. 0k, lone, thank you very _ end of the summer recess. 0k, lone, thank you very much. _ there's been huge international reaction to borisjohnson's downfall. let's start with the white house press secretary. 0ur alliance with the united kingdom continues to be strong. none of that changes. there's reaction from the european union too. the eu's former chief brexit negotiator michel barnier tweeted... ireland's prime minister

micheal martin said... borisjohnson has found friendship in ukraine in recent months. the uk was the first european country to send arms to help it resist russia's invasion. and ukraine's government remains grateful for his support. earlier, president zelensky posted this on telegram, saying that he's. .. —— saying that he expressed his... borisjohnson is also popular with the ukrainian people. let's invite him to be our own prime minister. so, i think that his popularity here is even bigger than

the popularity of the ukrainian prime minister, for sure. borisjohnson, welcome to ukraine. you are the best, you are the best. welcome to our fast food. laughter maybe they should think about having their wedding party in ukraine! a very different mood in russia. the speaker of the russian duma said... a spokesperson for the russian foreign ministry said... usually at this time, you'd be watching karishma vaswani in singapore — and she'll be back with newsday in just under an hour's time. as we did yesterday, we wanted to catch up with you, karishma, and

find out what the reaction had been in asia now given the events of the last 24 hours?— in asia now given the events of the last 24 hours? yeah, tim, certainly not the same _ last 24 hours? yeah, tim, certainly not the same enthusiasm _ last 24 hours? yeah, tim, certainly not the same enthusiasm we - last 24 hours? yeah, tim, certainly not the same enthusiasm we heard | not the same enthusiasm we heard from folks in ukraine, and no official comments yet, i have to say, from asian governments in this region, but you would not expect them to comments because that is not really their style. but i think would really has raised eyebrows and concern is just how much of an impact a political crisis all the way in the uk is having on the rest of the world, and there is been a concrete example of this already. there is a foreign ministers meeting taking place in bali, indonesia, which liz truss, the uk foreign secretary, had to pull out of abruptly so she could head back home and deal with matters there. now, the sort of stuff just and deal with matters there. now, the sort of stuffjust underlines what many asian officials often privately tell me, that western governments like the uk and the us are simply too distracted with their

own political infighting to actually seriously sort out any of the pressing global issues that they should be inking about, things like ukraine, the cost of living or the rising influence of china in the region —— thinking about. and just before i go, tim, i want to point zoning out to you that coverage in india has been very vocal about the number of british politicians of south asian descent who might be in line for thejob, rishi sunak, like you are talking about a moment ago, sajid javid as well. you are talking about a moment ago, sajid javid as well.— sajid javid as well. karishma vaswani. — sajid javid as well. karishma vaswani, thank _ sajid javid as well. karishma vaswani, thank you - sajid javid as well. karishma vaswani, thank you very - sajid javid as well. karishma - vaswani, thank you very much indeed. more from karishma in about 40 minutes' time. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: the american basketball player brittney griner pleads guilty to drug charges in russia, but denies deliberately breaking the law. we'll have reaction

from the white house. central london has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks. police say there have been many casualties and there is growing speculation that al-qaeda was responsible. germany will be the host of the 2006 football world cup. they pipped the favourite, south africa, by a single vote. in south africa, the possibility of losing hadn't even been contemplated, and celebration parties were cancelled. a man entered the palace through a downstairs window and made his way to the queen's private bedroom. then he asked herfor a cigarette and — on the pretext of arranging for some to be brought — summoned a footman on duty, who took the man away. one child, one teacher, one book and one pen i can change the world. education is the only solution. applause

this is bbc world news. our latest headlines: borisjohnson has resigned as conservative leader. he will continue to serve as caretaker prime minister until the party chooses his successor. let's move away from politics briefly to another big story in the uk. rafael nadal has withdrawn from wimbledon after failing to recover from an abdominal injury. here he is speaking earlier. well, unfortunately, as you can imagine, i am here because i have to pull out from the tournament now. as everybody saw yesterday, i have been suffering with the pain with the pain in the abdominal. i know something was not ok there,

as yesterday i said. and, yeah, that's confirmed. i have a tear in the muscle, in the abdominal, so the communication is too late. because even like that, i was thinking through the whole day about the decision to make, but i think it's... yeah, i think it don't make sense to go. and even if i try it, a lot of times during my career, to keep going under very tough circumstances, in that one, i think it's obvious that if i keep going, the injury's going to be worse and worse. disappointing news for his fans there. 0n the court at wimbledon, it was the women's semifinals. tunisia's 0ns jabeur has become the first arab and first african woman to reach the wimbledon final.

