Snails are being released back into the wild after a successful Breeding Programme at chester zoo. Hello, a very good morning to you. Welcome to bbc newsroom life. The first round of voting in the conservative leadership contest is under way, tory mps have their first chance, this morning, to vote for the person they want to see lead the party in the country. At least one of these ten candidates vying to be oui of these ten candidates vying to be our next Prime Minister is going to be knocked out of the race today. The mps are holding a private ballot, with contenders needing a minimum of 17 votes to carry on. Voting started in the house of commons this morning at around 10am, with a result expected to be announced by the 1922 committee at around 1pm this afternoon. Further ballots will be held next week with the two most popular mps moving to a run of five tory Party Members. The winner is expected to be announced in the week of the 22nd ofjuly. Lets talk now to our political assistant editor norman smith. The vote is taking place in private but what is the atmosphere like outside the Committee Room . Its tediously convivial. Everyone seems to be chatting away in a friendly fashion. Most, i think, chatting away in a friendly fashion. Most, ithink, all of chatting away in a friendly fashion. Most, i think, all of the candidates, have now voted themselves except for Boris Johnson. Andrea leadsom, esther mcvey were both sitting outside the Committee Rooms eyeballing candidates, may be, you know, please vote for us. They probably look as if they might be the most vulnerable to be knocked out today. Mark harper might. I guess you might also be in some difficulty. Rory stewart was working the media. Hes made much of his campaign outside of westminster trying to communicate to a broader audience. Michael gove emerged and i asked him who he voted for, he said he voted for the best man, make of that what you will. Question marks about whether his campaign is in some difficulty following not so much the drugs charge, but the hypocrisy charge that followed it. Sajid javid was there too, he launched yesterday, i think the consensus was that was better than many people had expected. This morning a clear warning about the danger of no deal. I dont accept it would be disorderly, but i do accept that it would be very challenging for the country, at least for the first few months. Eventually you come to some sort of agreement, but it would be challenging. Ive never shied away from that. I dont think anyone should pretend that no deal is absolutely perfect. It is a challenging enough that some people could lose their jobs . It depends what government reaction is. One of the things we havent done as a government today is properly set out, or at least plan for ourselves, what would be the Government Action in terms of economic policy. That will make a big difference. Massive stimulus for the economy. You have to have a stimulus for the economy,. There was some muttering in the Committee Corridor about the danger that this is going to turn into a men only contest, because, as i say, to have the most vulnerable are the remaining women in the contest, esther mcvey and angella hudson. This was Andrea Leadsom this morning. Are you confident, will you pull out if you have enough support . Im definitely not going to pull out and im very confident, thank you very much. If you lost in the first round who would you support afterwards . Im working on my own campaign, thank you. Among the other contenders is matthew hancock, he turned up this morning, backing him is damian green. Before we talk about matt hancock, its beginning to look like this is a runaway win for borisjohnson. Nobody should ever assume anything in conservative leadership election races. We know the history, the front runner has never won. We have to wait for the result of the first ballot. That is likely to be the first of a number of ballots before it goes out to the membership. We are in the early stages what do you make of Boris Johnson are in the early stages what do you make of borisjohnson has michael ducking and diving and doubts over whether he would take part in a Live Television debate . Its up to par is how he answers questions in the media. I think the tv debates are very important though. Every candidate should take part. And, frankly, i think any candidate that tries tojog away frankly, i think any candidate that tries to jog away from them will do themselves damage, were notjust electing a party leader, inevitably, most of the Party Members wont get to the hustings, so they will be reliant on tv and other media to ta ke reliant on tv and other media to take their views. But we are electing a Prime Minister and i think its an important part of the democratic process that we have these tv debates and every candidate commits to taking part. A lot of the focus will be on who gets knocked out, and two winds, but crucial is who comes second. How much of a chance do you think matt hancock has, and how important a second place . We are optimistic. Weve had increasing support in recent days, but, the true theirs, weve had about two thirds of people say that they are going to vote one way or they are going to vote one way or the other. Lets assume that my colleagues are honest and are saying the same thing to all teams. Even then, youve got a third of the electorate where nobody knows which way they are going to go. So, you know, whether we come second or not is less important than the number of votes compared to expectations. This will be a game of momentum as much as anything. We had a big vote in the commons last night, the ramifications are still being mulled over, about no deal. And whether it is possible for parliament to block no deal. Do you think it is any longer possible for mps to thwart a Prime Minister who chose to take britain out of the eu without an agreement . I think it is possible. We know the maths in parliament. It is a hung parliament, even with the dup, the conservative party has a majority 110w conservative party has a majority now of five. So, you know, you can do the maths and it doesnt take many people to go the other way. Whoever the Prime Minister is, they could lose their majority. There is still a lively possibility that people could come back again to try and stop a no deal brexit. And how credible is it to leave the European Union by october 31, yesterday we were told it is not possible. It is if you have a different plan. Matt hancock has put forward a detailed plan, with a timetable attached, saying that we would have an in principle vote on the deal, which is different from, excuse me, the governments existing deal. We hope to have that before the summer recess to get negotiations going early enough that you would be able to get it through before october 31. There is a council of the eu between 110w there is a council of the eu between now and then, so they would be a chance to take that decision. Damian green, thank you very much. Todayis damian green, thank you very much. Today is just the first ballot, we will have another one on tuesday, when candidates have to get over 32 mps to back them. The bar goes up, and another ballot on wednesday, then on thursday, there could be two on thursday, the way things are looking at the moment it looks as if borisjohnson has pretty much got Cruise Control on. His team were handing out these. I dont know what it says about his team, if they are the most organised on most well funded, but anyway, the most organised on most well funded, butanyway, it looks the most organised on most well funded, but anyway, it looks as if borisjohnson will come funded, but anyway, it looks as if Boris Johnson will come first today. Who comes second is up for grabs. We will keep a very close eye on that. Just to say all ten candidates have 110w just to say all ten candidates have now voted in this first round ballot. This secret ballot that is taking place right now. Esther mcvey was first to cast her vote, and the last to go and was borisjohnson. The Prime Minister, theresa may, has cast her vote but when asked who she was backing she didnt say. Coming up was backing she didnt say. Coming up on bbc newsroom alone in around half and know ill be talking to a conservative insider turned writer and politicaljournalist, conservative