through the day, some sunshine following on behind, sunshine as well as was the north of scotland, should state many driver much of the day here but we have sunshine and further showers to again heavy and thundery and pushing in from the south—west later in the day. hello, this is bbc news. the former chancellor rishi sunak looks is set to officially enter the conservative leadership race after securing the backing of more than 100 mps. rivals of borisjohnson dismiss claims by his allies that he's also reached 100 backers, with speculation rife he could enter the contest. the leader of the commons, penny mordaunt, is the only person to formally announce that she's running, but has fewer supporters. in other news — ukrainian officials say around a million and a half households are without power following a new wave of russian attacks.

and england's lionesses will face china and denmark at next year's women's world cup in australia and new zealand. now on bbc news, newscast. this programme was recorded on thursday. chris, even if they had not looked at any news today i would be able to tell instantly it was a big news day because you've got newsroom pizza three quarters eaten on the pizza. i'm not even sure what that green stuff is. that is a jalapeno. a bit exotic for me. ijust had a slice outside and was feeling a little bit tired after the last few days and there was this massive hit of spice or something hot which is just what i kind of needed. anyway, the reason we get to newsroom pizza is is of the big news day and everyone is tied to the news and does not have time to go out and get lunch or dinner as we are working very late and surely you know what the big news is. liz truss has announced she is resigning as tory leader and prime minister after 44—ish days

in the job and that is what we're obviously going to discuss on tonight's episode of newscast. newscast on the bbc. it is adam in the studio. it is chris in the studio discovering thatjalapenos are hot. it is alex in the studio, pizza—less. you know what? we have lived through so many of these big momentous days, i'm sort of running out of words to describe what they are. what have you opted for today? it is time for my two favourite verbal cousins of blimey and crikey. they deserve an outing on a day like this. the thing is, don't know if you to have been struck by this if you two have been struck by this but there is one thing talking about the increasing possibility of something happening as we have been doikng the last couple of weeks, but to actually see it happen, you know, a prime minister who has been

in the history books for all the wrong reasons from her perspective, out within six weeks and two days or seven weeks and three days as it will be by a week tomorrow. i mean, isjust astonishing. it did feel we were on this trajectory because the unrest had been boiling and all the rest of it in the tory party. there were chaotic scenes on wednesday night when mps were confused over votes and loads of anger this morning, but i was still struck by the speed at which it actually happened when it happened, if i'm honest. even though it felt like it was an inevitable trend towards this, the moment, i was still like, blimey, crikey. that was a blimey and a crickey sorry, chris. i pinched your words. the past few years have taught me the conservative party,

when it thinks somebody is a dud, they get rid of them but they don't tend to get rid of them that quickly. remember borisjohnson was entering dud territory for quite a long time rid of him and then it was sort of quite bizarre, the serious combination of circumstances that finally that to them ejecting him. i was surprised, on wednesday night the questions of who is in the lobby and the manhandling and the whip. i thought that is just a bit of chaos. that's not necessarily an existential thing that would lead to liz truss announcing her resignation but clearly that was the straw that broke the camels back. broke the camel's back. what do you think it was? i think it was a combination. there are loads of things, but by the end of last night ijust thought, she can't put this back in the bottle now. it is just impossible. that did not mean she was going to go today, and in fact, about an hour before it all happened i was thinking the six o'clock news piece is a bit tricky. not a lot is happening. nobody is talking, it's all a bit tricky. and then boom, it suddenly goes like that and now we find ourselves thinking what comes next? two words and a '?" borisjohnson? that is the live topic now. have you heard mps saying

they want him to come back? yes and others who say absolutely not. and, of course, the biggest challenge anyone but borisjohnson will face is the idea they would not have their own mandate, didn't win the last election and he did. but it is seven weeks on. and that is a problem, isn't it? the biggest problem for their parliamentary party and the party were brought then i was going to be about how they come back together after everything that has happened and there are a lot of people i talk to say borisjohnson is not the unity candidate. he is divisive and, you know, yes, he has the mandate but we have the support of the parliamentary party? but will he have the support of the parliamentary party? and to be honest i don't think there is a clear unity candidate that so far has cropped up. there are people who have more hope than others, have had more hot than others but not an obvious one. have popped up more than others but not an obvious one. there is one thing we do know

