Brexit news: Boris Johnson falls behind Jeremy Hunt in poll of British voters' preferred PM, amid Trump-esque hustings claim and no-deal hint

And that's it for the hustings in Exeter. The candidates will appear at two more events tomorrow, first in Carlisle at 1pm and then in Manchester at 7pm.

Lord Chancellor David Gauke is facing de-selection as the MP for South West Hertfordshire tonight.

Fellow cabinet member Angela Rudd says the motion of no confidence is "ludicrous", tweeting: "Rounding on colleagues in this way is the type of behaviour you’d expect from the hard left. He has my full support, and I hope this is shared by Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson."

Leave campaigners are targeting "Remainer" MPs in an attempt to "make the Conservative party conservative again" - even though Mr Gauke voted for Ms May's Brexit deal.

Donald Trump got several mentions in this mornings Conservative Party hustings. Mr Johnson said he "talks sense" in many areas, while Mr Hunt seems to admire his economic policies.

Meanwhile the US president was joking with Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Japan, telling the Russian leader: "Don't meddle in the election!"

An American writer describes his experience of watching Boris Johnson talking about a no-deal Brexit.

According to a new YouGov poll, Jeremy Hunt has overtaken Boris Johnson as the general public's preferred prime minister (if you had to choose between them).

Conservative voters, however, prefer Boris Johnson.

In a further bid to have Chris Williamson suspended from the parliamentary party, more than 60 MPs have written to Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) chair John Cryer urging him to launch an investigation.

They say Mr Williamson has the party into disrepute over the antisemitism row and call for the case to be referred to the influential backbench body at its next meeting on Wednesday.

If approved it would then go a vote of the full PLP at Westminster the following week.

The motion states: "Due to the exceptional circumstances in this case we are of the view that the allegation of bringing the Labour Party into disrepute made against Chris Williamson warrants an investigation by the parliamentary committee under this standing order and full consideration given to a recommendation of removal of the whip to the PLP. We therefore seek to ask the PLP to take action to suspend the whip from Chris Williamson for a period of a year."

The signatories include Yvette Cooper, Dame Margaret Hodge, Wes Streeting, David Lammy and Diana Johnson.

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar has warned "we mean what we say" about not renegotiating Theresa May's Brexit deal.

He refused to comment on the Tory leadership race at the end of a British-Irish Council summit meeting in Manchester but re-affirmed his government's position.

Mr Varadkar said: "That is the Withdrawal Agreement won't be re-opened, without a Backstop there will be no transition period or implementation phase, but that we are willing to examine the joint political declaration and make amendments to that if that enables us to proceed to an orderly Brexit with a guarantee there will be no hard border between north and south which is our shared objective."

Cabinet minister David Lidington had earlier pointed out that both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have said they do not want a no-deal Brexit, and that it is important to "take their word on that".

Speaking at the same event, Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon said there was now a "real danger" of a no-deal Brexit becoming "inevitable" .

She said: "I think there's a real danger right now, the positioning of the contenders for leadership of Tory Party starts to make no deal inevitable.

"I think there's an alternative to no deal, which is no Brexit through a second referendum, but there's a danger we end up on a path to no deal that's very difficult to stop and that is of significant concern.

Nicola Sturgeon, David Lidington and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during a press conference a British Irish Council (BIC) summit meeting in Manchester. 

"I do think a responsible government and responsible prime minister would make clear that avoiding no deal is an absolute priority, and would not allow UK to crash out of the EU with no deal.

"What I think we should all seek to avoid is further time being wasted in this process with a futile attempt to re-open and re-negotiate the Withdrawal Agreement... I think it's very dangerous to continue to waste time assuming something can be achieved that the European Union has made very clear, can't be achieved."

Comparisons between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump include the extreme length of their ties.