insider turned writer and political journalist, and conservative insider turned writer and politicaljournalist, and laura trott, former head of Strategic Communications at number ten when David Cameron was Prime Minister. Stay with us for that at 1135. The home secretary and conservative leadership candidate says hes not happy about being left off their guest list for the state banquet for donald trump. He had previously tweeted in response to the president treating britain first the priming president has endorsed the views of a group that hates me and people like me, i believe he is wrong and i refused to say nothing. Appearing this morning he was asked if he knew why he hadnt been invited to the banquet. I have asked, but i havent. I was just told that normally home secretaries arent invited. So i dont know. You were the only holder of a great office of state who wasnt invited. Michael gove, for example was invited. How do you feel about not being invited . For the reason that youve just being invited . For the reason that youvejust said, i dont like it. It is art. Odd. My office did ask number ten and they said no. Do you think it was because of your muslim background . No, i really dont know. Two ta n ke rs two tankers in the gulf of oman have been damaged in a suspected attack. When shipping company says fire broke out after an explosion. The incident happened in the gulf of oman, a key oilshipping route between the Arabian Peninsula and iran. The us navy to smuggle 50 feet says it is assisting after receiving separate distress calls from two oil tankers in the gulf of oman, the two ships have been identified a spokesman said the 21 crew members on one of them was safe after abandoning the ship. Tension is high in the region after four tankers we re in the region after four tankers were damaged last month. A security correspondent is investigating the story for us. What more do we know about the nature of the attacks on the ships, first of all . They appear to be far more serious than the ones a month ago. Exactly a month ago they were four tankers damaged, to saudi, one uae, one norwegian. They were hit pretty much on the water line, but not enough to cause a majorfire. This is far more serious. Distress calls went out this morning, these were monitored by the us navy, and these appear, but no one is confirming it yet, they appear to be the result of explosions. There is some speculation it was caused by a torpedo, but it does appear to have been some kind of attack. It serious enough for people to have been evacuated. It is a developing story where people come various reports appearand where people come various reports appear and get contradicted. One of the two vessels as reported to have sunk but its been disputed by the illness. Already there are investigations under way as to what caused it, and who is behind it. This is against the background of rising tension between the us and iran. This is a busy shipping lane, over 20 of the worlds oil passes through here every day, as well as millions of pounds worth of other goods. So its a vital shipping lane. If thats going to have the risk, its going to drive up oil prices, insurance, and discourage trade from going through there. So its a real problem. Explain, if you would come a little more about the tensions in the area at the moment. The incident that you referred to last month, the us blame that on iran, and the United Arab Emirates says it was a sophisticated attack but didnt blame a named country. What about the background of this . The background is that there is huge tension between the us and iran. The Donald Trump Administration has torn up Donald Trump Administration has torn up its part of the Nuclear Treaty with iran, it has withdrawn from it unilaterally, and slapped really heavy sanctions on iran. Its quite clear that the Washington Administration is looking to put some kind of a stranglehold on irans economy and its ability to export oil. The us is saying if you buy oilfrom export oil. The us is saying if you buy oil from iran, export oil. The us is saying if you buy oilfrom iran, you cant do business with us. So, thats making it very difficult, and emits that tension, along with that, the us are saying that it has detected signs, preparations by iran, which iran denies, to attack us interests in the region. The us dispatched an Aircraft Carrier, something the us essay to the gulf, to reinforce forces there, along with b 52 bombers. It has caused people to say, are we going to see a war between iran and the us . Neither side say they want that. It is in neither cytoplasmic interest and would be damaging to the world economy. It would be very damaging to the countries of the region. How difficult would it be to prove who carried out these attacks, last month saw the latest . Its not impossible. There was a report, a very carefulforensic, impossible. There was a report, a very careful forensic, scientific report put together and submitted to the Un Security Council a few days ago by the countries, saudi arabia, uae, and norway, the three countries who earned the tankers attack two months ago. That report looked into it and months ago. That report looked into itand said months ago. That report looked into it and said this was the work of a state actor. They didnt know who that actor was. Privately, americans and others are saying its iran. Iran denies it and it is suggested that it could be israel. It is still murky and weve got to stick to the technicalfacts, and murky and weve got to stick to the technical facts, and try to avoid speculation. Frank, thank you very much. Our security correspondent. The headlines for you now. The first round of voting in the conservative leadership race is under way with results expected at lunchtime. Dozens of crew members have been rescued after abandoning two oil tankers hit by explosions in the gulf of oman. And almost three quarters of english hospitals miss nhs targets to treat Cancer Patients quickly enough. And in the sport. The british cyclist chris froome is in intensive care after he suffered serious multiple fractures when he hit a brick wall whilst travelling at almost a0 miles an hour. Rain has hit the womens world cup once again with a delayed start to indias match against new zealand but we are expecting play in an hours time. And its the start of the third golf major of the year with a resurgent tiger woods back amongst the favourites for the us open at pebble beach. More on that in the headlines, about nearly three quarters of nhs services in england failing to treat new Cancer Patients within 62 days after an urgent referral, according to research by the bbc. Cancer charities express their concern about the figures. Nhs england says its due to increasing demand on services. When a gp makes an urgent referral for cancer treatment, nhs guidelines say 85 of patients should begin treatment within 62 days. But figures show that almost 32,500 patients across england werent seen within that timeframe in the past year. Bbc analysis of waiting times shows that maidstone and Tunbridge Wells nhs trust in kent was the worst performing, treating just 61 of patients within the two month period. It is followed by wolverhampton, weston area health, southend, and bradford. Kingston hospital nhs trust in london topped the list, seeing 96 of patients within the timeframe. Frimley health, bolton, mid cheshire, and tameside and glossop also performed well. Cancer is a diagnosis which, when people receive it, it turns their world upside down. It is a really difficult experience for people to go through, and the longer people have to wait to get that diagnosis and treatment, the more it will impact them, their health and well being, just going through that experience. In a statement, an nhs england spokesperson said. The nhs Long Term Plan outlines how it aims to diagnose more cancers sooner, but Charities Say right now it is a system in crisis. Lauren moss, bbc news. Asian shares have slumped as the Hong Kong Market was hit for a second straight session following a day of street protests. The hang sengindex day of street protests. The hang seng index was down 8 today, extending yesterdays 1. 7 loss. Authorities in hong kong closed government offices for the rest of the week after clashes broke out over controversial extradition laws. