Good Morning Britain

Hours after branding rival Boris Johnson a ‘coward’, Conservative leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt has called out his Tory rival for avoiding interviews.

The Tory leader contender vowed his rival is “going to lose“ when he joined Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain on Monday.

Mr Hunt also took swipes at the former Mayor of London, who has repeatedly refused to give television interviews, including multiple requests from Good Morning Britain.

He told Susanna: “You cannot become Prime Minister and not answer questions about the decisions you are going to have to make about Brexit immediately.

"The real danger we have got with Boris not coming on the show is that he is going to come to power on a very fragile coalition. People like Matt Hancock, who want No Deal taken off the table, [and] Mark Francois, who wants No Deal. Sometimes in politics, you can fudge and get away with it, but in the case of Brexit, you are going to have to make decisions immediately and that very fragile coalition will collapse immediately."

"If that happens, we won’t have another leadership contest, we will have Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10 and then there won’t be any Brexit at all. One thing he won’t be able to do is to deliver Brexit.”

Mr Hunt then accused his rival of being ‘disrespectful’ as he added: “It is very disrespectful to say that you are not going to appear in any head to head debates in the two weeks that they can see you before they have actually voted.

This summer, ITV will kick-off a new and exciting behind-the-scenes guided tour around the iconic studio sets at Television Centre in London, guaranteeing a truly unique and unforgettable television experience.

With ITV Daytime’s favourite programmes such as Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women all broadcasting from the same building, the new ITV Daytime Studios Tour will immerse fans into the glamorous showbiz world.

Guests will be able to explore sets, get a sneak-peek of what lies behind and discover how the shows are brought to life and onto their screens and devices.

As one of the busiest working studios in the UK, producing over 2000 hours of much talked about TV a year, guests will have unprecedented access into production and the day-to-day operations of a live studio with stories and filming insights from the studio floors shared with them along the way.

There'll be plenty of picture and selfie opportunities on the well-loved and instantly recognisable sets, a wander down the production corridors where the green rooms, wardrobe departments, make-up areas and production offices are housed, as well as walking amongst industry producers and crew.

“We’re delighted to be welcoming viewers to our studios to get even closer to our flagship shows Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women," says Emma Gormley, MD ITV Studios Daytime.

"We’re proud to produce some of the UK’s most popular shows and their fans - our viewers - are extremely important to us, making this even more of an exciting opportunity.”

James Penfold, Controller of Partnerships for ITV added: “Being able to open our doors to the studio floors for the new ITV Daytime Studios Tour is going to take guests right to the heartbeat of such productions and promises to be a true insider experience that we’re incredibly proud to have curated.”

Sue Walton, Commercial Executive for ITV Studios Daytime said: “Every day our shows are welcomed in millions of homes around the country. The programme sets, as well as being familiar, have become iconic. We’re thrilled to turn the tables and bring viewers the chance to visit the home of our shows in what will be an unforgettable experience for fans and indeed anyone interested in television.”

The new Daytime Studios Tour is the latest addition to the portfolio of ITV live events and experiences, which includes Coronation Street The Tour, Emmerdale Village Tour, Emmerdale Studio Experience, This Morning Live and Ninja Warrior UK Adventure Parks.

ITV Daytime Studios Tour will last approximately 90 minutes and guests will have access to three of the four sets on any given tour (depending on production that day).

Tours will run on select weekday and weekend dates until the end of the year, with tickets going on general sale later this month. Register details www.daytimestudiostour.co.uk for advanced priority booking which will open for 24 hours on Friday 28th June.

Conservative MP Mark Field has been suspended as UK Foreign Office minister after video footage showed him physically removing a climate change protestor, who interrupted a speech by Chancellor Philip Hammond at Mansion House last night.

The video clip shows Mr Field stopping a female protester by pushing her against a column before forcefully walking her out of the room. Watch below.

Mark Field is facing calls to resign after the Tory MP forcefully ejected a climate change activist who interrupted a speech by Chancellor Philip Hammond at Mansion House yesterday.

The Foreign Office minister has come under fire after video footage showed him physically removing a climate change protestor from the dinner in London.

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt go head to head in the race to become the UK's next prime minister after Michael Gove was eliminated from the Tory leadership contest in today's final ballot of MPs.

The results of this afternoon's ballot are as follows:
Boris Johnson - 160 votes
Jeremy Hunt - 77 votes
Michael Gove - 75 votes

The final decision as to who will be stepping into Number 10 now rests with the 160,000 Conservative Party members in a postal ballot, with the result expected in the week beginning July 22.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid is out of the race for Number 10 after failing to secure enough votes in the fourth ballot of Tory MPs.

