Also from this morning's Front Page newsletter: Rishi Sunak vows to cool it on tax & Mo Farah 'was trafficked to the UK'. Sign up below
As the mercury soars, Britain is braced for heatwave crisis mode. Ministers are drawing up plans for the first ever national heatwave emergency that would cause widespread disruption to schools, travel and health services.
Senior officials held a Cobra meeting yesterday as forecasters predicted the record for the UK’s hottest day could be broken at the weekend, potentially smashing through the 40C (104F) barrier.
Environment correspondent Olivia Rudgard explains what the "level 4" alert would mean.
The heatwave has already caused travel delays, cancelled sports days and the threat of water shortages this week. With warnings that worse is yet to come, this is what to expect.
It has surely never been a more important time to look after your skin, so Eleanor Steafel has your ultimate sun cream guide.
And three Telegraph writers look back on the long, hot summer of 1976. Share your own memories.
Rishi Sunak is to launch his bid to become prime minister today. The former chancellor will vow to bring down the tax burden at the official start of his Tory leadership campaign, declaring it is a matter of "when, not if".
In an attempt to counter the attacks of rivals, he will name cutting taxes as one of the three planks of his economic plan.
But, as political editor Ben Riley-Smith reports, Mr Sunak will repeat his insistence that tax cuts must wait until inflation is brought under control – arguing that those claiming otherwise are not telling the truth.
He is seen by his rivals as the early front-runner, but critics attacked his record in the Treasury.
Sherelle Jacobs says it is high time for radical change, as she argues that the next prime minister must embrace Thatcherism.
Nominations for the election open and close today, with candidates requiring the support of 20 fellow MPs to make it onto the ballot – a hurdle some of the 11 hoping to stand may struggle to overcome and could be forced out by tomorrow night.
Would-be leaders will have to explain what action they would take on tax cuts, the net zero agenda and trans issues if they entered Number 10.
Political correspondent Nick Gutteridge explains where each candidate who has so far declared their intention to run stands on the key questions set to dominate the battle to replace Boris Johnson.
Tim Stanley reviews their campaign videos, including one that he thinks looks as if it was filmed by the MP’s mother. Some Tories are undecided on whether they will stand, including Priti Patel who – at the time of writing – was still wavering on launching a bid.
Sir Mo Farah has told his life story countless times: how he arrived in the UK as a boy with his mother and brothers, to live with a father who was already here. Yet that account was false.
The truth, according to the Olympic champion, is that he was trafficked to this country as a nine-year-old by a stranger who, he claims, forced him into domestic servitude.
The name "Mohamed Farah" was stolen from another child and used to create a fake passport.
Anita Singh tells the astonishing story, which is the subject of a BBC One documentary.
In today’s cartoon, Matt finds a link between the heatwave and Tory leadership campaign. For a weekly behind-the-scenes look at Matt’s work, sign up for his newsletter.
Distant encounters of the first kind | Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMacs 0723 includes thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in infrared. View the image from the telescope that is designed to peer back so far that scientists can get a glimpse of the dawn of the universe, about 13.7 billion years ago.
Three days after hundreds of protesters scaled the walls of Sri Lanka’s presidential palace in Colombo, its doors have been thrown open to thousands more people who have since taken up residence in the colonial building. Now the de facto rulers are trying to impose order on squatters exercising in the gym, swimming in the pool and lying in the presidential bed. Qadijah Irshad visits while the party is in full swing.
It was a night beyond England’s wildest dream. An electric performance roared the hosts’ Women’s Euros campaign into life as they tore Norway apart to qualify for the quarter-finals with the biggest margin of victory in the competition’s history. Read Tom Garry‘s match report after the 8-0 win. At Manchester United, James Ducker goes inside Erik ten Hag’s hour-long open training session to see how the players are adapting.
Andrew Bailey has warned Tory leadership hopefuls not to attack the Bank of England’s independence after Tom Tugendhat accused it of stoking inflation through a massive programme of bond-buying. The Bank Governor said an independent central bank was a "cornerstone of economic policy" following claims by Mr Tugendhat, a contender to become Prime Minister, that price rises had been fuelled by the "sugar high" of quantitative easing. Meanwhile, Rachel Millard examines the doomsday scenario of a winter without Russian gas.
Quick beetroot, lentil and dill salad | The joy of this vibrant dish by Georgina Hayden is its speed and flexibility – ready in 10 minutes.
Which is the most popular of all France’s thousands of villages? Easy. Right now, it is Bergheim on the Alsace wine route. The old walled spot, once celebrated for its abundance of witches, was recently voted France’s favourite. Destination expert Anthony Peregrine says some parts of Alsace are so painstakingly perfect that US visitors often assume they were built as film sets. See his pick of the bucolic region’s five best.
Museum of the Year 2022 | More than a pat on the back, this prize rewards innovative new developments with a cash boost that is four times the Turner pot. With the winner about to be announced, five influential figures talk about the finalist that means most to them.
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