Corbyn ballot challenge & Johnson in Paris

1. Court rejects challenge to Jeremy Corbyn automatically being on Labour ballot
2. Boris Johnson meets French counterpart in Paris
3. Theresa May holds Brexit talks in Slovakia and Poland
4. Hinkley Point nuclear plant set to get final investment approval

Khan: London security measures 'to be reviewed'

Reuters

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced he will be "reviewing our own safety measures" in light of the attack in Nice.

Funeral to take place of MP Jo Cox

Reuters

A private funeral will take place later for the Labour MP Jo Cox, who was shot and stabbed outside her West Yorkshire constituency surgery last month.

The service in her Batley and Spen constituency will be a private occasion for close family and friends only.

Before that the cortege will pass slowly through Heckmondwike and Batley, allowing people to pay their respects.

Mrs Cox's family said it had been "overwhelmed and touched by the love and support people have shown us".

In a statement released earlier this week, relatives said: "Knowing that so many people share both our grief and our determination to take forward Jo's legacy is a source of great strength at what otherwise feels like a very bleak time."

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Corbyn: Shocking and horrific attack

Cameron: UK stands with French people

No COBR meeting expected after Nice attacks

The BBC understands COBR - the government's crisis response committee - is not expected to meet in the wake of the Nice attacks. 

Prime Minister Theresa May is heading for Scotland for a meeting with Nicola Sturgeon while other ministers, including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, have already given brief reactions. 

Tom Watson: My thoughts are with Brendan Cox

Boris Johnson: We must meet terror threat together

BBC

Speaking outside his London home, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says he understands that one British national has been injured in the Nice attack.

He says his thoughts are with the people of France after this "absolutely appalling incident" and he expects there to be meetings of ministers later to discuss the implications for the UK. 

If it is terror-related, "as it appears to be", he says "this represents a continued threat to all of us in Europe and we must meet it together". 

UK political leaders respond to French attack

Letwin: Brexit team are 'grown-ups'

Today Programme

BBC Radio 4

There has been plenty of speculation about how David Davis, Liam Fox and Boris Johnson - all Tory big beasts - will get on with the challenge of getting the UK out of the EU and reshaping diplomatic and trade policy to focus more on the rest of the world. 

He rejects claims they don't really get on, saying they are all "talented" individuals who will pull together in the public interest to address the "national challenge" facing the UK, citing the example of how Conservatives and Lib Dems co-operated back in 2010 when he suggests the economic challenges were even more severe than now.

Politicians are terribly grown up. I know the media never quite believe this...When we started the coalition I was told by all sorts of people that it could never last but of course we managed it...Politicians come together, work in the national interest and gets things done - that is what any sensible and ordinary group of people would do and politicians are very good at doing that.

Asked about how long the process will take, he says it is a "sensible" assumption that it will take a couple of months for the UK to flesh out its negotiating strategy and that the process of withdrawal could take about two years - although some think it will take a lot longer. 

Letwin: UK does not have its own trade negotiators

BBC

Mr Letwin, who was one of David Cameron's chief lieutenants for six years, was briefly put in charge of preparing the UK for Brexit after last month's referendum result.

He has some interesting thoughts about how well the equipped the UK is for the task, defending the government against accusations that it was totally unprepared for a Brexit vote. 

The focus of the pre-referendum contingency planning and in the days after the vote was on stabilising the markets, on which he says George Osborne and Mark Carney did a great job.

As for the task ahead, he believes that he has "begun the groundwork" for his successor David Davis by putting a team of "crack civil servants" together in the Cabinet Office to work through some of the logisitical changes, who will now transfer to the new Brexit department.

While he expects the "brightest and the best" mandarins in the country to turn their attention to getting the best deal for the UK from leaving the EU, he acknowledges that the UK is not so well stocked when it comes to its own trade negotiators.

Putting in bluntly, he says Mr Davis and new International Trade Secretary Liam Fox will have to "hire some".

We do not have trade negotiations because trade negotiations have been going on in the EU...The trade negotiators who are Brits are basically at the moment working for the EU. (There are) quite a number but they are employed there. It is up to them whether they are recruited into Whitehall.

Letwin on sacking: Part of 'natural process' of change

BBC Radio 4

Today

Getty Images

Oliver Letwin, one of the Cabinet ministers sacked by Theresa May on Thursday, tells the BBC he was not surprised by his exit and that of a number of senior colleagues saying the new prime minister is entitled "to put her stamp" on the government.

