Top story: Vitriol overflows as Le Pen and Macron clash
Good morning, it’s Warren Murray waking you up to the news.
Marine Le Pen a “parasite” and “hate-filled liar feeding off France’s misery”. Emmanuel Macron a “smirking banker”, weak on terrorism and beholden to “uncontrolled globalisation”. Such were the insults traded when the two finalists in France’s presidential race clashed in a furious TV debate overnight.
With mainstream parties out of the running, the encounter proved much bigger on personal invective than policy. The dust is still settling this morning but Macron left the studio with snap polling declaring him the winner, while other polls during the week have put him at 60% to Le Pen’s 40% ahead of the final-round vote on Sunday.
In UK politics, if it’s become the fashion to say dark outside forces are lined up against you in an election, then Theresa May is joining in. The PM is hoping to strike a definitive blow by declaring that EU leaders are “threatening” Britain in a blatant attempt to influence the outcome of the 8 June poll. The PM is calling on voters to tool her up to “fight for Britain” against Brussels. Meanwhile one of the authors of article 50 is warning that there is a 45% chance of no deal with the EU amid a lack of clarity over who Britain is putting into the ring for the Brexit negotiations.
Don’t forget about the Snap, our daily briefing on all UK election happenings. Read to the bottom for details on how to sign up.
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Army photographer’s last shot – This is the picture that cost Specialist Hilda Clayton her life, when a mortar tube misfired and exploded as she photographed a training exercise in Afghanistan. The blast killed Clayton and four Afghan army soldiers including Clayton’s own trainee photojournalist.
The US army has released the photo, striking in both its composition and the gravity of the moment it captures, to highlight the dangers faced by today’s female troops, which are “on par with their male counterparts”. An annual award for battle photography has been named after Clayton, who was from Georgia and a member of the 55th signal company, which is known as “combat camera”.
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Steve Bannon spells it out – Donald Trump’s chief strategist left little about the White House policy agenda to the imagination when he posed for a photo in front of a whiteboard filled with the administration’s pet hates and hobbyhorses. Some things on Bannon’s list are ticked off, like “end catch and release”, but others – like the wall (someone please tell Sean Spicer what one looks like), the immigration ban, and repealing Obamacare – are clearly not a done deal. On Obamacare, Republicans are now claiming they’ve got the numbers to push a redrafted healthcare bill through the House (Trump personally called some of his party’s objectors to dragoon them). But key moderates still think it doesn’t do enough to protect people with pre-existing medical conditions.
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Unnatural selection – Theresa May’s 21st-century drive for grammar schools is bound to produce a system just as unfair as its forebears, argues Chris Horrie in today’s long read. Offering a grim portrait of his time at Wellington county secondary modern after failing the 11-plus, Horrie argues that May’s determination to bring back selective schooling is driven by the nostalgia of those who think their grammar education gave them a chance in life, while disregarding the lived experience of those who didn’t get in.
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Google malware attack – The Briefing is looking sideways at that other email in your inbox – the one that invites you to edit a Google doc. Cyber-criminals have launched a sophisticated phishing attack that scams people into opening up their Google accounts for plunder. Rather than being taken to a bogus login screen, users are conned into letting a dodgy app take control of their accounts. If you have been duped, the advice is to revoke the app’s permissions and contact Google.
Lunchtime read: Could Brexit bring about a united Ireland?
“People, money and Ireland must come first.” So said Donald Tusk in laying down terms for the negotiation of Britain’s exit from the EU.
Those few words have brought back to the fore the issue of a united Ireland, writes Fintan O’Toole, as well as the appearance of EU support for it. He argues that while the aspiration of many an Irish nationalist may seem a far-off fancy, no one should discount that all of Northern Ireland is being offered a shortcut back into the European Union when the part that is “Great Britain” leaves.
Sport
Clarke Carlisle has written a column for the Guardian in which the former PFA chairman and Premier League defender discusses football’s inadequate provision for mental health issues and calls for action. Juventus are set for a Champions League final against Real Madrid after Gonzalo Higuaín scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Monaco in their semi-final.
Liverpool’s Centenary Stand will be renamed after Kenny Dalglish in recognition of his immense contribution to the club. And Ilie Năstase, tennis’s villain du jour, has been banned from Wimbledon’s royal box while Maria Sharapova’s return to SW14 is becoming increasingly likely.
Business
Facebook shares dipped from their all-time high of $153.60 amid concern about slowing ad revenue. The company is looking at new ways to generate cash such as ads that play in the middle of videos or appear on the Messenger app.
Asian markets were fairly flat after a subdued Wall Street session saw the dollar edge up on expectation that the Fed could still increase interest rates in June despite keeping them on hold on Wednesday. The pound nevertheless gained a little on the greenback to sit at $1.287 while on the continent it was buying €1.181.
The papers
Theresa May’s accusation that Brussels is trying to influence the election roars across most of the front pages this morning. “Hands off our election”, says the Mail. The Sun’s “Nuclear Juncker” doesn’t quite get there, in the Briefing’s view.
The i goes with “EU trying to rig election” while its digital-only stablemate the Independent is more penetrating with “May plays her Trump card”, calling it crude electioneering. All the rest are pretty literal and prosaic – “Brussels is meddling in our election, warns May” says the Times, while at the Guardian we’ve gone with “May declares war on Brussels”.
The Mirror stands out – “May plotting snap vote to bomb Syria” – claiming that a returned-to-office PM will seek parliament’s backing for action against the Assad regime.
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