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and clashes with demonstrators yesterday as tensions heightened. Proposals would allow extradition from hong kong to Mainland China, opponents say the plans would be abused by beijing to pursue political enemies. Our correspondent is in hong kong, at the entrance of the council building. Here at the entrance of the Legislative Council it is much quieter than it was this time yesterday, when we saw chaotic running street battles between police and protesters. We still have a small group of demonstrators, as you can see here, they have braved the weather to come out here, and they are holding up signs calling on they are holding up signs calling on the police to take michael not to fire on protesters. That follows the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and the like, to clear the streets. In between them and they building today is a barricade. And also, riot police on the other side. As an indication of how things have calmed down the police arent wearing helmets anymore. They took them off a little while ago, as well as some of their padding. It shows that they are more relaxed about the situation. It seems like a bit of a level. The police are all entrances to the peace and to try and stop demonstrators getting in, near those in power. Both sides are weighing up what they will do next. They are waiting for this controversial bill which would enable hong kong people to be extradited to mainland chinese ports. We are into the second reading of that bill to happen in the Legislative Council, its been delayed today. It could provide something of a flash point. In the meantime, im sure you can hear the protest is singing, peacefully, and resisting in that way. They arent in the same numbers we saw yesterday. I should add that in the coming days, and weeks, this has quite a way to play out and we are expecting there to be pretty significant clashes again between protesters and the police. As the government tries to ram through this piece of legislation. That was Steve Mcdonald in hong kong. An overwhelming majority of students say they support universities telling the parents if they go through Mental Health crisis. A study by the Higher Education policy institute suggests more university should consider asking student permission to alert their families in extreme circumstances. The number of students seeking help has risen sharply. A study of 40,000 undergraduates suggests students wa nt undergraduates suggests students want information to be shared in a crisis. 66 said that under extreme circumstances the university should contact circumstances the university should co nta ct a circumstances the university should contact a parent or guardian. 15 say Mental Health concerns should be shared under any circumstances. Some stu d e nts shared under any circumstances. Some students expect complete confidentiality. But this report suggests others want parents or guardians involved. Stu d e nts guardians involved. Students won support from all sides, they won support from universities, friendship groups, but they also wa nt to friendship groups, but they also want to know that those connections theyve got from back home are also being made aware of the issues going on. The office for student say the su rveys the office for student say the surveys finding should give pause for thought. One silver lining, surveys finding should give pause forthought. One silver lining, more stu d e nts forthought. One silver lining, more students believe their course offers value for money after a report last month called for a cut in tuition fees in england. With still fewer than half of students say they get a good value for money therefore suggests University Still have more to do. Sir philip green has thanked landlords and suppliers who backed the deal that saved his retail empire. The rescue plan for the Arcadia Group which includes brands like topshop and burtons was approved in a vote yesterday. It will involve closing 48 stores with the loss of 1000 jobs and cutting the loss of 1000 jobs and cutting the rent on around 200 premises. Sir philip green told the bbc he had been slow to react to a change in high street and now it was time to look to the future. Many more landlords voted yes and no. One landlord wants to make a lot of noise, thats his choice, not my choice. As far as im concerned, this is a celebration of our workforce and supply chain, and, yes, the market is changing, now weve got to get to work, and grasp it. Plans to add folic acid to flour in a bid to cut birth defects such as spina bifida have come a step closer as the government launches a 12 week consultation. Folic acid is a type of vitamin b, and is crucial during the first weeks of pregnancy. Women are encouraged to take it as a supplement to cut the risk of their babies failing to develop properly. The time is 11 24am. Thousands of critically endangered snails have been released into the wild after being rescued from the edge of extinction. The greater bermuda land snail has had a remarkable turnaround in fortunes as helen briggs reports. Meet the greater bermuda land snail. Believed to have become extinct decades ago. A few hardy snails were discovered clinging to life inside plastic bags in this urban alleyway in bermuda. Some of the survivors were sent to the uk for a Breeding Programme and here at chester zoo, they now have too many keep track of. At last count we had somewhere around 13,000 snails. May be more than that. They have had many babies since then but they breed quite easily, actually, so they are a good conservation project. As long as they have some nice soil to live in and some nice food. They like sweet potato. Now 4000 snails from the zoo have been taken home to bermuda for release into the wild. They have been set free in a nature reserve where the population will be closely monitored. It is hoped that zoo bred snails will help rescue this critically endangered species in a rare glimmer of hope in the fight against extinction. If you were studying music imagine being able to get your inspiration from the piano on which gustav holst wrote the planets. Built 100 years ago its been restored to its former glory and will be returned to the London School where holst created his works. As ian reid reports. A famous name in an obscure place. Piano makerjohn broadwood sons has workshops in lythe in north yorkshire. The company was formed in 1728. Mozart, liszt and beethoven all played broadwood pianos and now this, refurbishing a famous piano. So here we have Gustav Holsts grand piano, broadwood grand piano on which he composed the famous planets suite 100 years ago. We found from our documentary evidence and our records that the piano was actually made for St Pauls School in hammersmith in 1913 and it was delivered to holsts room in november of that year and he had a special room made in the school which was soundproofed, he had double glazing, to keep out all the noise of the horse hooves in the road outside. As we were working on the piano, we were always aware of holsts shadow over us, so to speak, and its a lovely piano and we are delighted now that it is back in full working order. The broadwood built piano has been latterly in private ownership but its now returning to the London School, the place where holst composed, set down the seven movements, including mars, an expression of violence and terror, his critique of the first world war. Jupiter too, perhaps the most familiar. Mikesjob in broadwoods workshop was getting the piano to sound as it would have done in holsts time. I was aware of the album the planets, i grew up listening to it, so it was a great pride in working on it and it was going through your mind all the time. But now holsts piano has gone retuned, refurbished, rebuilt. A bravura performance, as Classical Music buffs would say, from this famous company. Ian reeve, bbc news. Lets go back to one of our top stories, the news that two tankers in the gulf of oman have been damaged in suspected attacks. And assistance is being given by the us navys fifth fleet among others, we have an image of one of these oil tankers, and i think we can bring that to you now. This is from the iranian broadcaster. And you can see their thick black smoke spiralling up their