tonight at ten... penny mordaunt, leader of the commons, becomes the first to confirm she is running to become conservative leader and prime minister. she's the first to declare but two others — former prime minister borisjohnson and former chancellor rishi sunak — have nominations from mps. well, i think penny is the unifying candidate. you know, she is a robust brexiteer, she's a highly experienced and competent government minister. keeping a low profile a day after resigning — now liz truss�*s defence secretary suggests he'd like her predecessor borisjohnson back as prime minister. he got a mandate and that's an important thing for all of us to bear in mind. we'll see what happens. of course, unity is also important. you know, i'll be looking for how the candidates are prepared

to bring the party together. we'll be looking at the week ahead as the conservative party chooses its third leader in three months. also on the programme... the social care system in england is gridlocked says the watchdog — with staffing shortages a major factor. as president putin inspects his troops we report on the growing anger inside russia that men with no military experience are being called up and sent to the front line. and the japanese cartoon characters being recreated for the stage by the royal shakespeare company — breaking box office records in the process. and coming—up on the bbc news channel... scotland are on the brink of elimination at the rugby leaue world cup after losing heavily to favourites australia in their second match.

good evening. in a week's time or less, the uk will have a new prime minister — and penny mordaunt, leader of the house of commons has become the first conservative mp to say she is running to replace liz truss. no other mp has declared yet — but both borisjohnson and former chancellor rishi sunak have nominations from other mps. mrjohnson, who left office just over six weeks ago following a series of scandals, including infringing the law, has told an ally tonight — "we are going to do this, i'm up for it." other mps, such as suella braverman, who quit as home secretary this week, and the international trade secretary kemi badenoch, are also considering whether to run. they each need the backing of at least 100 colleagues to do so. whoever wins becomes conservative leader and the next prime minister

but opposition parties are calling for a general election. our deputy political editor vicki young has this report. i will remain as prime minister until a successor has been chosen. thank you. once again, there's a vacancy at the top of government. liz truss�*s resignation means conservatives now need to choose their fifth leader and prime minister in just over six years. but can anyone now unify a party that seems to have lost its way? cabinet minister penny mordaunt thinks she can, today launching her campaign with a tweet and saying she offered a fresh start. supporters think she'd bring competence to thejob. i think penny is the unifying candidate. she is a robust brexiteer, she's a highly experienced and competent government minister. penny's already indicated that, should she become prime minister, jeremy hunt will remain as chancellor, so she's absolutely not going to do anything that risks businesses or the markets. remarkably, this man is being tipped

by some for a comeback. yes, borisjohnson, who was ousted in july after a series of scandals including lockdown parties. he's been weighing up his options while on holiday in the dominican republic. this photo was taken last week. senior figures are offering support. at the moment, i would lean towards borisjohnson. in 2019, he won a general election with a huge majority and he was legitimately sent into parliament as the prime minister based on the vote of the whole electorate, notjust on tory members, notjust on members of parliament. he got a mandate and that's an important thing for us all to bear in mind. mrjohnson is, of course, still being investigated by mps over allegations that he lied to parliament about parties in downing street. one tory said it would be "catastrophic" to bring him back. plenty of others are appalled. he was forced out by dozens of resignations only a matter of weeks ago. it's very hard to believe that he could put together a stable government, as far as i can tell.

it is a risk we cannot afford to take as a party and not one we should inflict on the country. morning, mr sunak. momentum is building behind the former chancellor, rishi sunak, who lost to liz truss last time. he wasn't saying anything today but friends say his predictions about the economy were spot on. i am backing rishi sunak, because i think he is able to take us forward. i think his economicjudgement has been shown to be absolutely correct. i think he can unite the party by bringing all the talents, if you like, into the government. the problem is rishi sunak was rejected by conservative party members not very long ago. i think they might want, in the light of experience, to revisit that. unity is what conservative mps keep talking about, but putting aside their differences and agreeing on a leader without a contest, that was always going to be a remote possibility. even the suggestion today that borisjohnson might stand has reopened old wounds. and all this going on while the country faces difficult economic questions.

