Top story: Kushner emails ‘under investigation’
Hello – it’s Warren Murray with what you need to know as the day begins.
Donald Trump’s White House team is finding itself on the receiving end of accusations about the use of private email addresses: the same issue on which Trump assailed Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.
A formal investigation has reportedly been launched after it emerged that Trump’s son-in-law and aide Jared Kushner, and other senior administration officials, used private accounts to discuss government business.
Trump’s Republican election campaign exhorted crowds to chant “Lock her up!” over Clinton’s sending of classified information using a private email server. According to an official, the investigation of Kushner and others by the White House counsel’s office will look at whether they have also sent classified material, and whether any of the messages are relevant to the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia.
Democrats, meanwhile, have accused Twitter of failing to fully grasp the threat to democracy from Russia’s use of its platform to influence the 2016 election in favour of Trump. Twitter has suspended 201 accounts tied to Russia-linked sources that posted political advertising. Facebook earlier removed 470 Russia-linked accounts and pages. Top Democrats suggested Twitter had relied on Facebook’s disclosures rather than carrying out its own thorough investigation. “There is a lot more work they have to do,” said Mark Warner from the Senate intelligence committee.
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Undercover in the chicken industry – Major supermarkets have promised to investigate after a joint Guardian/ITV investigation found their largest supplier of chicken tampered with food safety records. Covert footage shows slaughter dates being altered at a 2 Sisters Food Group plant, and workers said this happened numerous times. Older chicken was also mixed in with newer product and repackaged.
It would mean chicken being ultimately sold to consumers with an incorrect, later use-by date. 2 Sisters processes six million chickens a week and produces a third of all poultry products consumed in the UK. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Aldi and Lidl all get their chicken from 2 Sisters. Our investigation also sheds light on what it’s like to work inside the group’s chicken factories, and the £3bn food empire of 2 Sisters’ founder, the reclusive entrepreneur Ranjit Singh Boparan – who also owns Bernard Matthews turkeys, the restaurant chains Harry Ramsden, FishWorks and Giraffe, plus food brands such as Fox’s Biscuits and Goodfella’s pizza.
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May shunned black and minority vote – Theresa May could have secured a parliamentary majority in the snap election if she had made the Conservative party more appealing to ethnic minority voters. Analysis by British Future says if the Tories had done as well with non-white support as they did with white Britons, the party would have garnered 1.2m of their votes, giving the Tories an extra 28 seats and handing May a majority of 42. Even halving the gap would have delivered a majority of 10. May’s advisers instead chose to target culturally conservative, pro-Brexit Ukip and Labour voters in the election, says the thinktank – reversing David Cameron’s attempts to broaden the party’s appeal among black and minority ethnic Britons, who remain much more likely to vote for Labour.
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Disgrace of cricketing pair – Ben Stokes and Alex Hales, two of England’s leading cricketers, have been stood down from international duty indefinitely pending the outcome of a police investigation into an altercation that took place during the early hours of Monday morning in Bristol. The move places Stokes, the vice-captain of the Test team, in danger of missing the Ashes tour to Australia that departs at the end of next month.
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Britain’s worried young – Brexit is sending a wave of anxiety through the under-30s. Trying to make ends meet on Britain’s stagnating wages, the high cost of housing and rising debt levels are also adding to young adults’ worries, according to findings from the Young Women’s Trust. Almost half of the 4,000 people surveyed said they were worried for their future. The debt charities Citizens Advice and StepChange have meanwhile recorded a jump in the number of young people seeking help with bad debts. Young Women’s Trust CEO Carole Easton said: “The traditional stereotype of youthful swagger and optimism seems to have been replaced by worry and anxiety.”
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‘It would not be surgical or short’ – Going to war against North Korea would be the worst possible option and likely to result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to the diplomat who brokered the Iran nuclear deal. Donald Trump’s intelligence agencies doubtless know more about the situation than he does, but it was difficult to make him listen, suggested Sir Simon Gass, the former Foreign Office political director. In terms of Kim Jong-un gaining nuclear weapons “the toothpaste is out of the tube … I see very little likelihood that circumstances would arise in which North Korea would be willing to negotiate away its nuclear capability”. Trump backing out of the Iran nuclear pact would make Pyongyang even less likely to strike a disarmament deal that could be torn up by a future president, said Gass, who called for a return to talks brokered by China.
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‘Sing Happy Birthday twice’ – That’s the advice from pharmacists on how to make sure you spend enough time washing your hands. Yes, we know! Free advice and it’s not even World Hand-Washing Week or anything! It takes around 20 seconds to get rid of the germs that cause colds, flu, upset stomachs and other infections. We shouldn’t really have to tell you when to wash: like after using the toilet, patting the dog, or before handling food. Wash the backs of them too. Following the advice thoroughly can help stop the spread of illness to vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly, and help reduce Britain’s over-use of antibiotics, says Ash Soni, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Lunchtime read: The Tories you – and the PM – need to watch
The Conservative party begins its conference this weekend blurbing that it is united behind Theresa May. But some figures are clearly looming a little too closely behind the PM for comfort.
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, tops the list of those who will be scrutinised for signs they are auditioning for the leadership. Then there’s David Davis, the outwardly loyal Brexit lieutenant whose supporters might already be counting the numbers for a challenge. And Jacob Rees-Mogg, the arch-eurosceptic who has a roster of Brexit-themed speaking engagements lined up in Manchester. Deputy political editor Rowena Mason has compiled pithy mini-profiles of six big hitters with “troublemaking potential” for May.
There’s much worse on offer from Ukip, which today meets to elect its next leader after support collapsed under Paul Nuttall at the general election. The party will be making a lurch further to the far right if it picks the strongly favoured Anne Marie Waters, who co-founded an anti-Islam group and has the potential to split Ukip with her extreme views. Its MEPs have threatened to resign the whip if she wins, and Nigel Farage says he would be forced to start a rival party.
Sport
Gareth Southgate has defended the FA’s under-fire technical director, Dan Ashworth, over allegations that the governing body orchestrated a “sham” inquiry into the Mark Sampson affair and tried to cover up an allegation of racism.
Theo Walcott’s early brace set Arsenal on their way to a 4-2 Europa League victory at Bate Borisov, while Ronald Koeman delivered a scathing assessment of Everton’s 2-2 draw against Apollon Limassol as he accused his team of being scared to play football and being “in a difficult situation”. And Luke Gale’s golden point drop goal – 16 days after emergency surgery to remove his appendix – did for St Helens and put Castleford into the Super League grand final.
Business
Asian shares were slightly higher on Friday following a record high close on Wall Street, except for Japan, where a pause in the dollar’s strengthening dampened optimism about exports.
The pound has been trading at $1.341 and €1.138.
The papers
Disgraced England cricketer Ben Stokes comes in for opprobrium on the fronts of the Sun and Star, while copping more on their reverse covers, and on back pages elsewhere including the Times, Mirror, Express … the list goes on. The Guardian’s front-page story is our shared exclusive with ITV about the fiddling of use-by dates at the supermarkets’ biggest chicken supplier.
You’d have to question whether Theresa May is attuned to the zeitgeist after she delivered a speech praising Uber and the free market. We reported a day ago that she was going to say it, but it makes front-page lead in today’s CityAM and the FT. The Mail says thousands of women are “victims of breast cancer neglect” because ministerial inaction is denying them the latest advances in medical science. The Mirror and the Express report on police investigating Madeleine McCann’s disappearance getting another six months of funding. The Times goes with the ban on wood fires being championed by the London mayor to curb air pollution. The Telegraph reports that some Tory MPs are demanding a halt to the universal credit rollout.
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