that is the rules for how this contest will work. so graham brady, chairman of the 1922 committee, the keeper of the rulebook, although the rules are never written down, they change every time. so he said, to actually get on the ballot paper, for the vote amongst mps, you have to get 100 people at least nominating you and there is only 350 something tory mps so that is a maximum of three to start with. they will whittle them down to two and have a vote for this is down to two as a sort of signal to the mps then they will vote. only if one doesn't drop out. of the mp5 get down to one, and it is possible, if only one candidate gets more than 100 mp5 backing them, could have a new prime minister by monday. this could be over very, very quickly or could run down to the wire which is next friday. much quicker than the last leadership contest. right. it is a big day to be discussing big things in british politics and we have got a big figure to discuss them with because as luck

would have it we had pre—arranged to have a chat with kier starmer, the leader of the labour party. here is what we discussed with him just mere minutes after liz truss had made her big announcement. hello. what a day. that is one way of putting it. we're calling it 2:30 to and it is just happened in the last hour or so. the prime minister will be a different opponent for you to face. it will be another opponent - and we're burning through prime ministers and chancellors, we are running _ through him secretaries. and that gives it an - element of soap opera. but it is notjust a soap opera and this is, you know, - | for many people, who are facing | higher prices, higher mortgages, this is real damage _ that is being inflicted on them. real damage to our economy- and our reputation around the world and that is why i really don't think

that another revolving door- of chaos, another experiment at the top of the tory party i is the way out of this. there is an alternative — - a stable labour government. the public are entitled to a say in this, and you've been out. and about, a lot of people coming up to me and saying, we _ can't go on like this. this is embarrassing. we do need to do something about it and shuffling the next one _ in at the top of the tory party for another experiment - is not the way forward. the thing is, you know we live in a parliamentary democracy and if a prime minister can command the majority of the house of commons they have a constitutional right to serve until the parliamentary term runs out. well, yes. but we are in unprecedented times. we have not been through a change of prime minister like this— ever in our history. change of personnel- at the top of the tory party. none of the government functions can actually operate _ because the personnel. are changing so quickly. and, you know, we really are seeing damage done to the economy. - in end it boils down to this, doesn't it? | for tory mps, do they put their party first or do - they put the country first? and if they sit there and say,

"well, we've got a majority. were going to do this _ in the interest of the conservative party" than i'm afraid they're putting party first and not. the country first. the wrong way round as far as i'm concerned. i where were you when you heard she was resigning? i was four minutes away from victoria coming upj and having just spoken. i did a speech this morning in brighton for the tuc. - we finished in brighton, . did various bits of meetings and interviews there and then came up and the news came _ through as we were travelling that there was going to be . a statement and then we arrived sort of coming into victoria at 1.30 - and that is where was. were you watching on a phone with a dodgy signal because there is not good signal at that station? we had an iphone were sharing earpieces around the team - that was travelling with me - so that is how we heard the news. you have said many times you think there should be a general election and you want a general election

but to be totally blunt about it, how can you get one? you can't, it's not within your power. that depends on tory mps. the not going to vote for one right now? many of the massing behind i the scenes they want a change of government and their own party i are such a mess they are totally. embarrassed by it but ratherl than sort of briefing that out, they should actually do somethingj about it and let the country decide that after this mess, - this infliction of damage, i think the vast majority— of the public would say i'm actually entitled to a say - in what comes next. you can't change pm four times in three years and leave - the public out of it. do people know you well enough? if there was an election sooner rather than later, a lot of people are going to wonder who you are, aren't they? i don't think that is right, chris. i accept the proposition that if you are in opposition, - it is quite hard to get heard, -

and the beam of the lighthouse, if you like, only comes _ round so often under the opposition but it came round unto us- in our conference in september, and so that bema was shining on us, and what it illuminated _ and so that beam was shining on us, and what it illuminated _ was a labour party that has changed, labour party to govern and has got. a credible plan for the about how we make our economy work - for working people. you must have allowed yourself to imagine in the last few weeks as you've seen the conservative poll ratings go through the floor and yours through the roof. you must imagine, this might happen, you might become prime minister. don't say you don't believe the polls. anytime we're down in the polls it is my fault and every time - we are up, it is somebody else's. all that is baked in but, look, -

of course it does seem different now and i think the big change in the labour party, - and you'll have seen this, you know it was like at our conference, - we have always had a hope of winning but now there . is a belief of winning. can you believe that, given the mountain you talked about that you had to climb which is accurate given the scale of your defeat last time? can you believe where you are now? or even if you knock a bit off your lead and the margin are still pretty big. i don't want to be complacent - and have lectured the shadow cabinet that complacency is our enemy, and that we must act _ as if we are behind in the polls. at all times, but i was very clear from the very start - that there were three bits to the job i had to do. the first was to change our - labour party and that we weren't in a position to set out a plan l for the future until we did that. we did that. a lot of people were frustrated and wanted me to move - forward more quickly. i wouldn't do that until

