live from london. this is bbc news.

within the next few minutes, the former cabinet minister kemi badenoch will try to win over her fellow conservative mps as she launches campaign to become leader of the party. the shadow communities secretary is one of the front runners to replace rishi sunak following the conservatives�* defeat atjuly�*s election. she's among six candidates vying for thejob, with rival james cleverly also due to kickstart his campaign at 12.

henry hill is speaking at the moment. just in the lead up to introducing kemi badenoch. kemi badenoch a former business secretary and very close ally of michael gove. the former tory mp talking at the moment. you can get a sense of what kemi badenoch�*s campaign will be based on. you can see it on the writing just behind on the wall, to the right of the screen. she says it is all about renewal. we understand she is going to be saying, there is no point the

conservatives pointing at labour. they need to do something for themselves. robertjenrick on sunday also launched his campaign. he said he would oppose labour's declaration of war on middle classes. kemi badenoch one of six mps putting themselves forward to be the tory party's next leader. tom tugendhat priti patel and robertjenrick have all given speeches ahead of what we are about to hear shortly. we are also expecting to hear from james cleverly around midday uk time. mel stride has also declared his candidacy for the role. just to remind you, kemi badenoch has said we are expecting her to say that if the conservatives want to become worthy of the british people's trust

again we cannotjust sit around pointing out how terrible labour are. fun as it is. hopefully we will be hearing those words from kemi badenoch shortly as she launches her campaign to become the tory candidate for leader of the party. we will cross to that as and when it happens. the way that ofsted decribe schools in england with one or two—words — like "outstanding" or "inadequate" — is being scrapped with immediate effect. last year an inquest found an ofsted inspection had contributed to the suicide of primary headteacher ruth perry, leading to widespread calls for change. the government says giving schools single—words to describe their performance isn't fair oraccurate, but the conservatives say the system is "a vital indicator for parents". here's our education editor branwen jeffreys. after an inspection, caversham primary was due to be downgraded. the school was good in many ways,

but inspectors raised concerns. the headteacher, ruth perry, took her life while waiting for that report, tormented by the prospect of an inadequate grade. an inquest found the inspection contributed to mrs perry's suicide. her sisterjulia is delighted one or two word grades are being scrapped. she had a really bruising inspection that left her very fragile and that word, "inadequate", just, she went over and over and over it. she kept repeating it, she wrote it down. and it was that feeling, notjust that she'd had the terrible shock and trauma of a completely unexpected bad ofsted, but that she was still anticipating the public humiliation that would come with that. have you had a chance to share the news with

the rest of your family? yes, and they are delighted. ruth's daughters in particular werejust, you know, "well done". you know, it really, really shouldn't have been like this. it really should not take a bereaved family member to push for change and to push for change for such a long time. but yes, it's this... a relief, really, that no other head teacher will have to go through what ruth went through. so from today, overall inspection grades are scrapped, like good or inadequate. school inspection standards remain the same. and from september 2025, there will be a new report card for parents. education unions welcomed the change and said parents will still get clear reports this year. the inspection system remains broadly the same at the moment,

and it will give a full report on the performance of the school right now. itjust removes the high stakes nature that's been so damaging. and what we will do now is build a new system through ofsted, through government and through the profession to make sure parents really get what they need. parents and teachers will get a say in the design of the new report card. it will have to prove it works just as well or better to help schools improve, and parents choose the best school for their child. branwen jefferys, bbc news. trade unions and groups representing the families of israeli hostages are holding a general strike to press the government to reach a deal to free those still held by hamas. it's already affecting some flights at ben gurion airport in tel aviv and business, schools, and other forms of transport have also been hit. the stoppage is a day after the israeli army said it had recovered the bodies of six hostages who were taken during the attacks

of 7th of october. that led to mass demonstrations injerusalem and tel aviv on sunday and also today, with the organisers calling on prime minister benjamin netanyahu to negotiate a deal with hamas to bring home the estimated 100 remaining hostages. sunday's protests were largely peaceful, but some crowds broke through police lines, blocking a major highway in tel aviv. our correspondentjon donnison has been following the story. after the —— after the biggest protests in israel since the start of the war in gaza, with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating across the country today a general strike. so thousands of businesses are going to be closed. some schools, universities, government ministries, banks, some bus networks. so we're expecting a major hit on the economy here today in israel.