liz truss is on her way out. her brief, unsuccessful spell in charge has made her successor�*s job a lot harder. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. let's speak to our political correspondent damian grammaticas at westminster. where do things stand tonight? in the last few minutes, the rishi sunak campaign are saying they believed they now have 100 publicly declared supporters among mps for him. that is the crucial mark. his campaign and his supporters are trying to paint him, they say, as a serious person for serious times. the bbc has been running its own tally of public support and declarations. penny mordaunt is the only one so far who has put her name in the ring. a short time ago, the bbc had heard about 20 or so declarations of support and her backers are trying to position her

as a sort of centre candidate who they say could unify the party, but many eyes this evening on a flight potentially leaving the dominican republic, perhaps bring about boris johnson here. one of his supporters saying he is coming home and he is “p saying he is coming home and he is up for it. they believe he is an election winner who could try and help them hold on to their seats, but that prospect is proving very divisive in the party. it's not clear how it will go down with the markets, but if you sense, former leader william hague said today it would be the worst idea he has heard of in his 46 years. he said, if borisjohnson were to come back, it would lead to a death spiral for the proxy. —— for the party. damian, many thanks. so, as we follow the process of electing a new conservative leader and prime minister — what is the timetable for the week ahead? nominations opened yesterday and it's the 357 conservative mps in parliament who nominate their choice of leader. the bar has been set high

deliberately to make the process speedy — a candidate will need 100 nominations from fellow mps. they have until 2pm on monday to do so, and we'll know the results shortly afterwards. if there are two with 100 nominations, mps will have an "indicative vote" to decide which one they prefer. but, if there are three with 100 nominations — and bear with me here — mps will vote to whittle them down to two. that result will come at 6pm on monday, and mps will then hold their "indicative" vote on the two candidates left. the result of that is given at 9pm and then the party membership of about 170,000 will vote for the two candidates. the result of that vote will be announced a week today. so what do the conservative membership make of this second leadership contest in as many months? our correspondent navtej johal has spent the day speaking to people in morley in west yorkshire.

are these among the people who will decide the identity of our next prime minister? they helped choose the last one. so who here voted for liz truss last time? charles, lalit and alan are conservative party members who we're meeting in morley in west yorkshire. do you have any regrets? not really, because what's happening now is not all her fault. who will you be voting for if you get a vote this time round? i would like to see a joint boris and rishi ticket. if rishi runs, which i hope he does, i think he has a responsibility- to run, then potentially rishi. there's a lot of senior members are backing borisjohnson — i just saw some of the tweets — and that makes sense. penny mordaunt, who declared she was running this afternoon, was not mentioned by these members. how certain are you that you want a say in this? i think, in an ideal world, yes, members would get a vote, but it's important that the process is concluded swiftly. if it comes down to anybody other than rishi sunak, - i might say i would like

to vote, yeah. - how do you think the conservatives would fare in the next general election? well, i think pretty badly at the moment. it's not a great state of affairs, is it? so that's why i think it's important that the leadership candidates, they get it settled quickly. i don't think we need a general election, particularly in these trying times. if there is a general election thisl year for whatever the purpose is, i believe that the conservative - members are, our conservative mps will have elected the right - candidate and the conservatives will fare well with a strong, steady government. - conservative party members may well get a say in who our next prime minister will be but, for now, the general public will not. but many of them who we've been speaking to today also want a say. should we have a general election? yes. i'd say yes. yes, yes, definitely. yeah. can't leave it up to them lot, they don't know what they're doing. i'd be happy with l a general election. why is that? because then we actually get a say.

like, last time i didn't get a say and she resigned. . oh, yeah, definitely, we should have a general election now, yeah. all my life, my family have always been labour up to the last election, but with boris we voted conservative. but i won't vote again for conservative. would you like to see a general election? no, 100% not. why not? because, at this moment in time, it would be a landslide victory for labour, which i don't want to see. for now, they won't have a say. but the next prime minister will need their support to survive. navteonhal, bbc news, morley. the new prime minister — whoever it is — will have an in—tray full of huge challenges. the economic situation is significantly worse than it was when liz truss took office. higher mortgage rates, energy bills and inflation are combining to make it a really tough winter for many people. the nhs and social care system is struggling, and the war in ukraine, which is driving those high energy bills, continues to grind on.

