Ben Philip
Reporting from outside Balmoral Castle

Several journalists and camera crews have gathered outside the famous, highly protected gates of the Queen’s Royal Deeside retreat at Balmoral.

We're expecting Boris Johnson to arrive shortly after 11am. Liz Truss will follow soon after. The forecast rain showers have started...

The plane carrying Liz Truss is flying over the Highlands on its approach to Aberdeen airport, with more than 24,000 people keeping an eye on her progress online.

Once she lands, she's expected to be driven to Balmoral for her audience with the Queen - when she will officially become prime minister.

Image source, Flightradar24

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, Reuters

Why on Earth did you get rid of me?

Boris Johnson didn't use that sentence, but he might as well have done.

I'm writing this standing at the back of Downing Street, looking down towards the security gates and Whitehall, and the circling pods of the London Eye beyond.

Some of the prime minister's most loyal allies are sharing hugs and souvenir snaps.

As Johnson and his wife Carrie head to Balmoral, there's time to unpick some of the words he chose to use to mark his departure.

There was a defiance - a claim the rules had been changed. They hadn't.

The simple truth is: no prime minister has ever been able to stay in office without the confidence of their party. And he lost that.

Read more here.

Image source, PA Media

Speaking about how Boris Johnson will be remembered after his time as prime minister, Lord Charles Moore, the former editor of the Telegraph, said Johnson will be remembered as having "very grave faults, but many unique virtues."

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Lord Moore said Johnson achieved things as prime minister that only he could have achieved, such as Brexit.

But he said that Johnson failed to confront some of the biggest economic problems his government faced, such as how to deal with inflation and public borrowing, as well as the energy crisis to some extent.

"He did not rise to those events properly," Lord Moore said.

He added that it is certainly possible Johnson could return in some form at some point, stating that while he "absolutely wouldn't" support that now, he couldn't say how he would feel in years to come.

Image source, PA Media

For both the outgoing and incoming PM, the audience with the Queen will take place in the drawing room of Balmoral Casle, a room intended for family relaxation rather than formal political engagements.

As such, there have been only a few occasions when photographers have been allowed inside.

This morning's press coverage includes descriptions of the drawing room's mint-green carpet, matching green sofas, large fireplace with a clock and mirror above, and a number of horse-themed paintings.

Colour experts have suggested the colour green stands for balance, nature, spring, and rebirth.

It’s the symbol of prosperity, freshness, and progress, reports The Express., external

It can also relieve stress, apparently.

All of which may be helpful to Liz Truss when she makes her first public address as prime minister this afternoon.

With Boris Johnson safely landed and Liz Truss on the way, thousands of people have been tracking their progress online.

Judging by Johnson's flight time of just over an hour, we can expect Truss to land in Aberdeen at about 10:45 BST, as she flies over the Midlands as we write.

At one point as many as 20,000 people were tracking his journey - with around 10,000 currently watching his successor's progress through the air on the website Flightradar24, external.

Image source, Flightradar24

Several cars carrying Boris Johnson to see the Queen have departed from the runway in Aberdeen airport.

The drive to the Highlands is expected to take just over an hour, with the outgoing prime minister then due to meet the queen at about 11:20 BST.

Image source, .

Here are the main events as we expect them to happen over the day. The weather is not looking good in Aberdeenshire, where thundery showers are forecast; this could affect the timings. But this is how events are scheduled at the moment:

11.20: Boris Johnson meets the Queen at Balmoral Castle where he will offer his resignation as prime minister. At this point, there is a short period - normally a matter of minutes - with no prime minister.

12.10: It is then Liz Truss's turn to meet the monarch, having also made the 500-mile trip to Balmoral. The Queen will ask her to form a government. Truss will be appointed through a ceremony called "kissing hands" - though there's no actual kissing involved.

13:00: Having been formally appointed, Truss returns to London.

Image source, PA Media

16:15: The new prime minister is expected to make her first speech outside Downing Street and explain what she wants to do in government.

Will she be speaking outside the building, as is customary, or inside if the weather proves too inclement? The forecast in London this afternoon is for more rain in the capital.

Later on, Truss is set to start naming her Cabinet. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to become chancellor, while Suella Braverman, the current attorney general, is expected to be named home secretary. Education Secretary James Cleverly is slated to become foreign secretary.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, currently minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency, has been tipped to replace Kwarteng as business secretary.

Current Home Secretary Priti Patel and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries have already said they will step down from their current roles.

Read more here about the day's proceedings.

And more here about the political challenges ahead:

• No honeymoon period for next PM Liz Truss

The plane carrying soon-to-be prime minister Liz Truss has departed RAF Northolt in London, heading for Aberdeen.

She will be then conveyed to Balmoral, where she will meet the Queen after Boris Johnson, who is currently en route to the highlands himself.

Boris Johnson has landed in Aberdeen, the first leg of his trip to Balmoral to meet with the Queen.

He is expected to meet her about 11:20 BST, with his successor Liz Truss set to make the same journey soon.

