Image source, Getty Images

As we've reported, the Conservative Party conference begins in Birmingham from 14:30 BST, with the leadership contest dominating events over the coming days.

On Monday, Tom Tugendhat and Kemi Badenoch will face member questions on the main stage, with James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick doing the same on Tuesday. Wednesday morning will see all candidates give speeches.

After the conference ends, on 9 and 10 October, MPs will whittle the candidates down to two. Conservative Party members will then vote, with the winner announced on 2 November.

Immigration dominates Conservative candidate interviewspublished at 10:49 British Summer Time

10:49 BST

Hannah Miller
Political correspondent

What to do about immigration - the issue that has dominated the Conservative leadership race so far, and this morning’s interviews with Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch.

Many suspect Robert Jenrick’sdecision to quit as Immigration Minister last year was done with half an eye on the leadership race in which he is now a leading candidate.

He’s proposing a cap on numbers set by Parliament, and advocating leaving the European Convention on Human Rights- a policy he knows will go down well with many Conservative members who make the final choice in this race.

Even if bringing down immigration leaves some jobs unfulfilled, he believes it should still be a priority.

Kemi Badenoch has taken a slightly different position - pointing out a cap on numbers has never worked before - as she focuses on values and a strategy for integration instead.

She says it is the job of government "to make sure that the people who come into this country are people who love this country".

Her interventions this morning have been typically eye-catching in their language, but it is unclear how exactly they would work in practice.

This morning's show - on the first day of the Conservatives' conference in Birmingham - featured interviews with two of the party's leadership candidates:

• Robert Jenrick told the show that fixing immigration is top of his agenda, saying he wants to see Parliament putting a "legally-binding cap" on migration in the tens of thousands a year "or lower"
• He added that he wants the Conservative Party to be the "trade union of the working people"
• Badenoch also focused on immigration - saying some people have come to the country with views that "have no place here". She repeated her view that not all cultures are equally valid - giving as examples those that believe in child marriage, or those where women are not equal
• Asked what was the most conservative thing about her, she said personal responsibility - adding there's not enough in the country
• We also heard from former Labour MP Rosie Duffield - who handed in her resignation letter last night. She criticised the "daily revelations of hypocrisy and grubby presents" about Keir Starmer and his team, and said the PM should have bought his own clothes
• Labour cabinet minister Pat McFadden defended the party's record on donations - saying it was not a case of "give x to get y", and that Lord Alli had been a "long-term" supporter of the party

And with that Pat McFadden interview, and a final chat with the panel, the show finishes - stay here for clips, analysis, and recaps.

Labour cabinet minister Pat McFadden is now responding to Rosie Duffield's interview.

He starts by saying she's been "disillusioned" with the party leader, and perhaps the party more generally, for "quite a long time" - and that he doesn't think it's something that has developed in the last few months.

Asked about the ongoing headlines on donations Labour members have accepted in the past, McFadden says they were campaign donations and adds that "presentation" is part of a campaign.

He says there would be "more in this" if there was any suggestion of "give x to get y" - but he says Lord Alli has been a "long-term" Labour supporter.

He says there is currently a loophole between what ministers and shadow ministers have to declare - with ministers in the past not having to declare hospitality they receive - which they will now look to close.

Duffield is now asked whether she thinks Starmer has a problem with women.

"I'm afraid I do, yes," she says. "I've experienced it myself."

She says lots of the female backbenchers she's friends with refer to the "young men that surround him [Starmer] as 'the lads' and it's very clear that the lads are in charge, they've now got their Downing Street passes".

"They're the same lads that were there briefing against me in the papers and other prominent female MPs... I was really hoping for better, but it wasn't to be," she adds.

We're now seeing a recorded interview with former Labour MP Rosie Duffield - who's quit the party.

In her resignation letter, the Canterbury MP hit out at Keir Starmer for accepting gifts worth tens of thousands of pounds while scrapping the winter fuel payment and keeping the two-child benefit cap.

Duffield tells Laura: "I'm ashamed of the fact that we stood up and condemned the last few years of Tory sleaze and all of the things that brought politics into disrepute... and here we are and it's daily revelations of hypocrisy and grubby presents... I can't believe what I'm reading every single day."

She adds: "It's greed. Why else would someone on so much more money than most people take free gifts? Why?

"He can absolutely afford his own clothes, we all can and I've seen journalists asking him and he hasn't answered, he hasn't explained."

Like with Jenrick, Laura Kuenssberg ends by asking Badenoch the most Conservative thing about her.

"Personal responsibility," she says.

It's a value that "distinguishes us from all the left-wing parties", she adds - saying there's not enough of it in the country at the moment.