our business editor simonjack takes a close look now at state of the economy. neil mackay runs this hardware store in cambridge. his customers still come in for diy essentials, but he's noticed they're holding off on bigger—ticket items, and he's having to absorb higher costs to keep his prices down. we cannot pass on all of the price rises that our suppliers are charging us. if we did, we simply wouldn't sell them. it's all about people's confidence, and they simply are being very careful with the way they spend money at the moment. and neil's experience tallies with the latest official figures, which show that retail sales fell 1.4% in september. for the first time, we are buying less than before the pandemic. now, while consumer spending is falling, government spending is rising. in september alone the government borrowed £20 billion — that's the second highest number

for september on record, and interest on government total debt rose to nearly £8 billion. that's nearly twice what the uk spends on defence per month. and the interest rate of government borrowing has quadrupled nearly since the beginning of this year, from just over 1% to 4% now. now, most of that is due to rising rates worldwide, but some is due to the after—effects of a mini budget that rattled international confidence in the uk — you can see that spike there on the right—hand side — which is why government had to backtrack and still they have to cut spending and raise taxes. the new chancellorjeremy hunt has announced that over 30 billion of those tax cuts will not be going ahead, but the government still faces a higher cost of borrowing than what was expected prior to the mini budget and there are still question marks about how it will make its plans add up over the medium term. now, those potential spending cuts or tax rises come at a time when inflation is at over 10%.

it's putting the biggest squeeze on household incomes since the 1950s, and remember the government has also reversed its decision to limit energy bills for all for two years. it's now only guaranteed for six months, which means millions of household incomes could see their bills double after april, which will take even more money out of the economy. we may get a new face or new faces in downing street, but the economic challenges remain the same and they are enormous. simonjack there. the number of disabled and elderly people who can't leave hospital because there isn't any social care provision for them in the community is increasing. it means the health and social care system in england is gridlocked, according to the care quality commission, which regulates it. the cqc says staff shortages are one of the main reasons. there are 300,000 unfilled jobs — more than half of them in social care. it says half a million people are waiting

for council care services. and three in five patients end up stuck in hospital waiting for support in the community. here's our social affairs editor, alison holt. the realities of the gridlocked health and care system described in today's report by the regulator are being felt in many places in england, including here in north yorkshire. all right, mum, here's your lunch. and for those who need support and their families, that can be a nightmare. mamie once travelled the world with her husband. i liked walking and dancing. yes, i've had a good life. now, at 91, she has mobility problems, dementia, and being in her own home is important. i'm very happy here. and i've got my two daughters that look after me as well.

but earlier this year, mamie was stuck in hospital for five weeks because the council and her daughters couldn't find the four care visits a day she needed to come home. i think it's dreadful. i think it's absolutely dreadful. you know, a lot of people have worked all their lives, have paid into the system. and we deserve to make sure that our elderly are looked after. according to the care quality commission report, the shortage of health and care staff in england is now alarmingly high. that means at this nursing home in whitby, most of the time they have to say no when a hospital asks them to take a patient. are you ready for handover? ken is one of four nurses — ideally, they need six. in the terms of the last four weeks, we have people on annual leave, so i've been doing 60 hours. and you think i'm doing four night shifts and two day shifts — my only time off is actually a sleep day. how long can you keep doing that? not long.

it's been empty, ready for when the staff arrive. the home's boss has rented this house for staff recruited from abroad. but he says bureaucracy means after ten months, he's still waiting for their arrival. to solve the staffing crisis, he believes care work must be valued as much more than a minimum wagejob. social care must not be forgotten. we've got to now tackle the funding and recruitment straight away. the challenge, i think, is that carers need to be on a par with the nhs. that's 15 or £16 an hour. that's a long way off from where we are now. the government says its own plans for health and care address the priorities highlighted by the qcc and that it is putting extra money into the recruitment and training of staff. alison holt, bbc news, whitby. the labour mp for chester, christian matheson, has resigned after a parliamentary watchdog recommended that he be suspended for serious sexual misconduct. two allegations against mr matheson by a former member of his