The results of this morning's ballot are as follows:
Boris Johnson - 157 votes
Michael Gove - 61 votes
Jeremy Hunt - 59 votes
Sajid Javid - 34 votes

Sajid Javid has said he will put 20,000 more policemen back on the streets if he were to become Prime Minister.

Challenged on the current knife crime epidemic and his role in stamping out the issue as Home Secretary, the Tory leader contender admitted there were 'issues' with policing numbers.

"I take full responsibility for doing all I can, it has been a priority of mine from day one," Sajid told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid.

He added: "I have been Home Secretary for about a year and in that time I have done everything I can on all fronts, I accept my responsibility, I have never shied away from it.

"We need action on multiple fronts. It is about resources and I have accepted there is an issue around police numbers, I have said that, if I was prime minister, I would put 20,000 more police on the streets.”

Elsewhere, Sajid insisted that he will not withdraw from the Conservative Party leadership race, despite only just scraping through to the next round with 33 votes.

He explained: “I am not withdrawing. I am certainly going to absolutely continue. I am in this to win it. It’s important to remember with Conservative Party leader contests, they are full of surprises and it’s still all to play for.”

Sajid continued: “I know I was the only person on that stage who went to my local comp...I was the first in my family to go to university. The reason I am in this is because I don’t want that to be something rare. In the future, I want more people with my kind of background up there.”

Asked if he would put all the police that Theresa May removed back on the streets, he said: “I would. I think now when we look back, if you look at the rise of all types of crime, it was wrong to have the numbers cut in the way that they were.”

When challenged on how he would pay for the extra police, Sajid explained: “I would pay for all that by slowing the pace of debt reduction. I think we can afford to spend more but at the same time bring debt down.”

Piers and Susanna also grilled the Home Secretary on the drugs scandal that has swept Westminster recently, and he insisted he has never tried any illegal substances.

He said: “It’s true that I have never taken drugs. The street I grew up in in Bristol, it was the centre of the local drugs trade. I used to walk out my door every day, walk home from school and see the impact of drugs. It is something that has therefore never attracted me.”

However, Sajid said he doesn’t think politicians owning up to taking drugs disqualifies them from being Prime Minister, as he added: “I think it is good that they have been honest and straightforward. I don’t think [it disqualifies them] People should be forgiven if they have made mistakes.”

The conversation later turned to Brexit, to which Sajid insisted that he believes a deal can still be reached.

He said: “The way to defeat the Brexit Party is to Brexit and the best way to do that is with a deal. This is why I have set out a plan which is to focus on the current Withdrawal Agreement with a change to the backstop.

"One of the reasons that the EU keeps saying no is that they think we don’t have any realistic alternatives. The biggest mistake we have made on this is about three years ago, we walked into the negotiating room, we put our hands on the table and we let them handcuff us to the table. Now we need someone to unlock those handcuffs and I can do that. I have been doing billion-dollar negotiations for 20 years before I got into government."

He continued: “You prepare for No Deal, not because you want it, it is precisely to get a deal. We need to prepare more. We should have taken [the negotiations] seriously. We need someone in there that is a negotiator, that has the experience.”

At the close of the interview, Sajid said he was “quietly confident” about the next round of the leadership battle and promised to return to Good Morning Britain when he is in charge.

He promised: “I will see you when I am Prime Minister.”

Former Brexit minister Dominic Raab has been eliminated from the Tory leadership race, as frontrunner Boris Johnson topped the ballot again maintaining a substantial lead over his rivals.

This afternoon, Conservative MPs voted in a second ballot to select the next prime minister.

Former London Mayor Boris Johnson, is well ahead of the field with 126 votes, while Raab failed to get the 33 votes needed to continue into the next round.

Elsewhere, the race for 10 Downing Street is heating up with Tory colleagues Jeremy Hunt just above the others in second place, with 46 votes.

Outsider Rory Stewart's success is continuing to raise eyebrows after pulling in 37 votes, four more votes than Sajid Javid who received 33.

The results are as follows:
Boris Johnson, 126
Jeremy Hunt, 46
Michael Gove, 41
Rory Stewart, 37
Sajid Javid, 33
Dominic Raab, 30

Following the results, Rory Stewart took to Twitter to celebrate his rise in popularity.