we changed the party. | the next bet was to - expose the government is being unfit to govern. we have done that bit. the government have ably assisted in that bit - and the third bit is to say, what is the alternative? . that is what this - conference was all about. that has been achievedj in two and a half years. that is hard graft. it is a reflection of what we have in those two and a half years - and now we are in a position to, you know, look at the country, i return their gaze with confidence. they can see we are a changed party. we've got a plan for the future to build the economy- for working people. it is a straight choice - and we should get on with it. if you do become prime minister, get the election you want, you are going to inherit a really difficult economic situation without a doubt. yes. there would be a strain on the public finances, are you nervous about it? the first thing we have to do is stabilise the economy. - the first thing that requires is us. to be clear about respecting some of the institutions like the office for budget responsibility, - because we have to show- that we believe in the framework,

the safeguards that actually allow us to proceed - with the degree of stability. that is job number one. we're then going to have to have to take difficult decisions. - i don't believe in austerity, and even a month ago, - we were not talking about cuts. if we'd done this podcast a month ago, we would not be talking - about cuts to public spending. that is a direct result- of the kamikaze mini budget. i don't believe having run a public | service for five years that further| cuts to public service would allow to have public services that - are delivering anythingl meaning for the public. but i do think we're going to have to make difficult choices. - does that worry you? on a personal level do you think that you would be nervous about taking on the job of that magnitude? isn't that political speak for putting peoples taxes up? because bond markets have shown that everything has to be paid for when you want to spend loads

of money on things like the green transition to have to raise billions of extra money means tax rises? let me take both of those. coming at you from all angles. no, it it does not make me nervous. that's what leadership is about. not concerned about having to take another difficult decision. _ it is not code for tax or spending it is actually code... _ it was spelt out, really, at our party conference| because i said thisl a number of times. we may not be able to do some l of the things we were about to do as quickly as we want to do. have you got a manifesto ready to go or is it being bashed out on a laptop and a back bedroom somewhere? at the beginning of the summer i said to my team, i want - a manifesto ready to go - from september onwards in case there is an election. it's in a filing cabinet? there is a manifesto _ that is going to be ready whenever an election is called but also i i put my teams onto a general election footing and added that... hasn't it got to go through the whole clause five process thing? of course.

at it will never be completed until i go through that part . of the process but i didn't - want to find myself in a position i where general election is called l and we start from scratch so have had a team working on that. i had a team working on general election preparedness _ and we moved our teams - onto a general election footing, and i've got and the print i need for a general election so very, l and i've got all the print i need for a general election so very, i very prepared should - there be a general election. you've got your diary pre—populated for what you would do when. people criticise me for being - prepared, being serious and not | being flippant and having enough tomfoolery but that is what i am. i think this is serious. running the country is serious and therefore, you know, - as i would expect, my mojo, we have prepared. _ we are carefully preparing - for what might happen and were not going to be in a situation where, should the tip into a general- should this tip into a general election, which, of course it. should, we are not ready for it. one of the other criticisms who have levelled at you is that you are quite boring, to be frank. a polling company asked the british public to give their view

of you and the word was boring. i know you have addressed this proviso that boring isn't was a bad isn't always a bad thing when it comes to government, but show people you are not. what is it you want people to know about you that they don't know? a couple of things about that. this whole round of- questioning are so tedious. you could call it boring. honestly, no. i meet community leaders, i meet trade unions, - ceos of huge businesses and they are all serious i about talking about what you are to do in government? _ none of them are saying tell us a one—liner, kier. - but people need to be able to relate to you. i know i talk to a lot of people and they do want politicians and leaders that they feel they can relate to, so i don't mean it to be flippant. the most exciting thing i'm| going to today see my kids. honestly that makes me excited. but anyone listening, - if i get the chance and i can go to the arsenal game tonight with my boys, it would be i really great for me. be in the stands with. him watching arsenal.