thick black smoke spiralling up into the airfrom one of their thick black smoke spiralling up into the air from one of the stricken oil tankers. There are conflicting reports about whether one of their vessels has sunk, but the iranians are saying that that isnt the case. They are courting an Iranian Court official who denies that one of the vessels has sunk. These attacks are following incidents, last month, and generally contributing, of course, to increase tensions in the area, especially between iran and the usa. Iran, according to the iranian broadcaster according to the iranian broadcaster a weird new say both of the vessels are still afloat, but one of them has sunk. The crew on both vessels are rescued, it is clearly a very serious situation, an attack that has inflicted a lot of damage on both vessels according to reports from irib news. We will keep an eye on any developments there for you. The time is now 11 30am. Letsjust move away from that right now and we can bring you the Weather Forecast with simon king. I think there are lots of flood warnings in place. Judging by the image behind you, we can see why. You dont need me to tell you that it has been a very wet 24 hours, even more than that across many parts of the uk. Flooding is a concern, they are about 23 flood warnings currently in force from the Environment Agency at the moment. You can see the reason why, this is the radar imagery from this morning. Heavy rain has been piling in across the south east of england and eastern scotland. That rain will pivot its way a bit further westward, but that rain will continue across northern areas. The rain towards central and eastern parts will break up into more showery rain throughout this afternoon. There will be some drier spells, the rain had not quite as intense. Temperatures, 14 or 15 celsius, fairly irrelevant really because it will stay cloudy and damp for many of us this afternoon. Tonight, while the rain will continue to clear westward across scotland, further rain spread in from the south west. That rain will tend to break up, i am hopeful that things will improve for many of us on friday. There will be some sunny spells finally breaking through the cloud and it will turn a bit warm as well with some sun travel shop that is not to say there are not some showers about. Highs of 19 celsius. Hello this is bbc newsroom live. The headlines. The first round of voting in the conservative leadership race has begun with results expected this lunchtime. Dozens of crew members have been rescued after abandoning two oil tankers hit by explosions in the gulf of oman. Almost three quarters of english hospitals miss nhs targets to treat Cancer Patients quickly enough. Hong kong shuts down some government offices in the financial district after the worst violence the city has seen in decades. A survey finds two thirds of students want universities to tell their parents if they have a serious Mental Health issues. 4000 critically endangered snails are being released back into the wild after a successful Breeding Programme at chester zoo. Time for sport now. What news on how chris froome is doing . The british cyclist chris froome is in intensive care after a high speed crash whilst on a practice run ahead of the stage fourth time trial at the criterium du dauphine. The four time Tour De France winner was left with a broken leg, a fractured elbow, and broken ribs after the accident. He also lost consciousness after losing control and hitting a wall at nearly 40 miles an hour in roanne. He was airlifted to hospital for surgery, which weve been told went well. Liverpool will get the new premier League Season under way on friday the 9th of august. The Champions League winners will be at home to norwich a tough start for the newly promoted side. Manchester city will open the defence of their title the following day, with a trip to west ham. For the first time in premier league history, the clubs will get a short mid season break in february, with a round of matches staggered over a two week period. All the fixtures are on the bbc sport website. We have two more matches to look forward to at the womens world cup today, with south africa playing china tonight, and australia taking on brazil at five oclock. Australia need a win after their shock defeat to italy in their opening game. That game is live on bbc two. Tomorrow, england and scotland are back in action. Scotland have been training this morning, ahead of their match against 2015 runners up japan. The scots showed great promise in theirfirst game, despite defeat to england, who face argentina. They are bottom of the group, though, so they really need to win tomorrow. Germany and the hosts france all but secured their places in the knock out stage with wins yesterday. France beat norway 2 1. They were leading when norway levelled through this really unfortunate own goal from the french defender wendie renard, somehow putting the ball into her own net under no pressure. But Eugenie Le Sommers penalty rescued them, in front of almost 35,000 fans in nice. Germany also made it two wins from two, as they beat spain 1 0. Bayern munich midfielder sara daebritzs scrappy first half goal settled the match. After his win at the masters earlier this year, there will be an even greater amount of attention on tiger woods later, when the third golf major of the season, the us open, gets under way at pebble beach in california. Hes not the only one carrying expectation on his shoulders, though, as our golf correspondent iain carter explains. It is nearly five years since rory mcilroy last won a major championship. Where better to end that drought that the most iconic of us open venues, here at pebble beach . Certainly he is full of confidence after a convincing victory at the canadian open last week. This is a us open, it has many different plotlines. Among them, the defending champion looking to be the first man in more than 100 years to win three successive us opens. Of course tiger woods is here. Not only is he back at the place where he played his finest golf in winning this championship by 15 shots back in 2000, he comes here back as the reigning masters champion. Weve picked out a few tee times for you rory mcilroy goes out at about 3 50pm uk time, with koepka off much later, just before tiger woods, whos due off at about 10 10pm, alongside two other former us open champions, Jordan Spieth and justin rose. We were hoping to bring you the latest from the cricket world cup match between india and new zealand, but its been raining at trent bridge. So no sign of play yet. You can keep up to date with the situation on the bbc sport website. Thats all from me for now. The first round of voting to select the next conservative party leader and Prime Minister is under way in parliament. The secret ballot opened at ten oclock this morning and any of the ten candidates who fail to secure at least 17 votes will be eliminated from the contest. A result is expected to be announced at lunchtime. Well, im joined byjo anne nadler, a conservative insider turned writer and politicaljournalist, and laura trott, former head of Strategic Communications at no10 when David Cameron was Prime Minister. Welcome to both of you. Lots to chew over with this. Lets begin with your general thoughts on how this first round of the contest is going to go. Thoughts on how this first round of the contest is going to golj thoughts on how this first round of the contest is going to go. I think the contest is going to go. I think the headlines are going to remain unchanged which is that Boris Johnson will remain the favourite, as it were, and is the most likely to go through to the second round. That is the last round when the members of the party vote. The critical thing is who is going to be joining him . What we will see today i think is two or three of the candidates with fewer, with less support dropping away. Then we need to ask where are their votes going to ask where are their votes going to go in the next round . Who will a tra nsfer to go in the next round . Who will a transfer to . Then things start to get really interesting. Laura, do you think, depending on who goes through, the dynamic could change significantly, moving away from this idea of Boris Johnson significantly, moving away from this idea of borisjohnson