Brexit news: 'Blindingly obvious' - John Bercow vows to stop Tory front-runner suspending parliament to force through no deal
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John Bercow has insisted it is "so blindingly obvious" that Tory front-runners will not be able to suspend parliament to force through a no deal.
The Speaker weighed into the row over Dominic Raab's suggestion that parliament could be prorogued to ensure Brexit happens on 31 October, saying MPs "will not be evacuated" from the decision-making process.
It comes as Tory leadership rivals tore into each other, with ex-minister Sam Gyimah accusing his rivals of "Trumpian machismo".
Meanwhile, voters have been heading to the polls in Peterborough to replace disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya, with Nigel Farage's Brexit Party hoping to snatch the seat from Labour.
To follow events as they unfolded, see our live coverage below
Tory minister Jesse Norman has ruled himself out of the leadership race in a rather long-winded Twitter thread.
Nominations for the Tory leadership will officially open on Monday and there are 11 candidates hoping to get on the ballot paper.
Senior Tories have changed the rules so the runners need at least 8 supporters to qualify.
Here are the frontrunners:
Boris Johnson
Ex-foreign secretary and mayor of London, who spearheaded the Vote Leave campaign, is widely seen as the frontrunner.
He is wedded to the 31 October Brexit deadline, even if that means leaving without a deal.
Jeremy Hunt
The foreign secretary has ruled nothing out on Brexit, but insists that his experience as a negotiator in both business and politics means he could go to Brussels and secure a better deal.
He believes a no-deal Brexit would be "political suicide" for the Conservatives as parliament would force a general election.
Dominic Raab
The former Brexit secretary is a hardline Eurosceptic. He wants Brussels to ditch the backstop as part of a new deal but says he will walk away without a deal on October 31 if necessary.
He has also not ruled out suspending parliament to ensure that MPs cannot block the UK's exit.
Michael Gove
The environment secretary, who scuppered Mr Johnson's last leadership bid in 2016, is again positioning himself in opposition to the frontrunner.
Unlike Mr Johnson, he has not ruled out seeking a further delay to Brexit and warned pursuing a no-deal scenario could lead to a Jeremy Corbyn-led government.
Sajid Javid
The home secretary's message to Tory MPs is that "you don't beat the Brexit Party by becoming the Brexit Party".
He hopes to renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement to remove the Irish backstop but does not want a delay beyond October 31.
Matt Hancock
The health secretary insists a no-deal Brexit is not a credible option and parliament would never allow it.
He has set out a Brexit delivery plan to leave by October 31, including establishing an Irish border council, made up of UK and Irish officials, to prevent the return of a hard border and time-limiting the backstop.
Five candidates are struggling to get the necessary support - though they may have MP backers who have not publicly declared.
Rory Stewart
The international development secretary has travelled around the country filming himself chatting to voters in an eye-catching bid to raise his profile in the race.
Formerly a Remain-backer, he has now ruled out a no-deal Brexit and would establish a citizens' assembly to thrash out a new Brexit compromise.
Andrea Leadsom
The former leader of the Commons, who ran against Theresa May for the party leadership in 2016, was another prominent member of the Vote Leave campaign.
She wants to scrap the PM's Brexit deal and instead "massively ramp up" preparations for a "managed" exit without a full deal.
Sam Gyimah
As the only contender open to a second referendum, the former universities minister is seen as a rank outsider.
He would give MPs a "final chance" to get a Brexit deal through parliament while also preparing for a referendum if that failed.
Esther McVey
The committed Brexiteer has said she would fill her Cabinet with fellow believers and urged the party to "embrace" a no-deal Brexit in order to make sure the UK leaves on October 31.
Mark Harper
A former Conservative chief whip and Remain supporter who now accepts the referendum result, Mr Harper acknowledges he is an underdog in the leadership race.
He has called for a "short, focused" extension to allow for the deal to be renegotiated but said he would be prepared to leave with no deal if that is not possible.
Speaking to the House magazine, the Tory leadership contender Andrea Leadsom has said she would declare a climate emergency if she became prime minister.
She said: "For me, a very big headline policy would be to declare a climate emergency, to say that the UK is going to lead the world in this area in the same way that we lead the world in financial services.
"This is a massive opportunity to demonstrate that, far from decarbonising being a loss of GDP, loss of jobs and so on and so on, actually the clean growth technology sector is fast-growing, and it can be an opportunity for new jobs, new skills, a way to get young people energised to decarbonise our economy."
Former speaker Baroness Betty Boothroyd has said Dominic Raab "wouldn't survive for five minutes" if he tried to prorogue parliament.
She said: “Dominic Raab wants to become PM by pitching to a very narrow slice of the electorate - members of the Conservative party who mostly voted for Nigel Farage a couple of weeks back.
"Dominic Raab thinks he can win their support by stopping either MPs or the public having the final say on Brexit.
“But I have a message for this ambitious young man: you don’t treat our parliament, our democracy or our people that way.
"If you even try to impose your no-deal Brexit on us by cancelling parliamentary proceedings, you won’t survive as prime minister for five minutes, you will be booted out of office and you are not worthy of your seat in parliament which should be reserved for those who deserve the title of democrats.”
‘Proroguing’ parliament has been suggested by Tory leadership contenders as a way to stop MPs blocking an exit from the EU on 31 October, as our political commentator John Rentoul explains.
Read his analysis:
Tomorrow is Theresa May's final day as Conservative Party leader, after she announced her resignation last month.
The Tory 1922 Committee will oversee the balloting of Conservative MPs to whittle the field of candidates down to two, who will be voted on by members.
Here are some key dates:
Monday June 10 - Nominations will be received by the 1922 Committee between 10am and 5pm. Candidates will require a proposer, a seconder and six other MPs to qualify.
Tuesday June 11 - First round of hustings begins for candidates who reached the threshold with all Conservative MPs in attendance.
Thursday June 13 - First ballot. Any candidate receiving 16 votes or fewer will be eliminated. The results are announced at 1pm.
Monday June 17 - Second round of hustings in front of Conservative MPs with the remaining candidates.
Tuesday June 18 - Second ballot. Any candidate receiving 32 votes or fewer will be eliminated. The results are announced at 1pm.
Wednesday June 19 - Third ballot, where the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. The results are announced at 6pm.
Thursday June 20 - The fourth and fifth ballots which will continue until two candidates remain. The 1922 Committee says it has provision for further ballots, but this is unlikely. The results are announced at 1pm and 6pm respectively.
Saturday June 22 - With two candidates, CCHQ will begin the membership hustings process across the UK.
Week commencing July 22 - A new leader will be announced.
That's it for The Independent's politics liveblog for the day. Thanks for following!
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