given what has happened today, that may or may not happen. . that is exciting for me, i want to see my kids, i i want to see my wife. and i think, for most people, i if you asked them the one thing they like to do today and the most exciting thing, and one _ of the options was see your kids most people would say- that is what i would like to do. i would have a glass of wine. you're going to the arsenal match, would you be wearing an arsenal shirt we have to go like that depending on time? i i will go injeans and a t—shirtl and there is a whole group of us that go and have the same seats. do you have a nickname for the group? we meet in the pub. it is called match day, it's a whatsapp group| and there is banter in there about what is going on. - do you have a pint,

a shandy, lemonade? i pint, banter, walk down to the game. | do you go to that pasta place in the corner or do you get a kebab? there is a pub i always go to, because i can take the kids, i but they have stopped doing pizzas. a bit of a fix there. what you think about football grounds hosting pop concerts? i've seen more lady gaga concerts in tottenham than football matches. my wife is mad about coldplay. absolutely mad. for me, it's arsenal, j for her it is coldplay. it was absolutely brilliant, yeah, really fantastic. - we met chris martin. is he a labour supporter? put that to him. very diplomtic. he sang with great - gusto after he met us. did he ask to see you or was it the other way around? it was a bit of both. this was really for my wife. meeting chris martin is like me

meeting a top footballer. - meeting thierry henry. it is absolutely amazing, - and so we were lucky enough to meet him at that concert, - but that was at wembley stadium. i think we saw them at arsenal as well. i chris martin is accused of being boring but he has the last laugh because he's a multimillionaire and fills stadiums across the world. an interesting parallel! yeah. i if exciting as having a kamikazel budget that crashes the economy and puts 500 quid on peoples' . mortgage payments, i'd be quite interested in a poll- on whether people want that kind of interesting. i am already the boring one in the group, i have already established that. laughing. but to put it back to the politics, sorry, sorry. who would be the toughest opponent for you to the people who might... i know what you're going to say...

i really don't care. jeremy hunt has ruled himself out. suella braverman? look, i honestly don't mind - who they put up because i don't think thatjust having a change at the top of the tory party - is the change that we need. there are people, you will all do it and say, kier will be better up- against this person of that person. against this person or that person. idon't mind. i'll have them in my sights and i will challenge them i in the same way challenged boris johnson and liz trussl but i don't want to face... i've been labour leader for two and have years and this - is my fifth prime minister. this is not the way we do things in this country. . we are a stable country with a stable economy. and a good reputation and, i you know, one of my concerns is if you go around the world, only a few years ago, - people used to look to britain, the uk, as stability, _ the place you would look for pragmatic answers i to difficult questions. at the moment, because of this government's actions, - we are a laughing stockl and i find that offensive. that is not a party political point. i do not want my country to be

laughed at around the world i because of the soap opera of this tory government. _ chris has got to go. good to see you. i hope you managed to make it to the football tonight. hope you get to see your kids at some point this year. we've got a few moments with you, if that is all right. do you think they will actually be able to get their act together and have a new prime minister in place by next friday? i don't know because i think, this is blindingly obvious, . deeply, deeply divided. the two parties in one that are slugging it out, - and i think the decision - that they needed to change the prime minister was probably taken some time ago. _ the question was, what's next? it has now got a point where the need move on has become so intense that they have moved _ on without the next question being answered but they are fighting. there are two...

there sort of a one nation tory, you've got the 2019 other wing i of the party in there fighting it out and over the next week i were going to see that come to the fore. - the summer was anj absolute bloodbath, so i find it hard to see that a party that had weeks and weeks |of a bloodbath has been through, j you know, the traumai of the past few weeks, the damage it has done i to the economy, suddenly within the next week saying let's forget all of that and come - up with one candidate. it is 2:50pm on thursday. i'm gonna tell you something else. the rumours abound that borisjohnson might throw his hat into the ring as leader of the conservative party. what you think of that? i don't know. let's remember that it was three

months ago, pretty much, - that he resigned in disgrace. he resigned because dozens of his own front bench - were resigning themselves saying he was unfit for office. _ they were not saying they'd fallen out with him on some policy issue that they could now resolve. they said he was unfit for office. so if they are going to go from this experiment, this chaos, _ this economic damage, | wind back three months to a man who was deemed to be unfit for office, - i think that only adds insult - to injury for the public who will be knocking on the door saying, "hang on, why can't - we have a say on this?" you wouldn't mind if borisjohnson came back. i share the view he is unfit for office and that becamej the dominant view in his own party. in the end it was character that brought him down. i sometimes a prime minister is brought down because ofl policy but he was... i have high regard for theresa may. she had a policy impact she could not get past. |