and the outrage against hamas is a given. but these protests are not about that. these protests are against the government of prime minister benjamin netanyahu, who is accused of pursuing his own personal political ambitions and his survival, uh, in sacrifice of a hostage release and ceasefire deal in gaza. mr netanyahu insists that the best way to get the remaining hostages out of gaza is to keep applying military pressure on hamas. however, many, many people in israel don't feel that way, including some of the hostage families. they have accused mr netanyahu of having the blood of their loved ones on his hands. there were chants of murderer at last night's protest. and it's notjust the public, it is also within his own government.

so we've had reports in the last week of a shouting match between the prime minister and his defence minister, yoav galant, who says that, in effect, mr netanyahu is blocking this deal with hamas that the world's diplomats have been pursuing now for weeks and months. let's ta ke let's take you straight to westminster and kemi badenoch. just before she stands before that podium, a lot of applause. the reason she is their committee is launching her campaign to become leader of the conservative party. lets talk about our future, the future of our party, our politics and our country. most of you were lucky enough to spend your childhoods here. i was not. i was

born here but grew up under socialism. so i know the reason why millions of people from all over the world want to live here. because they know they can build a future here. we can all feel a growing sense that the future is not as bright as it once was. despite all of our strengths, our history and our potential, we have lost control. this is notjust because of the mistakes labour are making and they are making many mistakes, it is because of the mistakes, it is because of the mistakes that we made. labour are only there because people no longer believed in the conservatives. we dealt with some of the most profound challenges faced by any government since world war ii. the aftermath of ukraine, covid. we end up mired in

scandal, we didn't deliver on our promises and fundamentally mistrusted. time for something completely different. the british people are yearning for something better and this labour government is not it. �* ~ ,, not it. applause labour _ not it. applause labour have - not it. applause labour have no i not it. applause - labour have no ideas. at not it. applause _ labour have no ideas. at best they are renouncing things we have already done and at their worst they are clueless, irresponsible and dishonest. they are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public about the state of britain's finance placing political donors into civil servicejobs, pretending they placing political donors into civil service jobs, pretending they have no plans to cut pension benefits before the election and then doing exactly that to cover the costs of pay rises for the unions with no promise of reform. but their model

of spend, spend, spend is broken and they do not know what to do. this will lead to even more cynicism in politics. they are already making worse mistakes than we did. but if we want to become worthy of the british people's trust again, we cannotjust sit around british people's trust again, we cannot just sit around pointing british people's trust again, we cannotjust sit around pointing out how terrible labour are, that is just not good enough. we can'tjust keep having the same policy arguments from the last parliament. we are not in power, we lost. labour will fail and when that time comes, and the british people are looking for change, we have to be that change. we have to focus on renewal, the renewal of our party, our politics and are thinking. and it starts with principles. principles are the fundamentals that give us direction, unity and certainty. they underpin everything we do. here are a few of my principles. first, i

believe in personal responsibility. my believe in personal responsibility. my late father once said to me, only 20% of what happens to you is down to others. 80% is down to your actions and your choices. that is why i believe in personal responsibility. that is why i know the government cannot solve all of our problems and nor should it try to. government should nurture a fair and safe society in which people can prosper by their own efforts. a government that tries to do everything will likely end up achieving nothing. it will also run out of everybody�*s money. this was one of our mistakes. we talked right but government left. sounding like conservatives but acting like labour. government should do fewer things but better. what it does it should do with brilliance.

applause second, i believe in citizenship. citizenship is notjust about having a passport, it is a commitment to a country and the people in it. a country and the people in it. a country belongs to its citizens, it is nothing without them. we cannot treat their needs or concerns as secondary or inconvenient or of a lower priority than anyone as's. people should not be made to feel guilty for questioning levels of immigration, legal or illegal if it means chasing the place they know and love. applause and government should not be shy of doing whatever it takes to change things. if people do not want their taxes to pay for foreign criminals to be in ourjails are on their

