Meanwhile, in his second stump speech of the day, Nigel Farage starts his pitch to coastal towns.

Talking to supporters in Carlisle, The Brexit Party leader says he was "sad to see a fantastic harbour" without fishing boats, "bringing income, helping feed and look after families".

He says the "acid test on whether Brexit was delivered was whether we were going to get back our territorial waters and the fish that swim in them".

Mr Farage says the "Westminster class has been gutless" and shown them "coastal communities don't matter".

The PM will be standing on a small, circular elevated stage, surrounded at ground level by supporters. Some of the cabinet will be at his right hand side. On screens all around it says: "Get Brexit Done - Unleash Britain’s Talent".

Many of his supporters are holding banners highlighting their promises - "More money for schools", "More money for the NHS", "20,000 new police officers".

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

The resignation of Wales Secretary Alun Cairns and the backlash over Jacob Rees-Mogg's comments about the Grenfell Tower fire are clearly not a good backdrop for Boris Johnson's speech.

But he will be here tonight with all the bells, the whistles and the razzmatazz – the kind of stage that, as a happy campaigner, he loves.

He’ll be speaking to mass ranks of supporters here in the West Midlands.

The region is also home to plenty of key marginal seats.

Image source, PA Media

It has been a full day on and off the campaign trail:

• Boris Johnson will soon give a speech at the Conservatives' official camapign launch
• Protesters have already been removed from the building in Birmingham where it is taking place
• Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is also about to give his second stump speech of the day in Carlisle
• Earlier, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to sort Brexit out in six months with a referendum on a new deal
• The Green Party promised £100bn annually for 10 years to tackle the "climate emergency"
• The Liberal Democrats have been out on the campaign trail with their electric bus, promising "Remain alliances" to win more seats
• SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has written an open letter to Scots who voted Remain urging them to back her party
• MPs are still reacting to the resignation of Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns over claims he knew about a former aide's role in the "sabotage" of a rape trial
• Four Labour Parliamentary candidates have been banned from standing by the party's National Executive Committee

The small group chant "refugees are here to stay" ahead of the Tory campaign launch - as filmed by our political reporter.

BBC colleague Jonathan Blake says Tory activists inside the venue booed the group as they were led away by security staff and police.

Image source, EPA

Boris Johnson will speak this evening at his party's official general election launch in the West Midlands.

He is expected to be joined by the region's Tory Mayor Andy Street, Home Secretary Priti Patel and party chairman James Cleverly.

We will bring you all the news straight from the speeches.

Earlier, the PM addressed the country from a podium in Downing Street to reiterate his message that the Tories will "get Brexit done".

Felicity Evans
BBC Wales political editor

The resignation of Alun Cairns as Welsh Secretary has big implications for the Welsh Conservatives.

It raises many questions to which we do not know the answers.

It leaves their general election campaign in disarray, because as Welsh secretary Mr Cairns was supposed to be leading that campaign.

As things stand, it is not clear who that person will be.

Who from the current cohort of Welsh Tory politicians could be called up?

Read more about what the resignation means here.

Two of the main items on the news agenda today were the resignation of Alun Cairns and the Green Party election launch. We've pulled together all you need to know about both in two videos.

If you fancy a grilling as part of your TV dinner then why not check out The Andrew Neil Show in half an hour or so.

Confused? Got a question for us?

Send it to BBC News via the form on this page and we'll do our best to give you the answers.

We've answered this one from Gavin Butler in Gerrards Cross:

Q - When do we find out who our local candidates will be? How long does it take to select a new candidate?

A - The deadline for all candidates to apply, whether attached to a party or independent, is 14 November.

Different parties have different methods of choosing candidates. In essence, they are drawn from a centrally-approved candidates' list, with the final decision made by local party members.

The time taken to select a candidate varies but, if time is short, the national bodies of the main political parties can impose a candidate on a constituency party.

You can read answers to more of your questions here.