being the front runner . Or will that remain the case . I think it will remain the case. If you look at his declared numbers, as they think it is absolutely massive. You need 105 to definitely secure a place in the second round. He is close to that already. I think the interesting thing to watch with today will be who comes second, whether that is jeremy or michael. And where sajid javid is comparison to that. Michael has had a rocky time. If he comes out as close to jeremy and above sajid javid, i think that means he is back on track. Sajid javid has had a good week, will his numbers be high . | had a good week, will his numbers be high . Ithink had a good week, will his numbers be high . I think the second places where it is going to be interesting today. Do you think the view is that we are seeing amongst mps, are they really in line with what the constituencies are thinking . What the conservative member is who will eventually choose the next leader and Prime Minister with what they are thinking . Insofar as laura has quite rightly said that Boris Johnson now has the 105 backers to get him through to the last round. That would suggest that there is quite a lot of unanimity between the mps and the Party Members. And i think that where the difference may lie is in who they prefer to see in the second place. I think, frankly, i think Michael Goves chances of going through now are dashed. So my view is that the votes that transfer from, lets assume that perhaps Andrea Leadsom drops out or esther mcvey Andrea Leadsom drops out or esther m cvey d ro ps Andrea Leadsom drops out or esther mcvey drops out at this point, i think possibly some of their supporters might transfer to michael gove quite easily. I think they are more likely to go to dominic raab. |j disagree. I think his team are quietly confident that it has had less impact than what you think. |j think it has had a lot of impact amongst members. We wont have a very long to wait to find out, will be . How much concern do you think there is or is there concern about there is or is there concern about the fact that Boris Johnson has been, it seems, very deliberately kept away from too many high profile appearances in this contest so far . Lets begin with you, laura. Rory stewart tweeted yesterday that on reflection, the only thing that could stop boris was himself. As a frontrunner, the instinct is to be risk averse. You will try to minimise any opportunity for something to damage your campaign. You dont need to because you are the frontrunner. I think the way things are turning at the moment, he is going to need a little bit more. His team are saying that he has hustings and will be out there, but i think hustings and will be out there, but ithink in hustings and will be out there, but i think in order for this not to become a narrative, he will have to do more interviews and speak to more journalists otherwise it will turn nasty, and you saw that yesterday at the conference. Do you think Boris Johnson has done less in terms of the detail in how he would achieve brexit and other candidates . Not necessarily, as far as brexit is concerned. I think it is wrong to accuse him of having been unclear about this, he has a perfectly straightforward position to say he wa nts to straightforward position to say he wants to keep no deal on the table, although that may not be the preferred option. Several of the other candidates, there is not that much between them. There is in terms of emphasis, if you like, in terms of emphasis, if you like, in terms of tone. For a pure brexit point of view, esther mcvey has the most strident campaign. Going back to borisjohnson, if strident campaign. Going back to Boris Johnson, if i strident campaign. Going back to borisjohnson, if i was being really cynical about the way he is playing the campaign, you might suggest that he is looking to create tension between himself and journalist, he is looking to play the them and us game. Im not sure i am quite that cynical, but i wouldnt be surprised if other people interpreted it that way. That is out of the trump playbook, isnt it . Well, quite. I must admit, watching the launch yesterday, i felt incredible uncomfortable about the way that journalists were being hissed and booed, it seemed completely inappropriate. It was a press conference. After this round, as we await the results at lunchtime, do you think, laura, we are going to see the, because it is quite a conjugated timeframe, is there time for us to get a real sense, as the field narrows, of more detailfrom the town who are left and running on a whole range of issues . |j the town who are left and running on a whole range of issues . I think so, yes. There is another head of hustings on monday with the narrowed field which i think will be really helpful to bring out the things discussed. I think there will be a load of policy suggestions, interviews in the weekend papers. I think the opportunity for men is parliament to question the candidates on that on monday will be important. I think there will be this interrogation which there needs to be on brexit position, domestic policy, rebuilding the conservative party. I think there will be a desire amongst mps to see a full programme within each of those sections. Do think ultimately the conservative members who will be choosing between the final two are thinking, not only along the terms they are choosing a conservative leader but also a Prime Minister who is supposed to, or who has this job of trying to bring together a very divided parliament and a very divided parliament and a very divided country . Absolutely. Actually, it reflects well on the conservative party that they are putting candidates through this degree of scrutiny, albeit from a very low base. Lets not forget that both the two main Political Parties are ina both the two main Political Parties are in a great deal of trouble at the moment. Having been down to the conservative party, they would be in a situation, or rather have been able to choose, they wouldnt want to be choosing a new leader at this juncture. But given what an u nfortu nate set juncture. But given what an unfortunate set of circumstances thatis unfortunate set of circumstances that is they have got themselves into, to allow the candidates to go through lengthy processes like this and to be opened up to scrutiny is com pletely and to be opened up to scrutiny is completely right. That is why, as the frontrunner, i think Boris Johnson needs to rise to that occasion slightly more than he has done so far. Just speaking of scrutiny there, do you think there will be more scrutiny, undoubtedly, on the subject of a no deal brexit . Given what happened in parliament yesterday, labour tried, didnt succeed, labour led efforts, labour and other parties tried but didnt succeed in wresting control of the parliamentary timetable, the commons order paper to potentially block no deal brexit. That doesnt mean that that issue isnt going to come back to bite whichever of these candidates eventually becomes leader and Prime Minister. Absolutely, and almost all of the candidates have said that what they want to do is renegotiate and try to get a deal back through parliament. Parliamentary arithmetic tells you thatis parliamentary arithmetic tells you that is very difficult to do. The dividing line, interestingly, has been whether or not the candidates are willing to prorogue parliament. Dominic raab has said he would. Borisjohnson on the dominic raab has said he would. Boris johnson on the front page dominic raab has said he would. Borisjohnson on the front page of the times i said he is also not ruling this out. There is clarity on that particular issue is what people will be looking for. I was going to say the main difference seems to me between the approaches of the candidates and theresa may is that they are trying to find a consensus within the conservative party and within the conservative party and with the dup to be able to get a deal through on those votes. Whereas in the latter days of the may custodianship of this issue, she was looking to do a deal with labour in terms of finding an arrangement on the customs union. I think that is a significant change of direction from mays leadership. Whether or not there is enough time to do that, i mean, sajid javid has been quite