Plots and shocks - what next in the Tory leadership race?
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Hello, I’m ITV news Political Correspondent Romilly Weeks. I have to admit, I was finding the Tory leadership process rather long and ponderous. That is until 3.30 on Wednesday afternoon when it all blew up in spectacular fashion.
There were gasps in Committee room 14 of the Palace of Westminster when the result was announced. Gasps too, from the panel of Tory members we were filming with, who now get the choice of two right-wingers Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick.
So what killed off James Cleverly’s hopes? He only had to persuade one more MP to vote for him between this round of voting and the last to get through and yet his support went backwards.
Claims of skullduggery and tactical voting foul ups abound. The Cleverly campaign assured me they didn’t sanction lending votes. But it seems likely that some of his backers, thinking he was safe, tried to vote to keep one of the others off the final ballot. Not so Cleverly after all.
Now members have the choice between straight talking Badenoch, who has a somewhat dangerous talent for making news, and Jenrick, whose headline promise is tackling immigration and leaving the ECHR.
Labour MPs are suggesting that either way, the Tories’ tack to the right will be a gift to them. James Cleverly was certainly the one who polled best with the wider electorate.
But the voters that matter to the candidates right now are the Tory members and judging by the briefing wars between the two campaigns already, the next stage of this race could be quite explosive too.
Thanks for reading!
Don’t forget to tune into our weekly podcast Talking Politics, where we also feature News at Ten presenter Tom Bradby sitting down with Boris Johnson in an exclusive TV interview - you can see their feisty exchanges in full on catch-up on ITVX.
How October 7 kick-started the year depravity defeated diplomacy
Israel this week marked a year since Hamas terrorists stormed over the Gaza border to kill hundreds of citizens and take scores of hostages.
As ITV News International Editor Emma Murphy writes, the year since has been a litany of devastation. A dreadful example of depravity defeating diplomacy.
Our correspondents have been at the forefront and on multiple frontlines of reporting on the war that continues to threaten to expand into a region-wide conflict, including:
Life and death on the West Bank - a special report through the eyes of two families
The Palestinian cameraman working for ITV News on what he’s filmed
Jewish and Muslim people in the UK reflect on what's changed this year
'Where is the justice?': Post Office victims on compensation 'cruelty'
For years, the Post Office had made them believe they were on their own. But it’s because of what these women lost that they eventually found each other, writes Correspondent Chloe Keedy.
Suzanne Bates - wife of Horizon campaign figurehead Sir Alan - accused the government of "prolonging the cruelty".
ITV News was there when a group of wronged women met for the first time face-to-face. Their shared experience is a powerful watch - see what happened on ITVX.
You can keep across all of our coverage of the Horizon scandal on our website. And you can still catch up with the drama that spiked public anger, Mr Bates vs The Post Office here.
Minister calls P&O Ferries 'rogue operator' as law is tightened
From December 1, ferry operators that regularly call at UK ports at least 120 times a year will have to pay their seafarers at least the equivalent of the UK National Minimum Wage.
ITV News has learned that P&O has responded by laying off many of the foreign agency workers it hired to replace the British crew it fired two years ago.
In an exclusive interview with Business Editor Joel Hills, transport minister Louise Haigh described the company as a “rogue operator” - watch Joel’s report here.
BMA backs family suing regulator over the role of physician associates
ITV News has learned the family of a woman who died after being misdiagnosed by a physician associate has won the backing of the BMA in a legal fight for better regulation.
The parents of 30-year-old Emily Chesterton, who died from a pulmonary embolism after she was misdiagnosed by a physician associate, accuse the General Medical Council (GMC) of putting patients at risk by failing to distinguish properly between the role of doctors and medical associates.
Read more from Health Correspondent Rebecca Barry on our website and watch her report here.
Exposing the illegal vape trade despite thousands of seizures
I went shopping for vapes - more precisely, illegal vapes - and it took just minutes on a busy high street to find examples of e-cigarettes that should not be on sale, writes Consumer Editor Chris Choi.
As a guideline, Trading Standards regard any disposable vape offering more than 600 puffs as suspect. I found devices boasting of up to 9,000.
Watch Chris’ report on our TikTok channel.
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Bergerac is back with a tale to tell about war-time occupation
John Nettles is very much an ITV favourite in his role playing DCI Tom Barnaby in Midsomer Murders.
But his police career began in Jersey as Sgt Jim Bergerac in the 1980s. The show is getting a reboot and ITV Channel's Jonathan Wills spoke to the actor and author on his Bergerac memories and latest book collecting the diaries of a WWII German officer.
Catch up with both of them on ITVX.
Could just £1 from every ticket save your local music venue?
Adele, Oasis, Coldplay, Blur, Radiohead, Ed Sheeran, Amy Winehouse… they all started out in grassroots music venues.
But with rents rocketing, the cost of putting on gigs is becoming a real issue - some 125 smaller venues closed for good last year.
That’s why the Music Venue Trust is calling for £1 from every ticket sold for a major music event at an arena or stadium in the UK going into a fund to help grassroots venues stay afloat, as Entertainment Reporter Rishi Davda found out…
What’s coming up…
Saturday October 12: 100 days of Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership
Saturday October 12: 40 years since an IRA bomb tore through the Grand Hotel, Brighton during the Tory party conference.
Monday October 13: Public inquiry begins into the death of Dawn Sturgess, poisoned by Novichok on a discarded perfume bottle in Salisbury, Wilts
And finally… meet ‘Robert the Spruce’…
Rob Morgan planted his first Christmas tree on his family farm 25 years ago - and he’s not looked back, earning the moniker “Robert the Spruce”.
It’s been a sharp learning curve: “The rabbits ate all the Christmas trees and I over-fertilised them…” ITV Wales reporter Dean Thomas-Welch met up with Rob in Gower and you can watch the report here.