Huw Edwards has been chatting to three former MPs who have chosen not to stand again.

He asked Kate Hoey (Lab), Michael Fallon (Con) and Sir Vince Cable (Lib Dem) to take us through their highs and lows after 80 combined years in Parliament.

Ms Hoey says she loved doing undercover work in Zimbabwe, while a low point was taking the blame in the Commons, as sports minister, for something that wasn’t her fault.

Mr Fallon’s high point was being picked for defence secretary, while his low point was losing his seat in Darlington. “You take it very personally,” he says.

Sir Vince says one of his high points was working in the Lib Dem-Conservative coalition, while a low point was losing his seat four years ago, and having to win it back.

Radio 4 PM

Image source, PA Media

The Green Party launched their general election campaign earlier with a call for £100bn a year to be spent on tackling the climate "emergency".

The party says it would fund the pledge by borrowing £91.2bn a year, with an extra £9bn from "tax changes".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's PM programme, the party's co-leader Sian Berry says this level of borrowing is necessary because "we have to deal with climate change as quickly as possible".

“The government can borrow more cheaply than any person out there on the street and we need to be making this big collective effort to transform our economy," she says.

"It can’t be done bit by bit, it has to be done in this huge, big mission of a way because we cannot afford to not get this done.”

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Labour's NEC today has blocked three former MPs from standing again, and the fate of a fourth remains unclear.

But a rather stranger row might yet overshadow all this.

Sometimes candidates are "parachuted in" by the leadership. Sometimes they are deselected. But it’s rare to be selected then deselected in the space of a week.

Sally Gimson contested the selection in Bassetlaw where John Mann is standing down.

She unexpectedly beat a candidate favoured by some in the leadership and by the powerful Unite union.

But the decision of local members was overturned by a panel of Labour’s ruling NEC - apparently chaired by a prominent member of Unite.

Sources cite complaints about Sally Gimson - but from party members in her home constituency in London, not Bassetlaw where the local executive is right behind her.

She has denounced the NEC as a "kangaroo court" acting on "trumped up charges" and the row could now be settled in the actual courts.

Lady Hermon has confirmed she is standing down and will not run to retain the Westminster seat she has held for 18 years.

She first won the North Down seat in 2001 as an Ulster Unionist.

She left the party in 2010 after it agreed an electoral pact with the Conservatives and since then has sat as an independent unionist.

The 64-year-old backed remain in the 2016 EU referendum and voted against Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

Read our breaking story here.

BBC News Channel

A retiring MP says it's a "sense of relief" to be standing down after 30 years in office.

"I'm in the middle of trying to clear out offices and 30 year of things that you've kept," Kate Hoey says.

The former MP for Vauxhall says the trip down memory lane is also a "sad time" - discovering files on colleagues who have since passed away "can be a bit depressing".

Ms Hoey says she has "no regrets" about giving up her seat.

Reality Check

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Reality Check listened in to Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson's campaign speech in Downing Street to check the facts and figures on his claims about:

• More police
• NHS funding
• New hospitals
• School funding
• Free ports

Read the full story here.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Labour’s ruling NEC ditched Chris Williamson because the disciplinary case against him hadn’t concluded.

That meant he was still suspended and therefore ineligible to be a candidate.

But this apparently bureaucratic formulation somewhat understates the political sensitivities.

Some on the left want him reinstated. They argue while he said the party had given too much ground on anti-Semitism, what he said wasn’t in itself anti-Semitic.

But others - including some of his fellow left-wingers - wanted him out as they knew opponents would suggest any reinstatement showed a lack of seriousness in addressing anti-Semitism allegations.

Plus I am told many in the Labour leader’s office lost patience with Mr Williamson’s loose tongue and tendency to shoot from the hip.

Keith Vaz’s fate is less certain. Labour’s NEC didn’t throw him out - apparently as he is in hospital. But well-placed sources say they hope he stands down voluntarily.