interesting in this, he has put detail in what he would do in terms of the backstop which has prevented that from happening so far. In a sense, the prorogue issue, although a big headline, is something of a red herring. What we need to get into now is the detail of how this deal is going to be done. Would either of you call it at this point who you think will eventually emerge as the winner . I think, on the basis of current polling, it is overwhelmingly likely to be Boris Johnson. There is still the capacity for surprise and, as discussed, he could trip himself up, as any frontrunner might do. Would you agree with that assessment . frontrunner might do. Would you agree with that assessment . I would, i think the only person. I think jeremy hunt is in a reasonably strong position. The thing is that coming up through the middle with rory stewart, that could destabilise some of the voting patterns. I agree with laura. Thank you both very much. We are, what . Less than 15 minutes away from the counting beginning with the result expected about1pm. Some of the biggest names have gathered for the e3 show in los angeles. Nintendo has disappointed fa ns angeles. Nintendo has disappointed fans by revealing that a much anticipated game wont now be ready for the Christmas Holiday season. Our Technology Reporter is there. Nintendo has made something of a comeback, its switch console is already outperforming its predecessor, the wii u, and sales of games have been strong. But now the Company Needs to keep up that momentum with new games, and one of its highly anticipated titles has been delayed. Fans have been expecting a lot of noise about animal crossing, an evergreen nintendo favourite. But at its event at e3, nintendo said it needed a few more months to finish it to make sure that staff had a good worklife balance, avoiding the so called crunch when many studios force staff to work long hours in order to finish a game. So is nintendo doing enough to keep up momentum . They have got this pipeline of own first party developed content which has continued to, sort of, drip feed into the platform. That will keep the momentum going on. The second dimension to this is having a refresh of the hardware and possibly bringing in a cheaper version of the switch and broaden the appeal of the platform to another audience. With all the talk about cloud gaming here at e3, many investors were hoping nintendo might announce a cloud gaming partnership, perhaps with microsoft. There were also rumours nintendo is working on new hardware, perhaps a cheaper Nintendo Switch aimed at the chinese market. But nothing like that was announced here. Nintendo fans still have a lot to be excited about. There were plenty of Third Party Games announced at e3, with the arrival of witcher 3 showing that the switch is capable of more than expected. Also on the way are new pokemon games, one of the bestselling game franchises of all time. And at the end of nintendos e3 presentation, a surprise, the company is working on a sequel to its hit game the legend of zelda, breath of the wild. So while fans have to wait a little longer for animal crossing, some of the switchs biggest titles are still to come. Bbc news, los angeles. In a moment well have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news. 00v the first round of voting in the conservative leadership race has begun results are expected this lunchtime. Reports of explosions and fires on two oil tankers in the gulf of oman. American vessels in the area are responding, both crews have been rescued. Almost three quarters of english hospitals miss nhs targets to treat Cancer Patients quickly enough. Oil prices rally after an incident involving two tankers in the gulf of oman. Unconfirmed reports of successive explosions come amid heightened tensions in the region. Dozens of crew members have now been rescued. Sir philip green has thanked landlords and suppliers who backed the deal that saved his retail empire. In an interview with the bbc, he batted away the suggestion topshop would have been on the point of going bust. Shares in Majestic Wines tumble as the group says it is in advanced discussions to sell stores and the chairman unexpectedly resigns. It has not been a great morning for majestic. The shares are down, investors are deserting the stock, and the chairman is leaving the business. Youd think there would always be a market for wine but it seems, that market is changing rapidly. Majestic tends to sell in mostly suburban and out of town locations. That model isnt working. Instead, its sister business, naked wines, seems to be faring much better. Thats a subscription business. The boss wants to ditch the stores and sell off the warehouse business. He says hes got multiple interested parties. If the boss of majestic gets his way, this brand will disappearfrom the high street. It has been there for 40 years. Is he making the right call . That is a difficult answer, i would safe, financially, yes. If you look at nakeds growth compared to majestics, it is higher. But we have seen the story a lot about retailers moving away from the high street toward online. We are also seeing online giants like amazon with pop up stores, so that connection with the customer is a careful one, the physical connection isa careful one, the physical connection is a fragile one and must be protected. For someone like majestic to keep their brand alive. That is interesting. We talk a lot about the shift in the retail model, how more people are going online, also majestic and the value of the pound, how that is affecting their sales as well. Whether you blame brexit or the retail environment or whatever, you still have this megatrend of younger people drinking less than their parents. So what does that mean for the subscript and based model which they say is the future . I think you are right, but people, young people still enjoy drinking. So there is still a market there. I think that will evolve for majestic or naked, as they will be called, looking at their ranges and trying to reduce low alcohol or no alcohol drinks and trying to persuade people to try different vintages etc. Very naked indeed. Lets see who might be interested in this business. He wa nts to interested in this business. He wants to sell as much as possible so who do you think would go for it . Well, the frontrunner at the moment is elliott advisory which owns waterstones. There are a couple of us us waterstones. There are a couple of us us based businesses. It is one of those things that they will have to, they will likely have to try to sell off the whole physical chain, about 200 stores in one go if they dont want to be left with a load of stores that are the worst performing stores. 0k, thomas, we will leave it there. Thank you very much. Lets check in quickly with some other news. The supermarket morrison is ramping up a Home Delivery partnership with amazon. Its planning to expand its online groceries platform to new cities throughout the uk. Last month, it loosened an exclusive arrangement it had in place with ocado. Most people who used the governments help to buy scheme could have bought a home without it. This is according to an official report out today. The National Audit office also found that one in 25 of participants had Household Incomes of over £100,000. The accounting giant pwc has been fined £6. 