Hello this is bbc news. Boris johnson has emerged as the clear frontrunner in the conservative leadership election to determine the next prime minister, with more than a third of the votes cast by tory mps in the first ballot of the contest. The field of ten conservative mps has been narrowed to seven with the former cabinet ministers, andrea leadsom, mark harper and esther mcvey, eliminated after failing to secure enough support from their colleagues. Here are the results, announced in the last hour by the 1922 backbench committee. Way out in front with a commmanding lead of 114 votes is the favourite Boris Johnson, followed by the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, on 43 votes and environment secretary, michael gove, who got 37 votes. Theyre followed by the former brexit secretary dominic raab on 27 votes, the home secretary, sajid javid, who got 23 votes, health secretary, matt hancock, on 20 votes and rory stewart who just made it with 19 votes. The three mps who didnt get enough votes to progress were andrea leadsom, mark harper, and ester mcvey who all got below the 17 votes required. Further ballots will be held next week, with the two most popular mps then Going Forward to a vote of the Wider Conservative Party membership. The winner is expected to be announced in the week of 22 july. Our chief political correspondent, vicki young, is in the central lobby of the houses of parliament for us. The scale of borisjohnsons win has raised eyebrows, so has the fact that the number two isjeremy hunt. That is right. I think everyone feels that borisjohnson is the frontrunner in all of this, and the campaign really is to see who is going to challenge him. I think, actually, jeremy hunt might be slightly disappointed that he is not further out in front ahead of the rest of the chasing pack, if you like. There is all to play for, of course. 30 votes immediately up for grabs because of the three who are dropping out. Of course, each campaign will be fighting very hard to try and secure at those and maybe steal some others from elsewhere. Lets speak to david who is backing rory stewart who is very much seen as somebody who didnt have a hope, really. He is still quite some way behind. Make the case for rory stewart. A lot of people didnt think he would get the votes he needed today, but he has done that. In fact, he is the candidate that is surprisingly on the upside was that he is, along with borisjohnson, the candidate that has done much better than people thought was going to do today. A lot of the other candidates, i think, today. A lot of the other candidates, ithink, will today. A lot of the other candidates, i think, will probably be disappointed. What is happening is that rory stewart is connecting with the British Public and Party Membership. There was a poll this morning that showed rory into second place amongst conservative party members. We need a clear choice when it comes to the vote for party member is. Rory is demonstrating he is the most forceful, articulate, courageous, is the most forceful, articulate, courageous, if you like, advocate of an alternative vision for the conservative party. So when i think the british people can trust as prime minister. And there is a big opportunity, i think now. What it has demonstrated is there is some momentum behind rory stewart, and i hope that we can build on that and will start to attract more mp5 who realise that rory can win this, can get to the final two, and he can attract support and has the support ofa attract support and has the support of a lot of members and the general public. But he got 19 votes out of 330, that is the truth. How will he persuade these fellow mps to back him . And his views on brexit, as we know, they do not chime with the tory party grassroots. Rory will go out and argue the case of the party when the ship and the general public. Accepting the hard reality of this debate that the parameters oii of this debate that the parameters on which we are working. And he will do it ina on which we are working. And he will do it in a truthful way, levelling with the british people, straight talking, that is the kind of candidate he is, that is the kind of person he is. I think that the public are responding very well to that, that is coming through amongst some of the Party Membership where he is now poling. Some of the Party Membership where he is now poling. We have seen on twitter that there is a certain amount of love for rory stewart, but it is coming from journalists most of the time. Is it really coming from the grassroots conservative . This morning there was a survey and rory stewart was in second place behind borisjohnson. Rory stewart was in second place behind Boris Johnson. This rory stewart was in second place behind borisjohnson. This survey was not done in a place where people of rorys ilk tend to do well in surveys but he is in second place. I think what the British Public are realising and Party Numbers are realising and Party Numbers are realising is that there is a bit of anx realising is that there is a bit of an x factor about rory. He has the ability to connect with people, he isa very ability to connect with people, he is a very charismatic, if you like, unconventional politician. May be too unknown, if you like. He has only been in the cabinet for a couple of months. That is an important point, he has only been in the cabinet since may, but in that time, asa the cabinet since may, but in that time, as a pretty unknown figure, he has come through. The more the british people see of him, the more they like him, the response that he is getting, first of all, the rory walks, the engagement with the public, the engagement at the launch, the Television Debates coming up where he will perform very strongly, i think. Coming up where he will perform very strongly, ithink. In coming up where he will perform very strongly, i think. In those circumstances, we have got a candidate that has got that ability to connect to reach out, to win support, he is a great communicator, he is someone that could unify the country and beat jeremy corbyn. Could he unify the Parliamentary Conservative Party . That is the issue here we have seen the divisions over the last three years. He is the only candidate really saying theresa mays deal is the way to carry on. Is that honestly going to carry on. Is that honestly going to bring together your party . Look, lets put a choice out there to the party