Despite being repeatedly tipped as a 'prime minister-in-waiting' since entering the House of Commons less than five years ago, Rishi Sunak has always been better known in India than Britain.

ANDREW PIERCE: Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott yesterday ruled out serving in the Shadow Cabinet of the next Labour leader.

ANDREW PIERCE: Jack Straw - Tony Blair's first Home Secretary - revealed what Lord Baker, Home Secretary in Sir John Major's government from 1990-92, had told him when he took up the role.

ANDREW PIERCE: Home Secretary Priti Patel was defended last week in a statement by 100 allies, including election guru Sir Lynton Crosby and William Shawcross, former chief of the Charity Commission.

ANDREW PIERCE: In an interview with student newspaper Varsity in 2002, when he was chairman of the Labour group at Cambridge University, he backed the UK joining the euro.

ANDREW PIERCE: Sunak's bold measures to tackle the economic devastation threatened by the coronavirus has found him allies in unexpected places.

ANDREW PIERCE: Social media posts can be ever so revealing. Who is the unlikeliest fan of ­Labour's new leader Sir Keir Starmer?

ANDREW PIERCE - Trust rust is key when talking about ambitious ministers who might one day fancy a permanent shot at the top job. He may be wooden, but Dominic Raab has Boris Johnson's backing.

ANDREW PIERCE: Sir Keir Starmer managed to find a place in his Shadow Cabinet for onetime 'Continuity Corbyn' candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey.

Chris Froome has insisted he is 'on the road to recovery' following his horror crash which saw him lose four pints of blood and required six-hours of surgery, and has admitted he feels lucky to be alive.

DANIEL BENSON - EDITOR-IN-CHIEF FOR CYCLINGNEWS.COM: Last Wednesday Chris Froome and the Team Ineos squad arrived in the outskirts of the French commune of Roanne.

Froome had been treated at the University Hospital of St Etienne, where he underwent a six-hour operation to repair a fractured right femur, broken hip, fractured elbow and fractured ribs.

The 2019 Tour de France will roll away from the Place Royale in Brussels with the fallout over Mark Cavendish's non-selection by his Dimension Data team continuing to make headlines.

Chris Froome admitted he is 'relieved' to be back home and will be following the Tour de France from his bed following the horror crash that left him seriously injured.

CHRIS MURPHY IN BRUSSELS: Geraint Thomas and his Ineos team-mates were beaten in a tense finish to Saturday's second stage of the Tour de France, a 27.6-kilometre time trial.

CHRIS MURPHY IN NANCY: Elia Viviani won stage four of the Tour de France in a sprint finish in Nancy as Deceuninck-Quick Step team-mate Julian Alaphilippe retained the yellow jersey.

Geraint Thomas took back control of the Tour de France on Thursday, with a surge of power taking him clear of his main rivals on the backbreaking finish to stage six in the Vosges mountains.

South African Daryl Impey added an individual stage win to his Tour de France happy memories when he prevailed at the end of a long breakaway from St Etienne on Sunday.

Geraint Thomas and Ineos team-mate Egan Bernal profited hugely as French rival Thibaut Pinot was caught in a group who lost 100 seconds on the 217.5km stage from Saint-Flour to Albi.

The startling scene was recorded by an onlooker during the ninth stage of the Tour de France from Saint-Etienne to Brioude in central-eastern France.

Valentin Anouilh, 21, spent six months training for the stunt which saw him soar over the heads of the elite riders as they sprinted through a valley near Saint Flour, Auvergne.

MATT LAWTON IN BAGNERES-DE-BIGORRE: The race for the big prize might have failed to ignite here on the first day in the Pyrenees but there was no shortage of fireworks

MATT LAWTON ON THE COL DU TOURMALET: Owner of Ineos Jim Ratcliffe must have sat in the team car on Saturday afternoon and wondered if he had just bought a cycling team in decline.