staff have been upheld. he admitted he had committed a minor breach of the code but expressed his dismay at being found guilty of several allegations. there's growing anger in russia over the forced mobilisation of men to fight in the war in ukraine. president putin had said the call—up was a temporary measure, but today the kremlin refused to say when it will end. as russian forces struggle to hold territory in ukraine, men with no military experience are being sent to the frontline to fight, and often to die. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, reports. this is the picture the kremlin is trying to paint. putin, the strongman... ..the caring commander—in—chief. and russians lining up to do their patriotic duty,

mobilised to fight in ukraine. these alleged recruits are well—equipped. but these aren't. for weeks now, mobilized russians have been complaining of a lack of resources and training. these men say they've been given old guns and no helmets or body armour. mobilisation has sparked deep alarm in russian society. this human rights group is giving advice on what to do if your loved ones are sent to the front line. as you can see, it's packed. the kremlin says that more than 200,000 reservists have been called up to fight. with mobilisation, what is happening in ukraine has suddenly become very real for the russian public. now, the kremlin wants russians to believe that those people who've been drafted into the army are being sent off to defend the motherland. but not everyone here believes that. the voice belongs to mikhail ashichev. 500 miles from moscow,

he told the local military draft office he wasn't going to fight because there was no threat to russia. mikhail insists that if russia truly needed defending, he would rush to volunteer. he considers himself a patriot, but he doesn't believe in this war. he won't fight ukraine. translation: when mobilisation was being discussed, i agreed - with my family that if such a situation arose, i would refuse, even if they sent me to prison. if i had to, i would choose prison. the state will consider me a criminal if i don't go to fight in this war. but i won't be a criminal from the point of view of humanity or myself. after his refusal to fight, mikhail has received some abuse on russian social media.

but what is interesting is that he's had plenty of support, too, for his decision to take a moral stand. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the former us president, donald trump, has been ordered to testify to lawmakers investigating the attack on the capitol building last year. the legal summons says mr trump was "at the centre of the first and only effort by any us president to overturn an election". he could face criminal charges if he does not comply with the subpoena. our north america editor, sarah smith, is in washington. what does the subpoena compel donald trump to do? well, it is demanding that he hand over all sorts of documents, including records of phone calls, text messages and other communications and that he hand all that in by the 4th of november. it

also compels him to turn up and give evidence in person, under oath in front of the committee on the 14th of november and it says that the session could last for several days. donald trump has apparently said that he would consider giving testimony to the committee only if he can do all of it live on television. in fact, he can do all of it live on television. infact, it he can do all of it live on television. in fact, it is much more likely that he will try to fight the subpoenaed through the courts in what could be a lengthy legal battle and that would matter because remember there are mid—term elections here in the beginning of december and if the republicans take control of congress they will disband the january six committee anyway and so it would become a moot point about donald trump turning up. another thing that happened today very interestingly was related, remember steve bannon, one of donald trump is my closest allies. well, he was sentenced to four months in jail today because he ignored a sabena from the same committee. he will appeal the verdict but it is interesting to see what can happen to people who try to refuse these.

sarah smith, many thanks. now a look at some other stories making the news today. police have confirmed that a body found in the loft of a house in milton keynes is that of the teenager leah croucher. the 19—year—old disappeared in february 2019. thames valley police said a postmortem examination was inconclusive as to the cause of death. covid—19 infections in the uk have risen above two million for the first time since july, although levels are not rising in all parts of the country. meanwhile, the uk health security agency has suggested that cases of flu have risen across england, with more people who have the virus needing hospital admissions. italy's far—right leader giorgia meloni has formally accepted the job of forming the next government. she will lead the country's most right—wing administration since world war two. meloni will also be italy's first female prime minister. the grand slam champion simona halep has been provisionally

suspended from tennis after testing positive for a banned substance. the wimbledon 2019 winner said she had tested positive for the drug "in an extremely low quantity", adding she would "fight until the end". in his party conference speech, the leader of plaid cymru has called for a general election, blasting the "greed and personal ambition" of the conservative party. adam price also focused on outlining a set of measures which plaid would use to ease the cost—of—living crisis, with independence still part of the long—term vision of the party. with more, here's our wales correspondent, tomas morgan. with stormier tides rocking westminster, llandudno shores were calmer today as plaid cymru began their conference. leader adam price was echoing calls for a general election and found time to denounce the tories in his speech. the thought of borisjohnson,