members. Rory will go out and argue the case, the case that i think is right for the country and for the conservative party. But he needs to have the opportunity to do that. We know, increasingly, where the public is coming from. We know where Party Numbers are starting to move to, but they wants to have that debate, that choice between Boris Johnson and rory stewart. And mps have an opportunity, if they back rory on tuesday, to enable him to go forward and make that case. And i think he is very exciting figure that has emerged very quickly in british politics, and the longer he is in the race, the greater the chance he has got. He is the candidate, as i say, who could pull off a surprise. We know Boris Johnson is the overwhelming favourite to be the next leader of the conservative party. We are going to need something special, someone perhaps a little different, a little less conventional in order to win that debate with the party must. That is exactly what rory stewart can do. Safety first candidate, wont do that. There are supported from different camps. I am going to speak to someone else and bring in maggie. You are supporting matt hancock, is that right . Yes. Is he disappointed with the result . Know, we got more votes than we anticipated. We feel the momentum is with us. We have got good feedback from mps. What is it about matt hancock that has made you back him . It is not just hancock that has made you back him . It is notjust the hancock that has made you back him . It is not just the fact that he hancock that has made you back him . It is notjust the fact that he has got a very well thought out plan for brexit, but he has got a vision for the future as well. It is more than just brexit. Nobody should be defined by that. He has good plans. What has caused peoples i is his pro business approach. Without business, the engine of the country doesnt turn at all. So that is really good, we need to keep going and keep our economy really strong. You feel that it is time to skip a generation, if you like, to go to a younger leader who can possibly be in place for longer . It is notjust about age, it is about ability. Matt is the youngest candidate but that doesnt matter at all. He at the energy and enthusiasm and the ideas and policies. Ithink energy and enthusiasm and the ideas and policies. I think what we have had over the last couple of weeks have been great policies from all candidates. The ones that matt is talking about have been pro business, taking the fight to corbyn, and also to the lib dems as well. That is what we are about. We need to reach out to the middle ground and make sure that we keep the conservative in power. For those who are left in, he is pretty near the bottom of the pile, isnt he . Who are left in, he is pretty near the bottom of the pile, isnt ham is all to play for. I think there are three candidates within four votes to each other. We have got more votes than we anticipated. So the moment is definitely there. Thank you very much indeed. Around here, and im sure in the tea rooms behind the scenes and on the phones, tory mps will be getting a lot of phone calls i imagine in the next 2a hours. Now its time for a look at the weather with ben rich. It has turned into yet another day of heavy rain across some parts of the uk. This wet weather really has been piling up. In shropshire, since the weekend, we have recorded over 150 millimetres of rain. It would normally take a couple of months, or a little longer than that, to see that much rain. So it has been exceptional. You can see from the radar picture one band of very wet weather draped across eastern scotland and north east england, there is more rain further south as well. But for a favoured few, there has been a little bit of sunshine. This was how it looked in the Western Islands of scotland earlier on. I think some parts of western scotland will cling onto sunshine through the afternoon, but generally we will see increasing cloud from the east, outbreaks of rain moving westwards. Pretty breezy as well across many parts of scotland. But temperatures may be up to 16 degrees there in glasgow, just ten in aberdeen, ten in newcastle as well where it will stay grey and damp through the day. Northern ireland getting away with some drier weather and some sunny spells. Further south across wales, the midlands, east anglia, down towards the south of england, some spells of sunshine, yes, but generally more in the way of cloud and some showery rain. There could even be the odd thunderstorm here and there. As we go through this evening and tonight, we will keep some showers towards the south, also some heavy rain moving across northern scotland. Then the rain across england and wales will pep up again by the end of the night. A few clear spells here and there. A cool night in the north of the uk, a mild one further south. Low pressure still with us as we close out the working week. You can see bands of wet weather spiralling around below. We will see outbreaks of rain tomorrow morning across wales, the east midlands, extending to northern england. A mixture of southern spells and one or two heavy showers further south, also dry weather as well. Northern ireland and scotland also seeing dry weather, some sunny spells. Temperatures 16 19 celsius. The temperature starting to climba celsius. The temperature starting to climb a bit. That is a trend which will go the weekend. There will be showers and longer spells of rain at times. On saturday, one or two places will get up to 20 degrees. We keep the slightly higher temperatures on sunday. We will see showers, some sunshine as well. Things do settle down as we head into the start of next week for a little while at least. Borisjohnson emerges as the clear frontrunner to be the next conservative leader, after the first round of voting by tory mps. Three former ministers are knocked out, narrowing the field to seven. Andrea leadsom, mark harper, and esther mcvey are all eliminated, after failing to win enough support from colleagues. The pensions secretary, amber rudd, says the race remains open. The fact that boris has a good lead amongst mps is as nothing we start again, its back to zero when it goes to members and then there will be 16 hustings all across the country and anything can happen. Oil prices rise sharply, after two tankers are hit by explosions in a suspected attack in the gulf of oman. Almost three quarters of english hospitals miss nhs targets to treat