James Naughtie
Reporting from Balmoral

Image source, PA Media

The Liz Truss era, with all the tumult it promises in the early months, is starting here in this place that is graced with tranquillity this morning.

It'll all be over in about two hours. Boris Johnson will arrive here just after 11:00 BST, he'll be gone by 12:00. Liz Truss will be in and she'll be gone by 13:00 and power will have been transferred.

This is a private moment, it's extraordinarily important. It's the one that the Queen takes more seriously than anything else - the moment when power passes from one prime minister to the next. But it is also an intensely private moment.

And that kissing of hands - the brushing of the lips on the back of the hand, rather, which I think is what they are advised to do like people who were sworn in to the Privy Council - is accompanied by the kind of conversation that the Queen has all the time with her ministers and it remains strictly private.

And, of course, Liz Truss will begin the ritual every Tuesday evening, as it usually is, of having an audience with the Queen as prime minister.

Of course, as a Cabinet minister for 10 years or so she is very familiar with the monarch, but having that audience as a prime minister is quite a different thing.

But what we are seeing is a political upheaval - the end of the Boris Johnson era after 1,139 days, the beginning of a new one - which promises a great deal of tumult.

Reality Check

In his farewell speech as prime minister Boris Johnson said "we will have 40 more hospitals by the end of the decade”.

One of his 2019 manifesto pledges was "40 new hospitals over the next 10 years".

His government’s definition of a new hospital includes new wings of existing hospitals and refurbished hospitals.

In December 2021, analysis by Reality Check found that of the 40 projects:

• 22 were rebuilding projects
• 12 were new wings within existing hospitals
• three involved rebuilding non-urgent care hospitals
• three were entirely new hospitals

When asked for an update, on 7 June 2022, a Department of Health spokesperson told us that one of the 40 hospitals "opened for patients last year and a further six are in construction".

You can read more about Boris Johnson's pledges as PM and whether he met them here.

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner has described what we just saw as a "classic" Boris Johnson speech, but not in a good way.

Speaking on Sky News, she says Johnson is "completely deluded" about his record in government and the "crisis people are facing" over energy bills and inflation.

Rayner adds his speech "stunk of all the hallmarks of someone who's had a privileged background, who thinks they can just do what they like."

Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie have left RAF Northolt on a small plane, heading off on the hour-long journey to Aberdeenshire.

They will then meet the Queen at her Scottish residence Balmoral, where Johnson will offer his resignation as PM.

While the weather has held out in London this morning following storms overnight, the forecast is not looking as forgiving in Balmoral.

Both outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson and incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss are travelling to the Queen's residence in Aberdeenshire today.

Thundery showers are forecast in the area throughout the day, meaning the visit is likely to be a wet one. It's possible the weather could affect the timings of the rest of the day's proceedings.

We'll keep you up to date. Meanwhile, check out the latest BBC Weather forecast here.

The UK prime minister's official Twitter account has posted a video of Johnson walking through No 10, thanking staff before he exited the black doors to give his speech. Watch below:

Image source, Getty Images

Many of you may be wondering who Boris Johnson was referring to when he mentioned Cincinnatus in his speech.

Cincinnatus was a 5th Century BC Roman politician who famously left politics and "returned to his plough," or his farm, according to professor of Ancient Roman history Mary Beard writing in a tweet, external.

Years later, Cincinnatus made a return to politics.

Some see this as a potential hint of Johnson's possible long-term plan of returning to the political realm at some point in the future.

David Wallace Lockhart
BBC political correspondent

Towards the end of his speech, Boris Johnson focused on the union.

He insisted it’s in a strong position, and that those who want to “break it up” will “never, ever succeed”.

Mr Johnson is now on his way to Scotland, where polls suggest around half of the population would like independence.

The outgoing PM seems confident that the future he wants for the union is secure. Perhaps that’s because Liz Truss is adamant she won’t allow another Scottish independence referendum (it’s worth noting a legal battle about who has the power to hold one is ongoing).

And in Northern Ireland this year we saw Sinn Fein - who want a united Ireland - win the most seats for the first time in Assembly elections.

With all this in mind, many who want the UK to stay together would question how healthy a position it is in right now.

Boris Johnson has delivered his final speech on the steps of No 10 Downing Street. Here's a recap of some of main things we heard:

Rules changed: Johnson said he was departing after an "unexpected relay race", claiming that his premiership was cut short after rules were "changed half way through".

Defining moments: He rattled through some of the issues he believes have defined his time in No 10, including "getting Brexit done", rolling out the Covid-19 vaccine programme and resisting Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. Johnson also hailed his government's record on the economy, claiming that the number of people out of work now lower than any time since he was "about 10 years old and bouncing around on a space hopper".

Get through this: The outgoing PM expressed confidence in his "compassionate" successor Liz Truss, and said her government would get people through the current energy crisis.

Rocket booster: These characteristic rhetorical flourishes were peppered throughout the speech, including stating he was a "booster rocket" that has now "fulfilled its function".

Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie have just arrived at RAF Northolt from where they will fly to Aberdeen.

The outgoing prime minister is expected to meet the Queen in Balmoral at about 11:20 BST.