Victoria Derbyshire

From one mulling over a leadership bid to another...

Labour MP Clive Lewis has said he "thinking about it".

He told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. "We'll see if I stand.

"I think one of the things [the new leader is] going to need to be able to do is reach out to both sides of this discussion."

He claimed Labour's loss of seats at last week's election was "40 years in the making", adding that New Labour did not invest in those seats.

But Helen Goodman, who lost her seat in Bishop Auckland to the Conservatives last week, said she disagreed with Mr Lewis' assessment.

BBC Radio 5 Live

A bit more from Lisa Nandy - freshly re-elected Labour MP and potential leadership contender. She says while Labour shouldn't blame the media for its resounding defeat, "nuance has sort of been lost" when it comes to the way broadcasters frame debates.

The Labour MP for Wigan is speaking in response to her colleague Andy McDonald's criticism of the BBC's election coverage.

She points out that sometimes on panels - "less so the BBC than other places" - the "most extreme" views are represented in "black and white" when in fact there's a "majority who are looking for compromise".

She adds that the media "attacks" on her party's outgoing leader, Jeremy Corbyn, appeared online, in print media and in advertising, rather than on broadcast outlets.

Just worth noting that Labour has never had a female leader - the Conservative Party has had two - and there are plenty of people who think Jeremy Corbyn's replacement must be a woman.

Among those making that argument are Stephen Kinnock and Rachel Reeves, above - herself a contender for the job in many people's eyes.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Lisa Nandy is speaking to Adrian Chiles on Radio 5 Live following her announcement that she's "seriously thinking" about making a bid to replace Jeremy Corbyn as the Labour leader.

The MP for Wigan says she's been talking to fellow Labour MPs, candidates and activists over the weekend to try to understand "what went wrong" during the campaign, how to "rebuild" the party, and "how feasible it is" for her to run as the next leader.

She's one of a clutch of shadow ministers who resigned from Mr Corbyn's frontbench after the Brexit referendum, and has been urging her party to concentrate on winning support in smaller towns.

You can read more about our thoughts on Labour's upcoming leadership race here.

A mini-reshuffle of the cabinet later will fill the post of Welsh Secretary - left vacant after the resignation of Alun Cairns in November.

Mr Cains quit after coming under pressure over his links to a Welsh Tory assembly candidate who made claims about a woman's sexual history during a rape trial, which caused the court case to collapse.

Mr Cairns denied knowing about Ross England's conduct as a witness during the trial, but leaked emails revealed he was notified of the situation.

Mr Cairns denies any wrongdoing.

As we mentioned earlier, the post of culture secretary is also vacant and that'll be a particularly interesting one given the shot across the bows aimed at the BBC licence fee by Boris Johnson during the election campaign.

Earlier this morning Labour's Andy McDonald - see previous post - launched a pretty scathing attack of the BBC's coverage of the election, telling the Today programme the broadcaster was "partly responsible" for his party's defeat.

But those words have sparked criticism from his colleague Jonathan Reynolds, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.

Mr Reynolds says blaming the media for the result "is an abdication of responsibility".

Just following on from that entry about Sir Keir Starmer, check out our piece looking at the frontrunners for the Labour top job. It also sets out how the process for choosing Jeremy Corbyn's successor works.

Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer has side-stepped questions over whether he will bid to become the party's next leader.

Speaking outside his home this morning, Sir Keir was asked if he would put his name forward in the upcoming contest.

“This is a moment for reflection, we're talking to lots of colleagues, the competition doesn’t open until early next year," he replied.

Asked whether Jeremy Corbyn should stand down now, Sir Keir said: “Jeremy will make his own decisions, there's a timetable being set out, we're all going back to parliament tomorrow and people will be making up their minds."

He added that he did not want to join a "blame game" over Labour's performance at last week's election.

"We need to reflect maturely and together about what happened and decide where we go next," he said.

Image source, AFP

It's worth just adding a bit more background on the situation in Northern Ireland.

The UK and Irish governments have both pledged to restore Stormont following the general election result.

When Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar called Boris Johnson on Friday night to congratulate him on his victory the two men agreed it had created a "significant opportunity" to restore the Good Friday Agreement institutions.

The following day, Mr Varadkar said his focus was on getting an executive in place by 13 January - as we said, the legal date for an assembly election to be called if no power-sharing government is formed.

The Stormont assembly collapsed following a bitter fall-out between the two ruling parties, Sinn Fein and the DUP.

On Saturday, Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy said it would be "possible" to get an agreement. The DUP's Paul Givan said his party "don't have any red lines".

Chris Page
BBC News NI Political Correspondent

Northern Ireland's political parties are to resume talks aimed at restoring devolved government at Stormont. Read more here.

The DUP and Sinn Fein both suffered a drop in their votes at the general election and it was those two parties which made up the power-sharing devolved government which collapsed in January 2017.

Since then, hospital waiting lists have grown significantly - they are currently the worst in the UK - infrastructure projects have been delayed, school principals have been complaining about what they say is a funding crisis.

Public services are feeling the strain of not having ministers in charge - civil servants have basically been running the place, but their powers are very limited.

The parties have acknowledged they got a lot of heat on the doorsteps about the impact of having no government.

Although the DUP and Sinn Fein are still the largest parties in Northern Ireland, the election may represent some kind of tipping point.

The thinking is it might well concentrate minds. There is a legal deadline of 13 January and after that Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith has said he is minded to call more elections for the assembly.

The main issue is that of the Irish language. Sinn Fein want a standalone piece of legislation that will protect and promote the Irish language, the DUP do not want that and instead are open to wider legislation that covers more aspects of culture, including those more important to unionists.