5 million over what the Financial Reporting council has described as a serious lack of competence. The fines relate to the companys audit of the Cloud Computing firm redcentric. Plenty more on that story on our live page. 62 a barrel at the moment, set up more than 3 . This is after the incident between the two oil tankers in the gulf of oman. It sent the oil price climbing. Elsewhere, you can see what happened to anyone who sells energy. That is lifting the ftse at the moment. The financial regulator in the uk has declined to take action on this bank over its disgraced restructuring unit, because they said it concluded that it lacked the Relevant Authority to do so. Quite controversial. Lots more on that story on our web page as well. Thats all the business news. Now its time for a look at the weather with simon king. I have got some better news in the forecast so stick with me throughout because there is something dry and bright and warm coming up. That is the scene at the moment in the scottish borders, a lot of rainfall here throughout the night. This is the radar imagery, the rain has fallen through the night and this morning. You can see, particularly across the north east of england and the south east of scotland, that rainfall pushing its way in. Heavy rainfall pushing its way in. Heavy rain this morning towards the south east of england, heavy showers here at the moment. The heavy rain will continue to move its way further westward, the north east scotla nd further westward, the north east scotland will bear the brunt of the heavy rain. The rain across the south east will break up into more showery outbreaks. Elsewhere, it remains cloudy. There will be some spots of rain in a northern and central areas. Sunshine over western scotla nd central areas. Sunshine over western scotland and Northern Ireland. Temperatures between 13 and 16 degrees. Tonight, the rain will continue to push its way into western scotland, then more rain spread in from the south and the west. Quite a damn starch on a friday morning. Some clear spells in northern areas. Quite a damp start. We have these weather fronts rotating, like a washing machine. It continues to give moisture and rain. Through friday morning, a wet start for england and wales will stop into the afternoon, the brain will gradually break up and there will be sunny spells, not completely dry but sunny spells, not completely dry but sunny and dry. A bit warmer as well. The temperature is getting up to 19 celsius. That area of low pressure will continue to move its way west but will still influences whether over the weekend. That will bring rain, on saturday to Northern Ireland, western scotland and wales. A few showers just ahead of that, but again, for many it should be drier than it has been. There will be sunny spells. Those temperatures where you get the sunshine coming out will feel quite pleasant. Highs of 17 out will feel quite pleasant. Highs of17 out will feel quite pleasant. Highs of1719 out will feel quite pleasant. Highs of 17 19 degrees. A mix of showers and sunshine. More rain coming in to Northern Ireland and wales, and the south west. Again, where the sun comes out, it will feel fairly decent with highs of between 16 and 19 degrees. While next week will be drier and brighter and warmer, the emphasis is on the. Youre watching bbc newsroom live, these are todays main stories the first round of voting in the conservative leadership race hasjust finished results are expected in an hour ill be here in 15 minutes with politics live for coverage of the first round of voting in the tory leadership contest, reaction and analysis from my panel. Reports of explosions and fires on two oil tankers in the gulf of oman us vessels in the area are responding both crews have been rescued almost three quarters of english hospitals miss nhs targets to treat Cancer Patients quickly enough. Hong kong shuts down some government offices after the worst violence the city has seen in decades. A survey finds two thirds of students want universities to tell their parents if they have serious Mental Health issues. Good morning. Welcome to bbc newsroom live. Im annita mcveigh. Good morning and welcome to the bbc newsroom live. The first round of voting in the conservative leadership contest is underway. Tory mps have their first chance to vote for the person they want to see lead the party and the country. At least one of the ten candidates vying to be our next Prime Minister will be knocked out of the race. Tory mps are holding a private ballot, with contenders needing a minimum of seventeen votes to carry on. Voting started in the house of commons this morning at around ten oclock. With a result expected to be announced by the 1922 committee at around one oclock this afternoon. Further ballots will then be held next week, with the two most popular mps moving to a run off of tory Party Members. The winner is expected to be announced in the week of 22july. Our assistant political editor, norman smith, is in westminster. He is waiting for news. Can you give us he is waiting for news. Can you give usa he is waiting for news. Can you give us a sense he is waiting for news. Can you give us a sense of the atmosphere with the voting taking place in secret . It has just finished. Its been busy, busy, busy. Not a huge amount of communication. Boris johnson arrived last of all the candidates, there was a huge scram around him but he chose not to engage with the media. Going in without saying anything. Rory stewart spent the time outside the Committee Room talking to reporters, saying he thinks hes the best placed candidate to beat Boris Johnson. If he gets through to the ballot of Party Members. Philip hammond came out and he wouldnt tell me who he voted for. Its difficult because its a secret ballot and no one really knows how people are actually going to vote despite public declarations. Very obviously Boris Johnson despite public declarations. Very obviously borisjohnson is the frontrunner. Mostly today it is not about who gets chopped off, but who will become the challenger to Boris Johnson, the tussle for second place where youve gotjeremy hunt, probably, michael gove and sajid javid who launched his campaign yesterday. A better launch than many people thought likely. This morning a warning about the danger of no deal. I dont accept it would be disorderly, what i do accept is that it will be very challenging for the country, at least for the first few months. Eventually, you would come to some sort of agreement. But it would be challenging. I have never shied away from that, i dont think anyone should pretend that somehow no deal is absolutely perfect, that you can sail through it. Challenging enough that some people will lose theirjobs . Well, it depends what the government reaction is. And one of the things that we also havent done as a government today is properly set out, or at least plan for ourselves, what would be the governments action in terms of economic policy. Because that will make a big difference. So for example. Massive stimulus for the economy. You would have to, yes, absolutely. You would have to have a stimulus for the economy through tax changes, some supply side changes. Most available today, its difficult to say, but probably Andrea Leadsom, maybe esther mcvey. Thats a raised concern that the remaining women in the contest could be voted out. This was Andrea Leadsom this morning. Are you feeling confident . Do you feel you have enough support . I am definitely not going to pull out, and, yes, i am feeling confident. Thanks very much. If you lost in the first round, do you know who you would support afterwards . I am actually trying to win the leadership election, so i am working on my own campaign. Thank you. It looks as if borisjohnson is pretty much out in front. Joining me is Iain Duncan Smith who threw his weight behind Boris Johnson. Is Iain Duncan Smith who threw his weight behind borisjohnson. I mean, he has managed, so far, to get the most support, but there is a lot of an ease that hes never faced up to public debate, engaged in real difficult interviews. Hes kept himself tap away from the media. People will understand that, first of all you have to see every mp and he has been, for hustings now. With all respect to your authority and that of your counterparts, my general view is that there is nobody tougher than a bunch of mps sitting straight at him in a group. Questioning him and calling him, he has had questions on everything. Hes done a lot of that understand very well and comes through on all the hustings. He will go more into the hustings. He will go more into the media as the competition gets more to the public. Will he take part in the Live Television debates before the hustings are over in parliament . Im not sure, i havent discussed it with him. My senses im not sure that Live Television debate have any impact on mps. Mps watch Less Television than most others understand you want to do this internally. He will, im sure, do televised debates once they get to the point where they have to go to the point where they have to go to the membership. Its also an opportunity to talk to the country. Whether you do it early or late, it will happen, im certain. A lot of questions about trust in borisjohnson, including