Four men and two women, will today sit in judgment in an anonymous office in the Whitehall edifice that houses the Treasury on the most contentious set of peerage nominations for a generation.

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: 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 - 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 - After her recent letter to the Times, Lady Marland has now left her husband, peer Lord Jonathan Marland with quite a conundrum to deal with regarding his personal wealth.

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.

Mark Cavendish has been left out of the Dimension Data team that will compete in this year's Tour de France. It is the first time in 13 years that the British rider will not compete in France.

Some 24 hours before Team INEOS announced that Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal would start the Tour de France as joint leaders, the cycling team offered their defending champion to the media.

Earlier this week news broke that Dimension Data's team principal, Doug Ryder, ignored the recommendation by performance boss Rolf Aldag to include Cavendish in line-up.

Team Dimension Data head of performance Rolf Aldag has made clear he will stay with the team for the remainder of the Tour de France as the row over Mark Cavendish's non-selection rumbled on.

Geraint Thomas survived the first day of racing through the climbs of the 2019 Tour de France but then suggested that team-mate Egan Bernal is favourite for the first summit finish on stage six.

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.

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.

Geraint Thomas and Team Ineos had every reason to be satisfied as they reached the first rest day of the Tour de France in an enviable position. He is in second place in the general classification.

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 IN FOIX: There was a second stage win for Simon Yates, a first sign of human weakness from Julian Alaphilippe, not to mention further difficulties for Geraint Thomas on Sunday.

Forecasters also predicted new temperatures highs in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, where the mercury is set to reach 104F (40C) for the first time on Thursday.

MATT LAWTON IN NIMES: There is a reluctance in France to imagine how the scenes on the Champs-Elysees might compare to the night of the 1998 World Cup final.

Trentin won by 36 seconds, while there was no change at the top of the general classification, with Julian Alaphilippe still leading ajnd Geraint Thomas trailing by 95 seconds.

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.

MATT LAWTON IN VALLOIRE: To some extent it felt like normal service had been resumed here in the Alps, the sight of five Team Ineos riders leading the yellow jersey group up the final climb.

MATT LAWTON IN PARIS: Brailsford believes Bernal is capable of maintaining the team's dominance of the Tour de France for years to come. At 22, he is the youngest man to win in Paris since 1909.

MATT LAWTON IN PARIS: Wiggins and Thomas believe Team Ineos will continue to dominate the Tour de France with a young Colombian cyclist who could turn out to be the greatest in history.

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.

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.

Team INEOS has announced they are pulling out of all racing until the Volta a Catalunya on March 23.

The Tour de France's organisers are focusing on a postponement of this year's race rather than a cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic. 'Le Tour' was set to roll out of Nice on June 27th.

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.

The new British-built 150mph Jaguar XF Sportbrake is set to be one of the stars of next week’s Geneva Motor Show when it is officially unveiled – as well as making shopping trips rather more fun.

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.

Ray Massey does a mini test drive on the latest model and he is impressed by the sporty style of the new Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.4 TB MultiAir 170bhp TCT Veloce.

A British sports car, whose determined lady driver beat the Nazis to win Olympic gold at the Berlin Games of 1936, has revved into London 2012.

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.

It accelerates from rest to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds and will cost around £77,000 when in showrooms early next year (for delivery in summer).

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.

It will be in showrooms this spring, priced at £160,000, following its global unveiling at the Detroit Motor Show on January 14. Bentley describes it as its ' performance flagship convertible'.

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.

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.

Jaguar's sexy new F-type sports car hit the road this week and from my exclusive first drive, I can tell you that the cat has got the cream, writes RAY MASSEY.

The British car maker is marking its big day with a striking display of its heritage and future technology, proving that although it's 65, the car won't be pensioned off.

Mercedes-Benz' new flagship S-Class limousine, pictured, could be the cleverest car on the road; it can 'see' potholes and bumps ahead, writes RAY MASSEY.

The Peugeot 205 GTi became an icon of the Eighties. Now, almost three decades on, comes what Peugeot believes is its true spiritual successor - the 208 GTi, writes RAY MASSEY.

The luxury 4x4, which BMW dubs a sports activity vehicle, broke cover this week. It goes on sale here in November, writes RAY MASSEY.

My test drive of the new Range Rover Sport was exacting enough, before I tackled the decommissioned jumbo at Cotswold Airport, near Cirencester, Glos.

RAY MASSEY: The first things to catch the eye are the curious blisters of air-filled plastic, which adorn the sides of the door and bodywork.

Nifty, nimble and willing 1.6-litre 156 bhp petrol engine linked to a smooth six-speed manual gearbox, which helped propel the car from rest to 62 mph in just 8.2 seconds.

The second worst car was the Mercedes-Benz B-Class (2005- 2012) managing just 42.6 mpg compared with the claimed 59.6 mpg (71.8 per cent).