the comeback clown, flying home from his caribbean holiday to save us is a symbol, isn't it, of the depths to which british politics and westminster has now plummeted ? but the main focus was on measures to curb the cost of living, capping energy bills at £1,200 and freezing railfares among the headlines. yet costings on that vision were vague. are we going to freeze profits, the huge profits of the energy companies, or are we going to freeze, you know, people? well, i guess you have to got say how you are going to do it. how are you going to do it? well, having a proper windfall tax. the party has had success as part of a cooperation agreement with the welsh labour government, but its momentum as a whole has perhaps slowed in recent times. i think it's fair to say that the party has stagnated in recent years and they find it very difficult to be heard on the uk level. at a time when the waves

of political turmoil and a squeeze of the cost of living is dominating people's minds, plaid is a party struggling to get their voice heard. the difficulty for a party with no majority in wales or westminster is fighting orfinding a place in such unsettled times. tomos morgan, bbc news, llandudno. it's one of japan's greatest cultural exports — the oscar—winning studio ghibli's distinctive animated feature films have a host of devoted fans across the globe. now, in a world first, its animated movie my neighbour totoro has been adapted by the royal shakespeare company for the stage. our culture editor, katie razzall, has been to the barbican in london for an exclusive peek of the production, which has puppetry at its heart. it's just an old house. there is no sign of totoro in our sneak preview of this show. the rsc is keeping the mysterious

creature befriended by two children under wraps. the only puppets on the stage right now are the so—called soot sprites. working with puppets is so much fun. they're so funny and they are so cheeky, a lot of them, and they really do have a life of their own. you're talking about them like they're real people. yeah! my neighbour totoro has never been staged before but, for more than 30 years, this hand—drawn animation has been one of the most—loved films to have come out of japan's equivalent of disney, the renowned studio ghibli. with legions of global fans, there's a lot riding on the new show, not least how to replicate the magical furry totoro. this is our backstage puppet workshop, where we're... puppet designer basil twist, who devised the dementors in the harry potter films, isn't giving much away. so you're showing me chickens.

i want to see totoro. right, well, you'll see chickens for now. we're still keeping totoro under wraps so that people can find the surprise of him when they come and see the show. there are clues from los angeles, where basil created the totoro puppet and others, with the company behind the muppets, jim henson, in a real east meets west collaboration. i would keep in touch with the japanese as i went, and they're very specific about totoro's eyes need the distance between his eyes and the shape of his head and how that works because, once you come into a three—dimensional world, it's very different than a 2d world. what's not different is the music and the man behind it, the celebrated japanese composer who persuaded the studio to allow this adaptation showcasing japanese heritage for a new audience. we have our own music, our own culture, so this is very important for me. to show the world. yes.

you saw the production last night. what did you think? great show, spectacular. so there is a daunting aspect of bringing something totally new and the adaptation of it being new on the stage. to be bringing this treasure ofjapanese culture to the stage, yeah, it's been one of the privileges of my life. we all love the film. i mean, most of us grew up with it. please, get well soon. but will this magical fantasy cast a spell on theatre audiences, as it has on screen? katie razzall, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. well, we saw this beautiful autumn scene, but this is today. we saw some areas of rain in places that were desperate for it. over an inch of rain in oxfordshire, moving up to

dorset and into parts of the east midlands. there is more to come this weekend. quite an eclectic mix with a little bit of everything. further showers and thunder and some sunshine. it could be windy and it will be warm so a little bit of everything as we go to the next couple of days. this is the story at the moment. plenty of showers but starting to thin and ease away. still some across parts of oxfordshire and into the midlands as well. over the next few hours, they will start to fade away and we will see another line of persistent showers across north wales and into northern ireland. gradually nudging towards the scottish borders. cloudy further north and mild for all of us. look at these temperatures first thing in the morning. it will be a mild start. it will be sunny. not a bad day on saturday for england and wales. it of a nuisance, this rain,

and slow—moving as it