The defending champion came off on a right-hander with around 130km of the 177km stage, which started and finished in Nimes, remaining. He was though soon able to rejoin the race.

MATT LAWTON IN GAP: Team Ineos go into three massive days in the Alps that will determine the outcome of the most mesmerising Tour de France in decades, without captain Luke Rowe.

Thibaut Pinot's dream of becoming the first French winner of the Tour de France for 34 years is over after the Groupama-FDJ rider was forced to abandon early on stage 19 to Tignes.

MATT LAWTON IN VALLOIRE: Thibaut Pinot abandoned the race in tears and Julian Alaphilippe lost the yellow jersey on the brutal ascent of the highest paved pass in Europe.

The 34-year-old suffered multiple broken bones after he collided with a wall during this year's event, but is ahead in his recovery and is targeting next year's race as a potential return date.

The 55-year-old cycling coach confirmed in an interview with The Times that he has had surgery on a tumour which doctors discovered after flagging up concerns over blood tests.

Chris Froome has revealed that he does not remember any part of the horrific crash that almost cost him his life during a training ride in May.

The most successful cyclist in history, Eddy Merckx, is in intensive care after falling during a bike ride with friends. He was admitted to Dendermonde hospital in Belgium on Sunday.

Tour de France organisers put a spring in the step of the climbers after unveiling the 2020 route featuring a mountain stage on the second day and one time trial on the eve of the final Champs Elysees parade.

Froome posted a picture on social media following the operation, restating his goals of getting back to full fitness in time for next summer's Tour de France and the Olympic road race in Japan.

Team Ineos sporting director Nicolas Portal has tragically passed away at the age of 40. A statement from Team Ineos said that the Frenchman died at his home in Andorra on Tuesday afternoon.

We've already seen coronavirus decimate the sporting calendar, with Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics among dozens of events either postponed or cancelled. So what will be the next event to fall?

Chris Froome called the rescheduling of the Tour de France a 'light at the end of the tunnel' after it was postponed for two months rather than scrapped.

It is the first time China has led the Bentley sales table, a landmark that will be seen as another sign of a new world economic order.

It's not every day an international luxury car company holds the global launch of its latest model in Britain — and brings over its top brass to do the honours.

Toyota has sent its British-built family car to boot camp. The result is a toned-up, better performing model.

I love the look of the new Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet which makes its world debut at the Los Angeles Motor Show on November 28 and will go on sale in Britain in spring.

Start queuing for the Dacia Sandero - it’s Britain’s cheapest car at less than £6,000. Renault bought the Romanian car-maker in 1999 as its ‘budget’ brand and the UK market is the final piece of the jigsaw.

The Aixam Coupe S (pictured) may look like a compact city car, but it is classed as a ‘light quadricycle’, which can be driven with a moped licence.

Production of the third generation Octavia started this month at the Mlada Boleslav plant in the Czech Republic, ahead of its March launch in Britain.

Major car makers including Vauxhall, Nissan, Citroen and Volvo will exhibit a range of their latest and yet to launch vehicles as well as providing test drives at the Future Drive Motor Show.

What would you splash out on if your numbers came up? According to new research, for British car fans, nothing but a Bentley will do.

Mailonline has had an exclusive first drive of the astonishing new ‘green’ super-frugal car offering 2p a mile motoring that could swiftly put Osborne and the Treasury out of business.

With a longer range, lots of extra space and a heavier steer, the Nissan LEAF might be small but it drives like one of the big boys - and that's no bad thing.

RAY MASSEY: As controversial table-manners go, it certainly beats resting on your elbows. This remarkable stunt came as the dashing Earl of March hosted a sumptuous sponsors and press dinner.

It has classic sporty looks, a spirited driving performance and is an engaging Toyota to suit carefree, boy racers now with families in tow.

Ray Massey test out the sexy new Jaguar F-type sports car, which has a top speed of 186mph and will accelerate to 60mph in just 4.2 seconds.