The questioning on immigration continues.

Badenoch says the UK needs to "uphold our values in this country" and ensure that it doesn't turn into a place that "millions of people are running from".

"I don't think that people who bring foreign conflicts here should be welcome," she says - people who come to the UK should want to be part of it and integrate.

"We are not a dormitory, this is our home, having people from all around the world just living in their little bubbles and little groups is a recipe for disaster."

Pressed on migration, Badenoch says it is "clear" there are many people who have recently come to this country who have brought views that "have no place here".

She says this is not just about conflicts in Middle East - citing her time as equalities minister when she says she saw people bringing cultural disputes from India "to the streets of Leicester".

She says we need to ensure that migrants to the UK leave their "previous differences" behind.

Now we're hearing from Kemi Badenoch. She is first asked about her comments in the Sunday Telegraph - which cultures, Laura asks, are less valid?

Badenoch says it's those that believe in child marriage, or think women have less rights, for example.

"I actually think it's extraordinary that people think it's an unusual or controversial thing to say - of course, not all cultures are equally valid I don't believe in cultural relativity. I believe in Western values."

Pressed on which cultures are less valid specifically, she declines to name one.

Kuenssberg ends Jenrick's interview with some shorter questions - the last of which is what the most Conservative thing about him is.

He responds that he believes in "opportunity" and adds that his values are "rooted in family".

He wants the Tories to be the "trade union of working people" for the country, he ends with.

Jenrick is now asked whether he agrees with fellow leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch, who said in an article for the Sunday Telegraph that "not all cultures are equally valid".

He declines to directly answer, instead saying: "Culture matters for integration," before reiterating his call for a cap on immigration figures.

Kuenssberg now asks Jenrick about the economy, putting it to him that a firmer line on migration could cause the economy to suffer.

Jenrick says he wants to get the economy growing again - but says he doesn't think the correlation between migration and growth stands.

He references 5.9 million who have come into the country legally in the 25 years since Tony Blair became prime minister, adding that it's not been a period of record growth.

He adds that he wants to see Parliament setting a "legally binding cap" on migration in the tens of thousands "or lower".

Jenrick says that top of his list of things to fix is immigration - but there were other problems in the previous government's record, he says, including the economy and the NHS.

He says he's spent the last few months "thinking very deeply" about "serious answers" to the challenges that the party faces - and has come up with a "clear plan" on how to take the party and country forwards.

He says the ongoing leadership contest should settle that debate.

Robert Jenrick won the coin toss - so is being interviewed first. We'll have the top lines here soon - and remember, watch live at the top of the page.

Before the main interviews, Laura begins by asking Jenrick and Badenoch what they like about each other.

Badenoch says Jenrick is a "family man" - while Jenrick admires Badenoch's "directness".

Those interviews will take place later in the show - stay here for all the main lines and analysis.

And we’re live - Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is now on air. You can watch on BBC One, the BBC News Channel and BBC iPlayer or by clicking on Watch live above.

We’ll also bring you the key lines, clips and analysis here on this page.

Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent

In the pre-recorded interview with Laura Kuenssberg - which we'll see in full shortly - Rosie Duffield says Keir Starmer’s team cares "more about greed and power than making a difference".

This is far from the first time Duffield has been critical of Starmer. And it’s not the first time that she has thought of quitting Labour.

In her time as an MP since 2017 there have been public disagreements between her, some in her local party, and Labour’s leadership - both Sir Keir and Jeremy Corbyn before him.

In 2021 she had said she would not attend the Labour conference because she had received threats for her stance on women’s rights and her views on gender self-identification.

Speaking to the BBC in 2022, Duffield indicated she felt snubbed by Sir Keir. "He doesn’t seem particularly interested in talking to me," she said.

At the start of this year, Duffield was cleared by the Party’s Executive after multiple internal complaints against her, alleging antisemitism and transphobia. She "strenuously denied" the claims and said she was "completely exonerated".

Earlier in her time as an MP there had been other attacks on her from within the party too.

Back in 2018, when Corbyn was leader, she attended a rally against antisemitism. She said she wanted to show solidarity with Jewish colleagues, some of whom had been "systematically abused" and threatened.

Local party members tried to censure her, but then backed down as MPs rallied round a new colleague. Duffield said she believed some local members had thought, mistakenly, that she had been trying to campaign against Jeremy Corbyn.

Two years ago she told the BBC "we had to deal with the antisemitism issue which was huge and horrible, and I didn’t get any support from the leader then and there was an awful lot of abuse".

However she said she believed things were improving, and she was no longer thinking of quitting the party.

Now that’s all changed.