she clinched her spot with a three—set victory over tatjana maria on centre court. she won 6—2, 3—6, 6—1. the world number two will now face 17th seed elena rybakina on saturday. she has become the first playerfrom kazakhstan to reach a grand slam final, after she beat simona halep in straight sets. foreign ministers from the g20 — the world's largest economies — are meeting in bali, to address disruptions to global food and energy supplies caused by the russian invasion of ukraine. russia's top diplomat, sergey lavrov, his us counterpart antony blinken and the chinese foreign minister are all attending. 0ur correspondent jonathan head has the latest. this is the first time since the invasion of ukraine that the us secretary of state would find himself in the same room as his russian counterpart, making for some awkward choreography. the us side insists there is no possibility of a formal meeting between the two. and, remember, this isjust a preliminary here at this gathering to the three big summits scheduled

in this region for later this year, to which presidents biden and putin are both invited. and the us can hardly afford to boycott those meetings because it's struggling right now to regain the ground it's lost in recent years in influence to china, particularly here in the asia—pacific. so the talks scheduled between antony blinken and the chinese foreign minister, wang yi, are perhaps the most important part of this meeting. the us says it's hoping to establish what it calls "guardrails", to stop their currently fractious relationship from veering into outright confrontation. china, of course, has steadfastly refused to back the tough us stance towards russia over ukraine. jonathan head. russia's president vladimir putin says he's barely started in his invasion of ukraine and has dared the west to try to defeat his forces. he's been speaking to senior lawmakers — where he had this warning. translation: everyone should know that we have not - really started anything. at the same time, we are not

rejecting peace negotiations, but those who are rejecting them should know that the further it goes, the harder it will be for them to negotiate with us. the american basketball player brittney griner has pleaded guilty to drug charges in a russian court, but has denied deliberately breaking the law. the olympic gold medallist was detained in february at an airport near moscow, when cannabis oil vape cartridges were allegedly found in her luggage. cannabis oil is illegal in russia, and the charges mean she is facing the possibility of ten years in jail. her lawyer has been speaking outside the court in moscow. she is a responsible person and she admitted that it was her�*s. but she said that it was unintentionally brought to russia, because she was in a hurry as she was packing, and it was just by accident it ended up in there.

that was her lawyer speaking in moscow. there's been reaction in the us too. here's the white house press secretary. we believe that the russian federation is holding, has wrongfully detained brittney griner and she is in intolerable circumstances right now. and we are going to do everything that we can — the president has this on top of mind — to make sure that we get brittney home safely. the american actorjames caan — best known for playing the gangster sonny corleone in the godfather — has died. he was 82. caan was nominated for an oscar for his role in francis ford coppola's classic. he also starred in the psychological thriller misery, the action film thief and, more recently, the comedy elf.

james caan, who has died. that's it for now. more for me and the team on the website. hello there. despite cloud dominating the weather story this week, we've been promising you sunshine. well, we gradually got there in the end on thursday. after a cloudy start, we had beautiful blue sky and sunshine by the middle of the afternoon. not quite the case, unfortunately, in the far northwest, in highland scotland. still some pretty grey cloud around. and in actual fact, this weather front�*s still going to sit there throughout the day on friday. high pressure is building in and it will gradually drift its way a little bit further eastwards and dominate the scene over the weekend, but it does mean some drizzly rain first thing in the morning to the northwest of scotland and the far north of northern ireland. as we go through the day, there will be plenty of settled, sunny weather. with light winds, temperatures are going to respond quite quickly,

so highs of 21 degrees in eastern scotland, 24 perhaps into the midlands, 28 celsius the high — that's 82 fahrenheit — somewhere in the southeast. we now have to start thinking about uv, which will be high or very high. and we haven't seen that for some time, so that's certainly worth bearing in mind if you're going to be spending any time outside. now, as i say, that high pressure just shifts its position a little into the weekend. and areas where we've seen some low, grey cloud stubbornly sitting in the far north and west, still there on saturday but slowly improving as the weekend progresses. perhaps the cloud just retreating to the extreme north. more sunshine coming through. again, light winds for all of us, and again those temperatures responding, likely once again into the high 20s for many. so that means a warm night to come through saturday night into sunday morning. it means a repeat performance on sunday — again, dry, settled and sunny. and once again, those temperatures responding. so we might see that cloud breaking up a little more into the far northwest of scotland.

here, temperatures 16—20 the high, but highest values likely of 29 or 30 celsius somewhere in the southeast on sunday. now, it looks likely that that high pressure is going to continue to stay with us for the next few days. again, still, those weak weather fronts a bit of a nuisance for a time, but then it builds in and settles things down quite nicely. so as we go through the week ahead, some cloud from time to time in the far north. dry, settled, sunny and still pretty warm for all of us. some people will see temperatures into the low 30s.

this is bbc news, the headlines. the uk's prime minister borisjohnson has confirmed he is resigning — after losing the confidence of dozens of his colleagues in government. he will remain in office, but only in a caretaker role, until a replacement is chosen. some members of his conservative party have called for him to step down immediately. but it's being reported that his successor may not be in place until september. senior conservative politicians are considering whether to run for the leadership. but two previous candidates, dominic raab and michael gove, have ruled themselves out. in international reaction — russia said mrjohnson had been antagonistic and belligerent. the irish prime minister said there's now a chance to reset strained relations with the uk.