Theresa May’s new cabinet is less public school dominated and the last four Labour byelections have been won by people from ordinary backgrounds

It’s good to read that Theresa May’s new cabinet is less public school dominated than David Cameron’s, less so than any since the Attlee team elected in 1945 by some accounts. More diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity too, more representative of modern Britain.

Excellent. But does that make it less “elitist”? I doubt it. On the Labour left and the Brexit right “elitist” is a term of abuse easily hurled at anyone who sounds a bit like one of Michael Gove’s “experts”, saying something that fact-averse people don’t like.

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Rolling coverage of Theresa May’s first full day as prime minister, her new cabinet and government appointments, and reaction to Boris Johnson’s appointment as foreign secretary

8.18am BST

Q: Do you still believe in eliminating the deficit?

Hammond says the approach taken in 2010 was the right one. Britain is in an “immeasurably stronger” position than it was then. But now we are in a new phase. The economy will change as a result of the Brexit vote.

8.15am BST

Philip Hammond, the new chancellor, is on the Today programme. Mishal Husain is interviewing him.

Hammond says he does not anticipate an emergency budget.

8.09am BST

I’m Andrew Sparrow, and I’m blogging now for the day.

Philip Hammond, the new chancellor, is about to be interviewed on the Today programme. I will be covering that in full.

There is no plan for an emergency budget, as Theresa May made clear. There will be an autumn statement in the normal way and then there will be a budget in the normal way. But the markets do need signals of reassurance, they need to know we will do whatever is necessary to keep the economy on track.

We have all got different styles and that is why we make a strong team. We are very different people and when you are building a team for anything you want different kinds of people with different kinds of skills. And I think Boris will be very good in this job – Boris is a very big figure in the Conservative Party, he is a big figure in the country, he is a national figure. He will be an asset to both the party and the country working as part of a team closely together with the rest of us to make sure we deliver for Britain in the circumstances we find ourselves in.

8.08am BST

Good morning and welcome to our daily politics live blog.

Clearly now we have a massive opportunity in this country to make a great success of our relationship with Europe and with the world and I’m very excited to be asked to play a part in that.”

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After 5,500 questions at the dispatch box, the PM faced the Commons for the final time before heading to the palace to resign

Corbyn used his tried and tested method of asking a constituent’s question, this time from Nina, asking for reassurance that as an EU citizen who has lived in the UK for 30 years she will have the right to stay here. Cameron responded with a firm guarantee, but then he said that he had an email to read as well. He says he got an email from Judith on 16 September 2015 telling him to be polite to Corbyn because Tom Watson was far more of a threat. “I must find the sender to find out what happens next,” he said.

Proof… http://pic.twitter.com/UZVXn6WcUw

I will watch these exchanges from the backbenches. I will miss the roar of the crowd, I will miss the barbs from the opposition, but I will be willing you on.

And when I say willing you on, I don’t just mean willing on the new prime minister at this dispatch box, or indeed just willing on the frontbench defending the manifesto that I helped put together. But I mean willing all of you on, because people come here with huge passion for the issues they are about. They come here with great love for the constituencies that they represent. And also willing on this place. Because, yes, we can be pretty tough and test and challenge our leaders – perhaps more than some other countries – but that is something we should be proud of and we should keep at it, and I hope you will all keep at it, and I will will you on as you do.

“They haven’t even decided what the rules are yet.

Democracy is an exciting and splendid thing.

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Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including David Cameron’s last PMQs, Theresa May becoming prime minister and starting her cabinet reshuffle and Owen Smith launching his bid for the Labour leadership

9.10am BST

Last night Labour’s national executive committee decided that Jeremy Corbyn would be allowed to take part in the Labour leadership contest without having to get nominated by 51 MPs or MEPs, like his opponents. But it also decided that party members will not be able to vote in the contest as party members unless they joined more than six months ago. (Instead they will have to pay £25 to become a registered supporter if they want to have a vote, but there will only be a two-day window during which they can apply.)

Related: Labour executive rules Jeremy Corbyn must be on leadership ballot

We’ve seen since the Brexit vote probably the largest surge in political party membership in this country’s history, with almost 130,000 people joining the Labour party and a great number of those joined on the basis that they would be able to vote in a future leadership election.

8.55am BST

I’m Andrew Sparrow and I’m blogging today.

Owen Smith, the former shadow work and pensions secretary, has been on the Today programme to announce his bid for the Labour leadership. He told the programme:

I will stand in this election and I will do the decent thing and fight Jeremy Corbyn on the issues, just as he will do with me, and at the end of that I will stand behind whoever the leader is. But I hope and I expect it will be me.

