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Six senior Tories will battle it out to replace Rishi Sunak as the Conservative Party seeks to rebuild after its worst-ever general election result.Kemi Badenoch is the leadership favourite but Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Dame Priti Patel and Mel Stride hope to upset the odds.MPs will vote off two of the contenders before the final four go to the party’s conference in Birmingham to make their leadership pitch.Here, we take a look at the six hoping to succeed Mr Sunak, and the process that will unfold. More

Mel Stride offered a four-word response when asked why he should be the next Conservative Party leader.The former work and pensions secretary has become the fourth MP to announce they are joining the race for the Tory leadership.He told BBC Breakfast on Friday 26 July he has been “fully nominated” as a candidate, joining Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick in the race to replace Rishi Sunak.Mr Stride was also quizzed on why he should be the next leader despite being the “broadcast face” of the “failed Tory general election campaign”.“I’m a team player,” he responded. More

Martin Lewis has cleared up confusion over the two-child benefit cap as Labour defeated an amendment to scrap the controversial measure.The cap prevents parents from claiming universal credit or tax credit for their third child.It came into place under a Conservative government April 2017 and applies to children who were born after 6 April 2017.The Tories said the measures were designed to encourage benefit recipients “to make the same choices as those supporting themselves solely through work.”It is a separate payment to child benefit, which does not have a limit on the number of children it can be claimed for. More

Baby of the House Sam Carling addressed his young age as he made his first speech in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 24 July, aged 22.The first MP to be born in the 21st Century ousted Conservative Shailesh Vara by just 39 votes to win the seat in the 2024 general election.In his debut speech, Mr Carling explained how the cancellation of his A-Level exams during the coronavirus pandemic politicised him.“I grew up in a deprived rural area and was concerned from a young age to see a progressive decline in local high streets, alongside growing problems in public services, notably within schools,” Mr Carling told fellow MPs. More

Rishi Sunak opened his first prime minister’s questions as leader of the opposition with a joke about his inability to win. The former prime minister, who lost a leadership election to Liz Truss, several local elections, and last month’s general election by a huge landslide, sent his best wishes to Team GB athletes heading to the Paris Olympics. Mr Sunak said: “To be honest, I am probably not the first person they want to hear advice from on how to win.”The joke was met by laughter from MPs in the Commons. More

Gasps were heard in the Commons as Yvette Cooper revealed the true cost of the Tory Rwanda deal.The home secretary revealed to MPs that the controversial deportation scheme cost Britain £700 million, despite only four volunteers being sent to Kigali.Addressing MPs on Tuesday (23 July), Ms Cooper branded the policy the “most shocking waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen”.The home secretary accused the previous Conservative government of creating an “asylum Hotel California”, where people arrived in the system but never left. More