Top story: Fallout continues after Trump sacks head of FBI
Good morning, it’s Warren Murray bringing you the briefing this morning.
There has been a noisy backlash in US politics, law enforcement and at the White House gates against Donald Trump’s firing of the FBI boss James Comey. One former agent has described it as a “punch to the stomach” for what the president himself called the “crown jewel” of American law enforcement.
A largely flabbergasted Congress has struggled to respond to Comey’s sacking, with the Republicans weakly trying to throw it forward to the issue of finding a suitable replacement. Comey himself penned a gracious farewell letter, telling the troops: “It is done, and I will be fine, although I will miss you and the mission deeply.” It has been suggested that Comey wanted more resources from the justice department to investigate Russian influence on the president’s election campaign.
And elsewhere on the Russian front, things got more interesting overnight when the Senate intelligence committee subpoenaed Michael Flynn after he refused to hand over documents to its investigation. Trump’s shortlived national security adviser is at the centre of suspicions of Kremlin influence on the president’s circle because he lied about meeting its ambassador and failed to disclose payments from Russia and Turkey.
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The Clause are out – You will be hearing a bit about something called a “Clause V” meeting today, as Labour’s upper echelons get together to nail down the party manifesto for the election. So what might be included? According to leaks, renationalising railways, the Royal Mail and parts of the energy industry; billions more for the NHS and social care; getting rid of tuition fees (Jeremy Corbyn would need £10bn annually for that one alone); and 100,000 new council houses a year. To pay for it, tax rises for over-£80,000 earners and the reversal of corporate and inheritance tax cuts.
For their part the Lib Dems promise to take in 50,000 more refugees from Syria, with the party leader, Tim Farron, proclaiming this is just “Britain doing its fair share”. Theresa May wants to ramp up defence spending to 2% of GDP – guess what, it’s all part of being “strong and stable”. And here’s Owen Jones on how the Tories’ pledge to cap energy prices demonstrates the resounding failure of their (mis)adventures in privatisation.
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Housing slowdown – Britain’s real estate market continues to ebb and there is no sign of this changing, according to latest figures. Sales are sluggish and Nationwide says prices fell 0.4% in April, while a market snapshot from Rics says buyers appear to be staying out of the market partly because of a dearth of choice – there are not enough fresh listings. While activity is down, prices continue to grow nationally in general, though London, recently described as a “burnt-out core” as far as the housing market goes, has had 13 months of “negative growth”.
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‘Our world was torn apart’ – Evha Jannath has been named as the 11-year-old girl who died in a fall from the Splash Canyon ride at Drayton Manor theme park.
Evha’s family, from Leicester, asked for privacy as they mourn “a beautiful little girl who was full of love and always smiling”. The park will be shut again on Thursday as investigations continue, and similar rides at Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Legoland Windsor are being closed in the meantime.
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Poverty, gluten, obesity and strokes – Health problems that belong to a bygone era are blighting the lives of Britain’s poorest children, according to paediatricians. Damp and cold housing are giving rise to respiratory problems, while lack of money for food and medical appointments is also stunting these children’s growth. More gloomy health news: gluten-free diets are higher in fat and lower in protein, posing a greater risk of obesity. And obesity is one of the factors cited in predictions of a 44% higher rate of stroke in Britain over the next 20 years, though the ageing population is the biggest influence.
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Pint-sized theatre – Slapdash black paint, football fans rubbing shoulders with playgoers, and rough-edged scripts from “writers with personal hygiene problems who probably shouldn’t be let out of the house”.
You could say pub theatre is back, but it never actually went away, writes Matt Trueman, who explores how new audiences and spaces are being found from London to Leicester and Cardiff for this “absolutely and uniquely British” form of entertainment.
Lunchtime read: Full speed into tomorrow
There are people who believe we should just let technology and capitalism have their way with us, because inevitably they will anyway. The “accelerationists” take their name from a 1960s science fiction novel, and their ideas seem to gel with the modern era: “The resetting of our minds and bodies by ever-faster music and films; and the complicity, revulsion and excitement so many of us feel about the speed of modern life.”
To some adherents, Donald Trump’s manic presidency is seen as a manifestation of accelerationist politics. That’s the first alarm bell – then more of them start to ring, as you get into racially charged pseudoscience like “capitalistic human sorting” and “human biodiversity”. Andy Beckett examines whether this quasi-philosophy has a future.
Sport
Eddie Jones has warned his England side they need to be “bulletproof” in Japan after being handed arguably the toughest pool at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, leading to suggestions they will fail to escape their group for a second successive edition.
Real Madrid will play Juventus in the Champions League final despite failing to beat city rivals Atlético in their semi-final second leg at the Vicente Calderón, the famous old stadium that hosted its final night of European football. Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney has given the clearest indication yet that his 13-year career at Manchester United will end this summer, with the striker admitting he has to leave Old Trafford to play more.
And Vladimir Putin followed up his first public comment on the sacking of the FBI director James Comey by firing six goals in a gala hockey match for the Night Hockey League.
Business
The perils of going public are being felt at Snap, the parent company of social media tyro Snapchat, after its shares fell by 25% on Wall Street in the wake of a $2.2bn loss in its first quarterly earnings report since floating in March. Investors apparently fear that Facebook could eat the new kid’s lunch.
Asia-Pacific trading was choppy overnight with a rising dollar showing that the markets are more focused on the prospect of another rate hike by the Fed in June than in any potential constitutional crisis in Washington. The pound was buying $1.294 and €1.189.
The papers
Many of the papers splash on the draft Labour manifesto. A number claim it as their own exclusive – well, it was leaked to a least two nationals …
The Mail goes with “Labour’s manifesto to drag us back to the 1970s”, calling it a “new suicide note”. The Telegraph is of the same mind – “Revealed: Corbyn’s manifesto to take Britain back to the 1970s.” The Mirror sees it sightly differently.: “Corby will nationalise energy, rail and mail.” Its subhead says: “Jezza to fix rip-off Britain.”
The Times has a Tory-centric lead. It says “cracks are widening’’ between Downing Street and Philip Hammond, claiming that Theresa May’s aides are furious the chancellor committed her to not raising VAT and income tax, only days after she called the election and before policy had been settled.
The Sun splashes on the Drayton Manor theme park accident, which claimed the life of an 11-year-old girl. It interviews the mother of another child who fell off the same Splash Canyon ride. The FT goes with the James Comey sacking aftermath in the US: “Defiant Trump calls for closer Moscow ties after firing FBI chief.”
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