Image source, PA Media

This leadership change is happening at the same time as controversial upheaval over the Northern Ireland Protocol. That's a deal signed by the UK and EU to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland post-Brexit.

The protocol has been a source of tension since it was introduced in 2021. Recently, the UK published plans to get rid of parts of the deal – the EU says going back on it breaches international law.

Today, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said he doesn't have a preference when it comes to Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak – he just hopes the next PM will work to restore fraught UK-EU relations.

"Of course, we hope that the new prime minister won't pursue a strategy of breaking international law and breaking their word to Ireland and the EU," he said in Belfast.

Read more: New PM an opportunity to resolve issues, says Simon Coveney

Reality Check

Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss told Radio 4 this morning:

Growth in the last 20 years has clearly been lower than it was in the previous 20 years, said Dr Ethan Ilzetzki from the London School of Economics.

"There is a broad consensus that the UK has underperformed its peers in terms of economic growth since at least 2008," he said.

But it's hard to blame that on an economic consensus between the chancellors over that period.

"Gordon Brown's policy was to expand government expenditure to get out of a crisis and he was followed by George Osborne who did the opposite," Dr Ilzetzki said.

Since the Brexit vote there has also not been a consensus, with considerable increases in spending pledged by Boris Johnson even before the pandemic.

Image source, Getty Images

We've been hearing a lot of to and fro about Liz Truss's tax-cutting plans today. Her claim that such a move wouldn't stoke inflation has been called into question by some – but economist Gerard Lyons has backed her up.

Speaking to the BBC, he said that while he hadn't seen her plans in detail, Truss is right and that "timely and targeted" tax cuts can be "non-inflationary and affordable".

He said that while we need to be "sensible" when it comes to tax cuts, they don't have to be inflationary. Lyons said the things that are actually causing inflation at the moment are supply factors such as fuel prices and relaxed monetary policy over the past year.

"The nature of what's causing inflation and the twin challenges we face - inflation and weaker domestic demand - makes this a very plausible and authentic and credible economic strategy," he added.

There's probably no better time to learn more about Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. The BBC's Nick Robinson has been revisiting interviews he did with the pair for his Political Thinking podcast.

Here you can listen to the interview he did with Liz Truss in December 2021, where, as foreign secretary she discusses facing down Russia on the global stage and comparisons with Margaret Thatcher.

And click here to revisit Robinson's interview with Rishi Sunak from 2019, where he talks about working in his mother’s pharmacy and why he chose to vote Leave in the Brexit referendum.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Yes, there really is.

Journalists attending Rishi Sunak's briefing earlier today were given a box with a drink, a chocolate snack and a bottle of factor 30 sun cream.

All useful tools for a hack covering a fast-moving leadership race in the middle of summer.

But while the label on the sun cream says "ready for sunshine", it could signal that the leadership contest is heating up...

Outgoing PM Boris Johnson signed off from the Commons yesterday with the words 'hasta la vista, baby', and today he's released a ministerial statement, external detailing what he says are his government's achievements since 2019.

He says he has worked relentlessly to deliver on "five fronts - Brexit, COVID, public services, the economy, and the world stage".

Johnson says his government has "striven to deliver for the whole of our United Kingdom – for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland."

"I remain determined that we continue to deliver in our final weeks," he says.

Image source, PA Media

The Liberal Democrats press team are having fun with the clip of Liz Truss we just told you about., external

With their autumn conference on the horizon, they sent out a registration reminder to the media:

Image source, Liberal Democrats

You can read more about Liz Truss's political history and how she started off as an anti-monarchist with the Lib Dems here.

Since she launched her leadership bid, there's been lots of talk about Liz Truss's previous life as a Liberal Democrat.

This morning, asked about her past - including an infamous anti-monarchy speech she gave at the 1994 Lib Dem conference - she told the BBC's Nick Robinson: "I am not a traditional Tory by background... and I've developed my political views and ideas."

She added that the idea somebody "should have the same views, aged 17, as they do at 46 [Truss' current age] is completely ludicrous".

BBC's Newsnight has unearthed footage from that 1994 speech. Truss joined the Conservative Party just two years later.

If you're just joining us, here's a round up of the latest developments in the Conservative Party leadership contest:

• Liz Truss did her first broadcast interview of the campaign - on Radio 4's Today programme
• She said the past 20 years of economic policy haven't delivered growth, that she was wrong to vote remain in the Brexit referendum, and that she had wanted Johnson to stay on in No 10
• Rishi Sunak had an article in the Daily Telegraph, where he said he'd bring in radical reforms as PM, comparing them to those brought in by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s
• Both candidates attended a private hustings event for local government politicians in Westminster

The two vying to become the UK's next prime minister both studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford. Other than that, their educational backgrounds are rather different, as Liz Truss highlighted in her Today interview.