For the first time, Northern Ireland has more nationalist MPs than unionist MPs, and the nationalist parties will argue that means nationalism is gaining strength.

There is no doubt there will be some very hard talking over the next few weeks.

Image source, Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Chancellor Sajid Javid's been seen in Downing Street in the last few minutes.

Clutching his ministerial red box, he said "welcome to the people's government" as he passed reporters.

The head of newsgathering for the BBC has responded to criticism from Labour's Andy McDonald earlier.

He said the BBC "consciously" played a part in helping the Conservatives win the election.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Labour Party

Labour MP Alison McGovern has told Radio 5 Live why she believes the party lost so many seats at last week's election.

She outlined "tactical" errors, such as agreeing to the December poll, but also fundamental problems with Labour's proposition to voters.

"The defeat came about, I think, because we made a wrong tactical choice of giving Boris Johnson the election that he wanted in the timings that he wanted," she said.

"It was terrible timing for us… the weather was pretty awful. We enabled that ‘get Brexit done’ slogan, I think."

She added that she thought the manifesto "was a huge offer of various different things that we didn’t properly prepare the ground for so that the public could support them".

Ms McGovern, who represents Wirral South, said her party "failed to offer a positive vision for too many places in our country so that they felt they could vote for us".

"The fact is we lost the election and now is the time to really understand not just the immediate reasons why we got this wrong… but to understand those underlying trends in our country," she added.

"Why some people feel that the Labour Party was not able to offer them that sense of belonging, dignity and respect that they deserve."

But she said she would not put herself forward for the party's soon-to-be vacant leadership.

The dust has settled somewhat after the election and Westminster is cranking back into operation:

• MPs - including 109 newly-elected ones - are heading to Parliament to start work. The freshly-elected Conservatives will be treated to a welcome speech from the prime minister
• Many of them won in areas traditionally held by Labour, and politics watchers expect Boris Johnson to announce measures in the days to come to reflect that - for example, new investment in infrastructure in the north of England and the Midlands
• Mr Johnson is also expected to carry out a mini cabinet reshuffle on Monday before swearing in of the new MPs begins on Tuesday
• The Queen will formally open Parliament on Thursday when she sets out the government's legislative programme, and it's thought the Withdrawal Agreement Bill on leaving the EU could be put before MPs as early as Friday.
• Read about what's likely to happen next with Brexit here
• Meanwhile, the battle has begun for the future of the Labour Party, with the leader and shadow chancellor saying they will step down in the new year.
• Wigan MP Lisa Nandy says she is "seriously thinking about" running to replace Jeremy Corbyn and other candidates are likely to emerge in the coming days
• Finally, moves to get the Northern Ireland government at Stormont up and running again are also expected, with talks resuming on Monday

Thursday's election saw places across the country vote Conservative for the first time in decades - in others, it was the first time ever.

Below, the newly-elected MPs for Bishop Auckland and Newcastle-under-Lyme tweet about their first day.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

"Get Brexit Done" was of course, the Tories' key election slogan and minister Robert Jenrick insisted the new government's top priority is to turn it into reality.

First off, that means leaving the EU on 31 January, but it means much more than that - as our piece explains - establishing the future relationship with other nations going forward.

Former Brexit Secretary David Davis says the UK's negotiating hand with the EU in that second phase has become "much stronger" because of the Conservative Party's big election win.

"[Boris Johnson] believes that there is a mutually beneficial coutome to the negotiation with a strong free trade deal but without us tied into European regulations. That's where the key argument is," he adds.

He says "we will resist" the EU's expected attempts to try to align the UK and the EU as closely as possible.

Mr Davis, who resigned from then-PM Theresa May's cabinet in 2018, denies Mr Johnson may have to consider extending the transition period.

The transition period is intended to allow time for the UK and EU to agree their future relationship. This period is due to expire on 31 December 2020, but could be extended by up to two years if both the UK and the EU wanted.

Mr Davis says the quicker the UK moves things along, the better, because the EU "traditionally uses time to its own advances" and may try slow down the process.

He estimates we'll strike a deal to allow the transition period to end in December.

Check out our jargon-busting guide if you need any Brexit terms explaining.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Parliament

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said the government is getting back to work and its top priority is bringing back the Withdrawal Act to Parliament in order to "get Brexit done".

In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Radio 5 Live's Rachel Burden, Mr Jenrick said:

• A big task for Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to "heal the country" following last week's election
• The result means there is now "certainty" for the economy - and that the "stability" the large majority provides will help future negotiations with the EU
• The government does not intend to leave the EU without a trade deal by the deadline in December 2020
• The result of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum should be respected, despite the SNP's success last week
• He is already working on implementing Conservative housing pledges - including a 30% discount for first-time buyers in their local area and new long-term, low-deposit mortgage

Challenged about concerns from some communities following the Conservative victory, Mr Jenrick said Boris Johnson intended to lead a government for "everyone in all parts of the country".

"Boris Johnson wants to lead an inclusive, one-nation Conservative government that runs this country for everyone in all parts of the country and all communities," he told 5 Live.

"I’m the communities secretary and a key part of my job is to ensure that all our communities feel respected and protected and that is exactly how we intend to govern."

Following on from those earlier comments about the BBC from Labour's Andy McDonald, it's worth remembering that the BBC - and in particular, the future of the licence fee - became a talking point during the election campaign.

In response to a question from a factory worker at one Conservative event, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he thought the possibility of replacing the licence fee entirely needs "looking at".

"You have to ask yourself whether that approach to funding a media organisation still makes sense in the long term given the way that other organisations manage to fund themselves," he said.

"The system of funding out of what is a general tax bears reflection."

Our latest story on the issue - where the government considers whether failure to pay the licence fee should cease to be a criminal offence - has more detail.