streets with those criminals should be removed. if they want local people to have priority for local housing, benefits, school places, we must make that happen. our country is not a dormitory for people to make money or a hotel for those passing through. it is our home and no one else should look after it. applause said, i believe in equality under the law. if citizenship is to mean something, our laws must apply equally to all citizens. anything else breeds division and resentment. in government, i sawjust how malign and destructive identity politics had begun. laws brought in to protect everyone were used by left—wingers to protect certain groups over others. we have seen in history what happens when governments do this. that must not happen here. that is why when

everyone was talking about the five new mps, i was far more worried about the five new mps elected on the back of sectarian islamist politics, alien ideas that have no place here. applause it is the sort of politics we need to defeat and defeat quickly. i believe in the family. the foundation of our society is not the individual, it is the family. whether it is the family we are born into other family we built, whether it is the family we are born into otherfamily we built, my family is everything to me. it is everything to most of us and sometimes governmentjust does not get family, it wants to help with childcare, not because it loves children but so that their mums can get back to work quickly. we need to

celebrate families, put them at the centre of our politics and actions, but the good of society not for the good of the treasury. applause fifth, and most importantly, i believe in truth. truth is not relative. those who know me best no i do not do is spin. —— de spin. i do charm. i think politics is better when we tell it like it is, spin can only get you so far. it is better to deal with hard truths today than big problems tomorrow. this has been an essential failure of politics for 25 years, maybe even longer. for too long, politics hasjust been years, maybe even longer. for too long, politics has just been about working out what the voters want to hear and saying it back to them. it was the triumph of words over deeds and that has to change.

applause it has to change because principals only mean something if you turned them into action. policy without action isjust them into action. policy without action is just chat. them into action. policy without action isjust chat. our whole system is broken. in government i had to keep fighting the system, a system that has evolved over recent decades to stop governments doing things they were elected to do. i would see a problem, try to fix it and be told, sorry, minister, you can't do that. people are asking me for help, to intervene. when i tried to do, i was told, it is not a good look of a minister should not get involved like that. well, i like to get involved. applause it is time to make sure that governments can do what they are

elected to do. because if they cannot, democracy doesn't mean anything. we need to reboot, reset and rewire. rewire the way the government works so it can serve the public. nothing is more important and that is why we are here at the institute of engineering and technology. right now, this country desperately needs an engineer. applause engineers fix problems. we do tough stuff. getting my engineering degree was much harder than running for the leadership of the conservative party but it gave me a whole new way of looking at the world. engineers are realists, we see the world as it truly is that we can also dream and plot a path from idea to reality. we don't make things betterjust by using words. there is little room for error in what we did. when i

worked in banking, if my code break my people would lose their money. if engineers build are playing badly, it crashes. a bridge built to the wrong spec comes tumbling down. we know how to build systems that work. it is because we understand trade—offs. we don't try to do everything, we understand how to manage limitation —— limitations and expectations. every engineer has had to explain the magic triangle of quality, cost and time. things can be good, they can be fast, cheap that they cannot be all three. many politicians do not understand that and that is why they run into trouble. too often, politicians pretend they can have everything. they make promises they cannot keep, they say you can spend more on everything and still have fewer taxes. they propose huge changes without making plans. engineers and

accept reality is that they are honest, they get stuff done. i am an engineer. applause i want to help us rebuild the party, reboot the economy, and we need to do this because the challenges of the next decade will be even bigger than what has come before. this is why my campaign is called renewable 2030 and not kemi for leader. the problems cannot be sold by one person. the reform party cannot sell them, the liberal democrats cannot solve them, the labour party will not solve them. we need to renew the conservative party so they can solve

the problems that will plague the next decade. how can we deal with global mass migration? whatjobs will be left when artificial intelligence is doing the fun stuff? how do we know what is real when so much is not? how can an nhs design for a young working population adapt to a complex ageing population? when taiwan is under threat from china, israel under threat from iran, ukraine is at war with russia, we need to ask yourself if we are ready for this dangerous new world. we cannot rely on laws from the 1950s are assumptions of the 1980s. we need to renew our thinking. the renewal of our party, our politics, is vital if we are to renew our country and its position in the world. i don't pretend to have all the answers but i am an engineer, i know how to find them. applause