Truss went to West Primary School in Paisley, Scotland (where she played the part of Margaret Thatcher in a school dramatic production) before attending the Roundhay School, a state secondary school in Leeds.

In contrast, Rishi Sunak attended Stroud School, a preparatory school in Hampshire, and then Winchester College, a public school.

The last two PM's chosen by Tory party members - Boris Johnson and David Cameron - both went to elite boarding school Eton, and Oxford university.

Indeed, seven of the last ten UK prime ministers attended Oxford, meaning the next leader - be it Truss or Sunak - will be continuing a certain tradition.

Either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak will be chosen by Conservative Party members as the new prime minister.

So who are the members?

We don't know exactly how many members the party has - because they won't tell us - but it is around 160,000, or about 0.3% of the total UK electorate.

Like members of the other major parties, Tories tend to be older, more middle class and more white than the rest of the population.

Professor Tim Bale, head of Queen Mary University of London and Sussex University Party Members Project, external, says: "The people who get to choose our next prime minister are far from being representative of voters as a whole."

Image source, .

In 2017, the average age of Conservative party members was 57, Labour 53, Lib Dems 52 and SNP 54, according to Commons library research, external.

All the main parties have relatively few black and minority ethnic members. According to a 2018 report by Tim Bale's team, external, 97% of Conservative members were "white British", compared with 96% for Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

Most members of most parties in the UK are pretty middle-class, according to Prof Bale's research, but Conservative Party members are the most middle-class of all.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

Tory leadership contender Liz Truss was met by badger-cull protesters as she arrived at Westminster for a hustings event.

Around a dozen protesters, one wearing a badger costume, chanted: "Save our badgers, stop the cull", as Truss walked past.

Truss oversaw a controversial badger-cull strategy in her previous role as environment secretary, in a bid to eradicate bovine TB.

The protesters didn't appear to dampen the foreign secretary's mood though, as she smiled while walking into the Local Government Association's offices in Westminster.

Rival Rishi Sunak was still being grilled by local government politicians in a private session inside.

Image source, PA Media

The former chancellor smiled and greeted reporters on arrival, but declined to answer any questions.

Arriving before Sunak, Levelling Up Secretary Greg Clark said: "We've got two very good candidates and I know and expect they'll be very keen on levelling up."

Image source, PA Media

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said that the "consensus" on economic policy over the last two decades in the UK has not "delivered growth".

Of those 20 years in Britain, 12 have been under Conservative rule – including three Tory administrations Truss herself served in.

Let’s take a look at the roles she, and her leadership rival Rishi Sunak, have had during that time.

Truss

2010: Becomes the Tory MP for South West Norfolk

2012-14: Made parliamentary under-secretary of state for childcare and education under then-prime minister David Cameron

2014-16: Still under Cameron, she moves into the role of environment secretary, succeeding Owen Paterson

2016-17: With new PM Theresa May in office, Truss is moved into the role of justice secretary, which she's in for just under a year

2017-19: Arguably the most striking role, considering her claims this morning, Truss takes up a post as the Treasury's chief secretary from 2017 right up until May is replaced by Boris Johnson

2019-21: Under Johnson, Truss becomes the international trade secretary – a role she often refers to as proof of her post-Brexit achievements

2019-present: Alongside her trade role, Truss becomes the government's minister for women and equalities in 2019 and still holds the role today

2021-present: Following uproar around then foreign secretary Dominic Raab's performance during the Afghanistan withdrawal crisis, Truss is moved into that role and remains there now

Image source, .

Sunak

2015: Becomes the Tory MP for Richmond, Yorkshire

2018-19: Under May, Sunak is made parliamentary under-secretary of state for local government

2019-20: Sunak takes over from Truss as chief secretary to the Treasury in 2019

2020-22: Sunak's made chancellor of the Exchequer in 2020 – a role he holds throughout the pandemic, during which time he oversees historic policies such as the furlough scheme. But he resigns in July 2022 - saying he’s lost confidence in Johnson as the PM

A major dividing line between the two leadership candidates is their tax policies - with Liz Truss pledging to cut taxes straightaway and Rishi Sunak saying reducing the tax burden needs to wait until inflation is tamed.