from brexiteers like you, whether he will live up to his pledge to take britain out of the eu, by october 31. Philip hammond said its impassable and would be a car crash. With respect to the present chancellor, i use the words advisedly, i have to say that he has sounded that message of doom pretty much since day one. I dont agree with him. Its not, as borisjohnson has said, what we want, we want an arrangement which allows a free day technical free trade deal. But you wont achieve it unless they are clear that whatever we leave on the sist. Clear that whatever we leave on the 31st. Our priority is to get that deal but if we cant get it, they will be a myriad of other deals like landing rights, medicines, stuff like that to be sorted. You must have that determination to leave on the 31st and i dont think it will be what the chancellor said. Id love to do it alongside europe. Where is Boris Johnson love to do it alongside europe. Where is borisjohnson on the idea of provoking parliament, there was a report in the times this morning suggesting that he had reassured brexiteers, members of the research group, that he wasnt ruling that out as an option. To be quite frank ive never been in favour of pro rogaine for its own sake. People wont understand what this is about but it allows the government to Say Parliament stops, we do things, and comes back again. It happens for the queens speech and opening of parliament. Could he do it, yes, will he, its unlikely. He said to me yesterday, you dont need to prorogued parliament, you need to prorogued parliament, you need to prorogued parliament, you need to recognise that parliament has to decide what it wants to do. You saw yesterday that those who try to rule out leaving whatever fails. They failed by a margin. That margin, against ruling out departure will actually get bigger, not less. Soi will actually get bigger, not less. So i dont believe parliament is going to stop it. I believe that the new Prime Minister, if it is Boris Johnson, i hope, will be on a clear track to the 31st with one level, which as we are ready, and do the eu wa nt to which as we are ready, and do the eu want to do an arrangement or dont you . Its your decision. Iain duncan smith, thank you for your time. We get the result is pretty much bang on when pm. The names will be read out in alphabetical order with michael gove first, how many votes the candidates have all got, any you havent got 17, its goodbye. Then we move onto the next ballot on tuesday when the threshold has doubled to 32 mps backing them. A much higher threshold on tuesday. Over the weekend, who knows, maybe some of the weaker candidates might just pull out before tuesday s caballus. Norman, thank you very much. Two tankers in the gulf of oman have been damaged in a suspected attack. The incident happened in the gulf of oman a key oil shipping route between the Arabian Peninsula and iran. A fire broke out. The incident happened in a key eyes shipping route between the Arabian Peninsula and iran. The us navys 5th fleet says its assisting after receiving separate distress calls from two oil tankers in the gulf of oman. The two ships have been identified as the kokura courageous and the front altair. A spokesman for the kokura said the 21 crew members were safe after abandoning the ship. Both ships have been evacuated. Tension is high afterfour tankers we re tension is high afterfour tankers were damaged there last month. Our defence correspondent is there. What is the latest you have on this attack on these tankers . The big question is what happens to them . Either they the big question is what happens to them . Either they hit the big question is what happens to them . Either they hit something, or something was, you know, fired at them, essentially. We dont know the a nswer to them, essentially. We dont know the answer to that. They looked like explosions, from what we hear. At least one of the ships, it seems to be from the picture that we have seen a be from the picture that we have seen a fire in the middle of the tanker. Pretty dead central. We do know, as you said that tensions have been rising between the us and iran, between the saudis and iran. And the us, last week, i was on uss abraham lincoln, the Aircraft Carrier sent to the gulf region because of those tensions to make clear that they we re tensions to make clear that they were to take any action necessary to protect us interests, these arent us ships, but what has happened will cause concern, and we also know that there was an attack, or has been an attack on four other cargo vessels just off the coast. This is different. The suspicion that there was that limpet mines, mines used on ships at anchor were under way, and through the strait, that of essential shipping channel, where more than 1000 vessels pass each day mostly carrying oil. I think there is going to be more concern and tension, and the question of who did this, and how did it happen. Thank you for that update. The inquest into the deaths of eight People Killed in the 2017 attack at London Bridge has been hearing more evidence from the Intelligence Services regarding the investigation into the men behind the attack. Richard lister is out of the court this morning. What more have you learned this morning . Weve been listening to a second day of evidence from a man identified as witness l. He is a senior officer in mi5 witness l. He is a senior officer in m15 who had been talking about what he knew about the attackers before the London Bridge attacks injune 2017. He has acknowledged today that administrative errors may have potentially denied the investigation into the lead attacker, denied investigators the chance to learn about his association with another of the attackers, a man who m15 didnt really know about until after the attack took place. But the court has been told that one of the attackers tried to go to turkey in march 2016 where he was staffed by the authorities in bologna. They asked him what he was doing in turkey, and he said he was going to bea turkey, and he said he was going to be a terrorist before correcting himself to say tourist. The italian authorities followed that up with mi6, the secret Intelligence Service in the uk, but the court has been hearing that mi6 delayed, for a couple of months, translating the request, then send it on to the one person in m15. That person didnt act on the request and didnt file it. Witness al acknowledged that was a potential opportunity to discover the link between Youssef Zaghba and khuram butt a year before the attack, and investigate the potential that had been missed. He continues with his evidence here. Nearly three quarters of nhs services in england failed to treat a new Cancer Patients within 62 days ofan a new Cancer Patients within 62 days of an urgent referral last year, according to research by the bbc. Cancer charities expressed concern about figures but nhs england say it is due to an increasing demand on services. Asian shares have slumped after the Hong Kong Market was hit for a second straight session following massive street protests. The hang seng index was down more to. 8 today, extending yesterdays 1. 7 loss. The authorities have closed government offices for the rest of the week after violent clashes broke out over a controversial new extradition laws. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets in yesterday as tensions heightened. Extradition would be allowed from Mainland China to hong kong. Opponents say the plans would be abused by beijing, to pursue political enemies. Sir philip green has thanked landlords and suppliers who backed the deal that saved his retail empire. The rescue plan for the Arcadia Group which includes topshop and burtons, was approved in a vote yesterday. It will involve closing 48 stores with the loss of thousands of jobs, but closing 48 stores with the loss of thousands ofjobs, but cutting the rent on around 200 others. Now we join politics lie for special coverage of the results of the first ballot in the conservative leadership contest. The next leader of the party and the next Prime Minister of the united kingdom. We will bring you the results. It is thursday, 1215, we live in westminster. Borisjohnson Boris Johnson supported james heb, michael gove supporter rachel maclean, the presenter of the