so let's use this time in opposition wisely. when i was young, i still am, but when i was younger, the future it was exciting. i hate the fact that young people no longer find it so. for the future to mean anything, it must mean something to the young. conservatives used to have a vision and an offer for the young. we use the words grace, opportunity and enterprise but work to be really mean? it is the chance to be really mean? it is the chance to build something, her career, a business and a family and get savings, house, pensions and investment so that even if today is tough tomorrow is bright. we have always believed the government should help with that endeavour, not get in your way, it should be fair, honest and evenhanded, they should share and strengthen the values and the spirit of the nation. the

dynamism that such an enterprise unleashes will enrich us all. we need to be confident conservatives again. applause we need to be confident conservatives again because our party has principals. the very best principles. they are the principles of the british people, principles not of the centre ground but of the common ground. they are the source of our country does much strengthen its heritage and its future. with the right engineering there are no limits to what we can do. it is time to begin this work and gave new hope, time to renew. applause thank you.

applause thank you, everybody. i will now take questions from the media. first... there are some here. thank you. first question is chris mason from the bbc. you. first question is chris mason from the bbc-— from the bbc. first day back. you talked about _ from the bbc. first day back. you talked about a _ from the bbc. first day back. you talked about a critique _ from the bbc. first day back. you talked about a critique of - from the bbc. first day back. you talked about a critique of the - talked about a critique of the previous— talked about a critique of the previous government, talking right and governing left. specific terms, can you _ and governing left. specific terms, can you say— and governing left. specific terms, can you say why you think that is the case? —

can you say why you think that is the case? how would your way be different? — the case? how would your way be different? . , the case? how would your way be different? ., , ., ., , ., different? that is a great question. there were — different? that is a great question. there were many _ different? that is a great question. there were many things _ different? that is a great question. there were many things we - different? that is a great question. there were many things we did - different? that is a great question. there were many things we did in l different? that is a great question. i there were many things we did in the last government. when i was a backbencher which were big state rather than limited state. what we did with net casino in my view was an example. we'll want to deliver a better environment. creating legislation and a target without working out how to do it in my view was trusting regulation rather than innovation. we need to move away from just telling people what they want to hear. we need to start thinking through how we will deliver on our promises and that is something i am making at the heart of my campaign, why one of my principles is truth and honesty. thank you. applause next, itv. ., . .,

next, itv. i am curious about your cam aiun next, itv. i am curious about your campaign name- — next, itv. i am curious about your campaign name. the _ next, itv. i am curious about your campaign name. the next- next, itv. i am curious about your campaign name. the next general| campaign name. the next general election_ campaign name. the next general election has to be held by at least 2029 _ election has to be held by at least 2029. , , ., , ., 2029. this is not 'ust about the next general _ 2029. this is notjust about the next general election. - 2029. this is notjust about the next general election. quite . 2029. this is notjust about the i next general election. quite often we talk about winning without talking about what we are winning for. applause my campaign name, it is notjust about the general election, notjust about the general election, notjust about the general election, notjust about the party, it is about the whole country. in 2019, the just won an 80 seat majority. i thought we would have a roaring 20s. we were planning this big party. before you know it was covid, we lost the government, the prime minister has changed and it is 2024 with a labour government. we were not be in government. we were not be in government unless something very significant happens for the rest of the decade. it is about the 20 30s.

what does that decade look like? in engineering you do not start planning for things until they arrive. we need to notjust look at the immediate parliamentary cycle we are in. applause next on my left, martin beckford from the daily mail.— next on my left, martin beckford from the daily mail. almost every rofile of from the daily mail. almost every profile of you _ from the daily mail. almost every profile of you described _ from the daily mail. almost every profile of you described he - from the daily mail. almost every profile of you described he was i profile of you described he was combative, confrontational, whatever. what do you say to people who say— whatever. what do you say to people who say that would make it difficult for you _ who say that would make it difficult for you to _ who say that would make it difficult for you to lead the party? i am comforted _ for you to lead the party? i am comforted on _ for you to lead the party? i am comforted on behalf— for you to lead the party? i am comforted on behalf of- for you to lead the party? i am comforted on behalf of the - for you to lead the party? i—h comforted on behalf of the party. many of you who have seen me being confrontational will see it is when

labour have been accusatory. some people do not like directness or bluntness. that is who i am. so that is kemi badenoch, continuing to take questions. many people regard her as the frontrunner in this leadership contest. there are six people going

for this