8.54am BST

Good morning and welcome to our daily politics live blog which Andrew Sparrow will be picking up here shortly

Two right-wing papers, the Mail and the Sun not exactly in agreement as Cameron bows out. http://pic.twitter.com/sdmJfed1wr

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Thoughts of past Tory prime ministers also taking office at times of national crisis will likely be playing on the mind of No 10’s newest occupant

Even the most assured of all-conquering politicians, a Churchill, Thatcher or a cocky young Blair, relishing their long-imagined moment of arrival at the top of Disraeli’s “greasy pole” of power, feels a sense of awe at the hallowed rituals of the day: the drive to the palace, the kissing of the royal hand, the entry through the big black door, the snappers on the pavement outside, inside the staff’s wary applause.

Which of them could not be aware of the burdens of history now falling on them. In war and peace, crisis and calm, they have fallen on every prime minister since the canny Norfolk squire, Robert Walpole, first established the de facto office, became its longest occupant (1721-42) and in 1732 occupied the jerry-built terraced house in Downing Street, handily across the park from King George II who gave it to him. Many prime ministers have disliked the place – and still do.

Related: Theresa May’s first job: decide on UK’s nuclear response

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The new leader’s proven competence at a time of acute national challenge arguably overrides the lack of a personal mandate

Why am I not alarmed at the prospect of Theresa May becoming prime minister this week without a contested leadership election, let alone a general election, when Gordon Brown’s similar “coronation” in 2007 left me full of foreboding?

Two reasons stand out. The most important is that the British state faces an existential crisis by virtue of 23 June’s slender majority to withdraw from the EU. It desperately needed to fill the power vacuum created by David Cameron’s refusal to stick around and sweep up the broken glass from his reckless referendum gamble.

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Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including David Cameron chairing his last cabinet meeting and Labour’s NEC meeting to decide whether Jeremy Corbyn will be in the Labour leadership contest

8.48am BST

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, and I’m blogging for the day.

Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has been on the Today programme. He said that if Labour’s national executive committee tries to exclude Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour leadership contest when it meets this afternoon, that would be a “sordid fix”.

Len McCluskey says it would be ‘a sordid fix’ if Jeremy Corbyn is not automatically on the ballot. #r4today

8.47am BST

Good morning and welcome to our daily politics live blog

Merkel urges Britain to quickly clarify relationship with EU https://t.co/w180w0o53E http://pic.twitter.com/UKbP2r7KDf

Who’s the new top cat in Downing Street tonight – Larry in stand off – join us @ITV news at ten http://pic.twitter.com/OPkARFNWAj

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Defeat all the more painful as French were in dire need of good news after tumultuous period of terrorism and civil unrest

What a tragic rollercoaster of a time for France. Bombs and savage murders, widespread floods that affected the heart of Paris, a series of violent strikes and then Britain’s Brexit vote – and the disruption still to follow. Thank goodness for the reassuring spectacle of the Tour de France and the chance of glory hosting football’s Euro 2016 championship.

But no. The Tour is still whizzing through the towns and villages of the republic in all their magnificent diversity – we watched it pass close to our holiday destination in the south-west the other day. However, Portugal’s 1-0 win over their more fancied French rivals on Sunday night left the same communities feeling distinctly gloomy.

Related: Andrea Leadsom to pull out of Tory leadership race, BBC reports – Politics live

Related: France makes strong bid for banking business poised to leave London

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Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May launching her national campaign for the Tory leadership and Angela Eagle launching her bid for the Labour leadership

8.41am BST

Good morning and welcome to our daily politics live blog, where today’s coverage will be dominated by the leadership contests engulfing the UK’s two biggest parties that were triggered by the Brexit vote.

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Tory leadership contender’s ‘major speech on the economy’ was little more than a catalogue of slogans about optimism

In a speech in Westminster, Leadsom, the leading pro-Brexit candidate, appeared to ditch the economic strategy of her former boss George Osborne and sought to reassure the financial markets that Britain could cope with leaving the EU.

Together we will write another great chapter of prosperity and tolerance and hope.

Related: Tory leadership battle: Andrea Leadsom says ‘let’s banish pessimists’ – live

Related: Angela Leadsom calls for ‘prosperity not austerity’ in Tory leadership pitch

That was *not* as billed a ‘major speech on the economy’ by @andrealeadsom. More a series of optimistic hopes and soundbites

So Leadsom pitch…higher pay, no austerity, better training, banish pessimism . The Land of Milk and Honey ???

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