with him it was character. you make the point that a general election is needed to restore economic stability, but is there not an argument that goes after a conservative leadership contest, after now, what is going to be a second change of conservative leader during a cost of living it is the worst time to have a general election? no. because the risk of continuing with this chaos is less - than the risk of going to a stable labour government, so the riskl is not a change of government, it is actually staying _ with what we have got, - and that is borne out notjust by the absolute chaos of the past . few weeks, and it is notjust chaos. it is not a soap opera or something to sit in yourself and have - it is not a soap opera or something to sit on your sofa and have - popcorn and laugh about it. people are going to pay the price for this. - and we have had 12 years of failure. the health service on its knees, we are on our face. _ with that public services very low growth for 12 years. _ we had stagnant wages and, you know, this has been 12 years of failure -

and simply saying the best thing to do is to carry on, _ let's have that revolving| door, see who pops out. let them have a go at it. let's have the next tory experiment, that is not the answer. _ that is the risk. thank you very much for your ansewrs today. nice to see you. you too. those are the thoughts of keir starmer. what are your thoughts going to be of the next couple of days? how much kip i'm going to get on with it i will see my kids again before we have another new prime minister? i will, i will. and then also who is it going to be? it is going to be fascinating, isn't it? a quick thought, you need 100 nominations team get into this leadership race. if only one mp gets more than 100 we can have a new pm by monday. it is possible. we've got used to things hawpening very very quickly these days. we will be back with another newscast and another prime minister very soon. goodbye. bye.

hello. it stays mild through the second half of the weekend and into next week as well. and still further showers or longer spells of rain all tied in with this area of low pressure which bring some thundery rain north and eastwards across the uk tonight and through tomorrow as well. we've also got south or south easterly winds and we've got this extremely mild air across england, wales, scotland and northern ireland. so it stays mild both by day and by night. back to tonight and we'll have further showers pushing their way north and eastwards, heavy and thundery ahead and behind them for a while. some clear spells, but also some mist and fog before another spell of heavy thundery rain starts to arrive from the south west later in the night, the far north of scotland likely to keep more cloud with just some patchy rain here.

temperatures not much lower than 12 or 13 celsius in places. so a very mild night for the time of year. for tomorrow, it's another day of sunshine and showers. but this time the showers, the longer spells of rain, are much more likely to be heavy and thundery, particularly through the morning across parts of wales, central, southern and south west england. this band then pushes its way north and eastwards as the day wears on, becoming confined to scotland through the afternoon, though, the north of scotland should be dry with some sunshine, some sunshine behind it as well. but watch out for further sharp and thundery showers developing through the afternoon. temperatures on a par with saturday, really 1a to 18 celsius. the top temperatures just 11 for the northern isles and the winds not as strong as they have been recently, but still quite gusty for the northern isles and also for channel coasts as well. we could likely see gales through the channel and as we head through sunday night and into monday, another spell of heavy thundery rain starts to arrive from the southwest. so this is then how monday shapes up. we still got this area of low pressure close by and we'll still keep some thundery showers going through the early hours of monday and at first on monday

as well, particularly for some for many eastern areas. but out to the west, more showers starting it should still feel quite warm in that sunshine. the temperatures will rise a little bit in the week ahead. we could see 20 or 21 celsius across parts of east anglia and south east england later in the week, but also further showers or longer spells of rain.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 5pm: the former chancellor rishi sunak look set to officially enter the conservative leadership race after look set to officially enter the conservative leaders of race after look set to officially enter the conservative leaders of more after look set to officially enter the conservative leaders of more than securing the backing of more than 100 mp5. securing the backing of more than 100 mps. rivals of borisjohnson dismissed claims that he has reached 100 backers, with speculation rife that he could enter the contest. the tha'ghe could enter the contest. the of the commons, penny leader of the commons, penny mordaunt, is the only person to formally announce she is running but has for your supporters. formally announce she is running but has foryoursupporters. in formally announce she is running but has for your supporters. in other news, ukrainian officials say around 1.5 million households are news, ukrainian officials say around 1.5 million ia jseholds are gfzhf�*,�* news, ukrainian officials say around 1.5 million 1 a jseh wave re gfzhf�*,�* news, ukrainian officials say around 1.5 million ia jseh wave of sets?) news, ukrainian officials say around 1.5 million ia jseh wave of russian power after a new wave of russian. vanaken areas for more funding for train calling for more funding for train operators in the north of england ggerators in the north of england passengers faced gggrators in the north of england passengers faced disruption to after passengers faced disruption to services —— first