Image source, AFP

Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood, who was honoured for his efforts to save PC Keith Palmer after the Westminster terror attack, is to take up a post in the Ministry of Defence.

The Conservative MP for Bournemouth East went to the aid of PC Palmer, who was fatally stabbed by Khalid Masood on 22 March.

Mr Ellwood tweeted: "Delighted and honoured to be appointed as minister in the Ministry of Defence. Thanks for all the support I received during my 3 yrs at FCO."

The news was announced as Theresa May made a series of ministerial appointments as part of a limited reshuffle following the general election.

Tory peer Lord Bridges of Headley, who was parliamentary under secretary in the department for exiting the European Union, has left his post.

Among those ministers continuing in their roles is Tory MP Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) who was apparently reappointed as parliamentary under secretary of state for sport, tourism and heritage while watching the England v France friendly in Paris, which was attended by the prime minister and French President Emmanuel Macron.

David Porter
Scotland Westminster editor

Nicola Sturgeon has written to Theresa May demanding that an inter-governmental body on Brexit be reconvened immediately.

In a letter to the prime minister, Scotland's first minister says the Joint Ministerial Committee on EU negotiations should meet quickly to agree a UK approach to the Brexit talks, which are due to begin next week.

The JMC committee is made up of the UK government and the devolved administrations.

In the letter, Ms Sturgeon says people are becoming increasingly worried about the ''confusion surrounding the UK government's position'' .

She adds: "Removing the UK, and Scotland in particular, from the European Single Market and Customs Union, will cause severe long term economic damage."

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

A Commons statement on the Grenfell Tower tragedy is not possible because MPs have not been sworn in after the general election.

Commons sources say no statement can take place until after the Queens Speech.

However, no date has been agreed for the Queens Speech, which was planned for Monday. This now seems likely to be postponed because of the government's failure to finalise an agreement with the DUP.

Former prime minister says "pressure for a softer" exit from the EU is growing after the election result.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

There will not be any deal announced between the government and the DUP today, sources have told the BBC.

DUP sources have suggested it would be inappropriate to announce anything now because of the unfolding tragedy at the Grenfell Tower blaze in west London.

However, because of the fire - and the diary commitments of both Theresa May and DUP leader Arlene Foster - it is suggested any final agreement could be delayed until next week.

Such a further delay could have significant implications for Mrs May - it would mean the Queens speech would have to be delayed beyond next Monday.

It might also mean a delay to the start of Brexit talks - also due to begin next week.

Sources insist the delay is not because the talks are in trouble, and were now finalising the "terms and conditions" of the agreement.

The Daily Telegraph

Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee of the Conservative backbench committee, writing in the Daily Telegraph , externalsays that if a week is a long time in politics; the last seven weeks seem an age.

No doubt millions of words will be written trying to explain how the Tory campaign managed to wipe out the commanding lead, external with which the party entered the election, he says.

Mr Brady says that in spite of "all the foul-ups of the campaign, we secured nearly 43% of the vote: the best we have done since 1983".

Read more, external

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Former Conservative Chancellor Ken Clarke has said the government would "restore confidence in politics" if they could show that the current parliament can "function in presenting a view in the national interest".

Mr Clarke told Nick Robinson the public are "very disillusioned with knockabout party politics" and that members of parliament could be "induced to rise above short term tribal arguments" in order to get a "consensus".

More from former chancellor Ken Clarke, who has urged the prime minister to change her approach to Brexit in an effort to restore public confidence in politics.

The Tory grandee is the latest high-profile figure to weigh in on Theresa May's Brexit strategy after former Conservative prime ministers David Cameron and Sir John Major both made rare interventions to urge the government to change course following the general election.

Leaving the European Union is one of the most pressing issues facing Mrs May, as Brexit talks are due to start in Brussels on Monday.

Mr Clarke told BBC Radio 4's Today programme:

Once again the polls, taken as a whole, were not a good guide to the election result.

Over the course of the campaign the gap between the main two parties narrowed but, with one exception, the final polls all suggested a clearer Conservative lead than the actual outcome.

Having said that, it wasn't an unmitigated disaster. Every poll throughout the campaign put the Conservatives ahead - and that was indeed the result.

The final polls were fairly accurate about the Conservative and Lib Dem shares. It was Labour where they were uniformly wrong. They also overestimated UKIP and the SNP.

Read more

European Parliament
Strasbourg

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage tells MEPs that they would be wrong to view last week's election results "as a victory", pointing out that 85% of voters opted for parties committed to leaving the EU.

He says that the "only certainty" after the result is that "we will be leaving".

He adds that despite a "big drive" from former polticians to get the UK to now opt for "a Norway-style option", that "the people have made it perfectly clear" that they wish to leave both the single market and the customs union.

He says that Theresa May should re-commit to leaving both at the summit later this month, predicting that otherwise "her own party will get rid of her".

She is now in a "weak position" going into the talks, he adds.