MPs reject attempt to seize control of Commons agenda in latest attempt to prevent no-deal Brexit

Sam Gyimah, the former minister who dropped out of the Conservative leadership race earlier this week, has tweeted: "People are fetishizing the Oct 31 EU exit date, just like Theresa May did with 29th March.

"If contenders are serious about the renegotiations they are promising, then Brexit cannot be delivered by 31st. Better to be straight with the public now, than to stoke disillusion." 

Cancer patients in three-fifths of NHS trusts in England are waiting too long for treatment and the devastating effects of delays are being “ignored” by ministers and health service chiefs, MPs have said, writes Alex Matthews-King.

A damning report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee said the government and NHS England must regain control over “unacceptable” waiting lists.

It also criticised the “troubling” lack of interest in those left for months without treatment.

Read the full story here.

Rob Ford, a politics professor from Manchester University, has cast further doubt on the Boris Johnson polling.

On Twitter, he said the survey was "badly designed", and added: "*If* people were well informed, and good forecasters of their own behaviour, and of the political context, and we knew how votes would transform into seats, then this poll would be informative. But none of these things is true."

Andrea Leadsom has rubbished the attempt to block no-deal Brexit taking place in the Commons later.

"You can't just legislate against something that it is a legal default. As the law says we are leaving [the EU] at end of October," she told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire.

"You could vote to revoke, it could be for a further vote in Parliament... but defining no deal is extraordinarily difficult."

Theresa May today pledges to introduce a legally binding target forcing the UK to end its contribution to climate change by the middle of the century, writes Ashley Cowburn.

In one of her last acts in office before leaving No 10, the prime minister will lay legislation in the Commons, setting a target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

It comes after the government’s own climate change advisers made the recommendation last month to enact the legally binding target – ahead of a UN climate action summit in September.

Read more here.

Boris Johnson is about to launch his leadership bid in central London. Political Editor Andrew Woodcock texts to say the venue is packed, with lots of MPs present, including Chris Grayling, Gavin Williamson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Michael Fallon, Mark Francois, and Iain Duncan Smith. 

Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, is introducing Mr Johnson. He says we need an individual with the political imagination to lead the country, and promised a "full-heated and unstinting" support for whoever wins the leadership contest. 

But he said the party needed a character who was "big enough, strong enough" to rise to the challenges facing the country. "A managerial approach to politics will not suffice," he said to cheers. 

Mr Cox said the Tories need a unifying leader who can "out campaign and outfight Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage at any time and any corner of our country."

He introduces Boris Johnson as a person who can lead the party through "two successful terms".

Johnson is now on stage, he says political parties have "entered a yellow box" and are unable to exit as the country deserves better from their leaders. 

"Now is the time to remember our duty to the people and the Brexit vote... it wasn't just about democracy... immigration... now is the time to unite this country and this society.

"We cannot deliver on that task until we deliver on the primary request of the people - after three years and two missed deadlines we must leave the EU on 31 October.

"We must do better than the current withdrawal agreement that has been rejected three times."

He says he is not aiming for a no-deal scenario, but says it's a vital tool in the negotiations. 

Interestingly, as Mr Johnson spoke, an anti-Brexit campaigner could be heard shouting "stop Boris" from the street outside.

Johnson says the UK will "not get a result" if the government keeps kicking the can down the road. "Kick the can again, and we kick the bucket," he tells those present in a warning about the Conservatives' electoral prospects. 

He says when the UK gets a "better deal", Brexit will leave the front pages - as people then concentrate getting the best trading deal.

On the domestic front, Johnson says the government must end the educational attainment gap. It should be the fundamental purpose of the government to bridge the opportunity gap in society. 

He says while he was mayor the murder rate was cut by 50%.

Everything he did was driven by a desire for social justice, Mr Johnson claims."

Johnson says our friends abroad think of all the values that are expressed in the union flag - "They admire it deeply," he says. 

"I do not for one minute underestimate the difficulty of the task ahead but I took London through riots and strikes and the Olympics and we brought this city together," he says.

What I want to do for the whole country is what we did in London, he adds.

Johnson says he wants to protect the UK from socialism, and promote modern, moderate conservatism.