Leadership hopeful’s campaign team say Gove ‘and acolytes’ have been responsible for the ‘drama that has led our party to where it is’.   18:26 Good evening. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest from the showdown between the final two candidates to become Tory leader this evening.

Conservative MP Christopher Chope sparks a backlash after suggesting Kemi Badenoch could not be the leader of the opposition because she spends "a lot of time with her family".

Follow our live blog for the latest updates on GB News's Tory leadership debate with Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick.

Brexit divides in the UK with his ‘Leave versus Remain’ framing of the debate about the European Convention on Human Rights

The school absence rate for England for the autumn and spring terms of 2023-24 was down on the same period the year before – but still much higher than pre-pandemic, according to figures out from the Department for Education.

Sir Christopher Chope says ‘you can’t spend all your time with your family at the same time as being leader of the opposition’

Kemi Badenoch ‘preoccupied with her children’ says Conservative MP - Veteran Tory Sir Christopher Chope said ‘you can’t spend all your time with your family as at the same time being Leader of the Opposition’.

Conservative leader candidates will take part in GB News hustings at 7pm. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, was on the media round on behalf of No 10 this morning. In an interview on the Today programme,