New figures today show how pressing the issue is - the interest paid on government debt hit record levels last month.

The government's interest payments for last month were £19.4bn, pushing overall borrowing up to the second-highest June level since records began in 1993.

The interest payments were more than double the previous monthly record set in June 2021. The UK's public sector net debt currently stands at almost £2.4tn.

Responding to the figures, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi said he recognised there were risks to the public finances which is why the government has taken action.

He added that forecasts show the government is "on track" to get get debt down.

Read more.

Tory leadership hopeful Liz Truss has joked that she would not have time to think about changing the wallpaper in No 10, if elected prime minister.

The quip was in reference to Boris Johnson's controversial refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

Asked if she plans to remove the gold wallpaper, she tells GB News: "I'm not going to have the time to be thinking about the wallpaper in No 10, because we've only got two years until the general election - we need to hit the ground running."

Image source, PA Media

Image source, EPA

Former frontrunner Penny Mordaunt - who was eliminated from the Tory leadership race on Wednesday - has hit back at claims she's been neglecting her duties as a minister.

It follows comments during the leadership campaign from minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan - who said there had been times other ministers had "picked up the pieces" when Mordaunt wasn't "available".

Mordaunt was responding in the Commons to a question from Tory former minister Dame Andrea Leadsom, who praised Mordaunt for running a "fantastic and brave and clean" campaign.

Image source, Reuters

People from around the country have been telling BBC Radio 5 Live what they make of Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss and why.

Anna in Kent: "Rishi is a good communicator but he is a big part of the economic downturn.

"The problem with Liz Truss is that she fumbles at the easiest decisions, she isn't a strong communicator."

Natasha in Norwich supports Labour and says "both are absolute gifts to the Labour party and both are beatable.

"Truss is marginally better, Rishi Sunak has presided over the economic downturn."

Ena in North Wales feels cutting taxes now isn't the right thing to do: "We are in debt [as a country] and need to pay it back."

While Anne in Bramley thinks Rishi Sunak is "out of touch with normal people" and that Liz Truss would be "more humane" as the PM.

Image source, Getty Images

To cut tax or not to cut tax?

That’s one of the burning questions as Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss go head-to-head to win the job of Conservative leader – and PM.

But, says one of Sunak’s supporters, tax isn’t the only way to fix the economy – and a cut now could do more harm than good.

Former communities secretary Robert Jenrick tells the BBC that Sunak’s a “traditional Conservative”, adding that it’s the “antithesis of Thatcherism” to promise unfunded tax cuts.

Jenrick says “tax is not the only lever to drive economic growth”, saying the debate around the issue as “simplistic”.

He adds Sunak will cut taxes – before the end of parliament – but not before he’s tackled inflation. Truss’s polices - to cut tax immediately - would be inflationary, he says.

Image source, Getty Images

In his article in today's Daily Telegraph, Sunak said he'll bring in radical reforms, comparing them to those brought in by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

"My values are Thatcherite. I believe in hard work, family and integrity. I am a Thatcherite, I am running as a Thatcherite and I will govern as a Thatcherite," he writes., external

But what did Thatcher do?

Taming inflation was Thatcher's first priority, with tough budgetary policies, aimed at controlling public spending.

Getting people to believe inflation would fall, and so reduce their wage demands, was the aim.

Cutting back the power of a dominant state sector was a mantra of Thatcherism.

Privatisations, including Rolls-Royce, BT, British Airways and British Gas, would have seemed unthinkable a few years before, but were pushed through with zeal.

So-called supply side reform, covering the labour market and tax cuts to boost enterprise was another key feature of Thatcherite economic policy.

A belief in wealth creation and the freedom of entrepreneurs to grow their companies and create jobs were central to Thatcher's economic policy.

Read more

Former cabinet minister Theresa Villiers, a backer of Rishi Sunak, says his question to Liz Truss during the ITV leadership debate "wasn't the greatest moment of his campaign".

During the debate, Sunak asked: "Liz, in your past you've been both a Liberal Democrat and a Remainer, I was just wondering which one you regretted most?"

Asked about the comment Sky News, Villiers says: "I mean, that wasn't the greatest moment of his campaign. I'd probably regret that, I'm not sure that was the right thing to do."

She adds that the "important thing" is Sunak is the best candidate "to get us through this inflation crisis".

She adds: "I absolutely want a positive contest and some of the hustings comments were... It's always difficult when you've got people within the same party competing against one another."