He dismisses claims that it was effectively a purge of the Cameroons - allies of David Cameron such as George Osborne and Michael Gove - saying that the almost total Cabinet revamp was "not a rejection of the last few years" but a recognition that a new prime minister wanted a "clean break" and to build her own team. 

When you change the guard, you change of the guard. It is a natural working process...When you have a new leader they are entitled to lead the party in the direction they want to lead.

Justine Greening: Education post 'my dream job'

BBC Breakfast

PA

Justine Greening has been talking briefly about the challenges ahead in her new post as education secretary.

Much has been made of the fact she is the first education secretary for some time - and the first Conservative holder of the post - to have been entirely educated in the state sector.

She tells BBC Breakfast she is very excited to be asked to take on what she regards in many ways as her "dream job".

But she also says she recognises there have been a "lot of changes" in the school system - with the introduction of free schools and the acceleration of the academy programme - and she is "committed to working with teachers" going forward. 

Greening: Our thoughts are with France

Education Secretary Justine Greening says the death toll in the Nice attacks is "absolutely shocking". 

It has been an "incredibly difficult" time for France in recent years and the UK's thoughts are with their allies at this "terrible" time.

She tells BBC Breakfast that the Foreign Office will be working closely with the French authorities to determine if any British nationals have been affected.

She also says new prime minister Theresa May will be considering the implications for Britain in the coming hours, adding that having served as home secretary for six years, the new PM is "best placed" to make "clear decisions on what is the right response". 

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Owen Smith postpones Labour leadership launch

Owen Smith was due to formally launch his bid to become Labour leader this morning.

But following last night's attack in Nice, in which more than 80 people were killed, he has postponed the event.

He announced the move in this post on Twitter.

Labour MP in Nice: It's 'devastating'

Further appointments expected to new government

PA

We got all the headline-grabbing appointments yesterday but the work of building Theresa May's new government will continue today.

We can expect to hear details of who is filling middle-ranking positions at what is known at minister of state level, important departmental roles in their own right. 

There are also likely to be further departures as well as new cabinet ministers decide who they want by their side in the years to come. 

Who's in, who's out: Theresa May's new cabinet

Labour leadership: Owen Smith to launch bid

PA

In other news, ex-shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith is expected to launch his Labour leadership campaign and is warning the party is in "deep peril" and may split.

The Pontypridd MP will say he is the only one of a "new generation of Labour MPs" who can "secure Labour's future".

It comes days after another Labour MP, Angela Eagle, launched her challenge to Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

Mr Corbyn, who faces a revolt from his MPs but is backed by many party members, will fight the challenges.

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Boris Johnson 'shocked and saddened' by Nice attack

EPA

Reacting to events in France overnight, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said he was "shocked and saddened by the appalling events in Nice, and the terrible loss of life".

Foreign Office 'standing by' to help Britons

May: My government 'will be on Scots' side'

Before setting off for Edinburgh, Theresa May has sought to assure Scots that her new government will be on their side. 

She said she had chosen Scotland for her first official visit to demonstrate her "commitment to preserving this special Union that has endured for centuries". 

She added:

I want to say something else to the people of Scotland too: the government I lead will always be on your side. Every decision we take, every policy we take forward, we will stand up for you and your family - not the rich, the mighty or the powerful. That's because I believe in a union, not just between the nations of the United Kingdom, but between all of our citizens."

The new prime minister has vowed to fully engage with the Scottish government on Brexit negotiations.  

Scotland, of course, voted to remain in the EU and the SNP government has said it will do all it can to ensure this happens despite Mrs May's insistence that "Brexit means Brexit".

Nicola Sturgeon, who has said she hopes for a constructive relationship with Mrs May despite their "deep political differences", said she wanted to discuss options to protect Scottish interests, which she believes have been put "at risk" by the Brexit vote.  

Theresa May to meet Nicola Sturgeon for Brexit talks

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of political events in Westminster and beyond. 

Yesterday she chose her top team and today Theresa May will make her official visit as prime minister to Edinburgh for talks with the Scottish first minister. 

In her speech on the steps of Downing Street less than 48 hours ago, Mrs May emphasised the importance of the Union to her and her party and today's first meeting will be crucial to setting the tone for her engagement with the SNP leader.

The issue of leaving the EU - which Ms Sturgeon opposes - will dominate the talks with Ms Sturgeon having threatened the prospect of a second independence referendum if Scotland is taken out of the EU "against its will". 

We can also expect Mrs May to comment on the attack last night in the French city of Nice, which left 80 people dead - described by the French government as a terrorist incident.

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