Top story: watchdog inquiry poses threat to PM
Morning everyone. This is Martin Farrer bringing you the best stories of the day.
Boris Johnson faces a potentially dangerous threat to his premiership after the Electoral Commission launched an inquiry into the “cash for curtains” row that is engulfing Downing Street. The watchdog said it believed there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect that payments for expensive renovations to Johnson’s Downing Street flat could constitute several offences. Interrogated in the Commons by Labour leader Keir Starmer, a clearly rattled prime minister insisted he had paid the renovations “personally” but did not deny receiving a donation or loan of £58,000 from a Conservative peer and party donor, David Brownlow, to foot the bills, despite no record of such a transaction being published. If the watchdog finds that rules around donations have been broken, it can issue a fine of up to £20,000 and refer the matter to the police and prosecutors. Christopher Geidt, the government’s new adviser on ministerial standards, said he would begin his own investigation into the flat payments, alongside one already under way by the cabinet secretary. The row makes the splash in the English editions of most of today’s papers.
Johnson’s question time rant suggested he is feeling the pressure after days of intense scrutiny unleashed by Dominic Cummings’s claims that the PM secretly plotted to use donor cash for the renovation. A hint of snobbery has also entered the mix after reports that friends of Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds, described the flat inherited from Theresa May as a “John Lewis nightmare”. Our columnist Aditya Chakrabortty says the affair shows that the PM is careless about everyone except himself.
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‘Crisis into opportunity’ – Joe Biden last night declared that “America is on the move again” in his first address to a joint session of Congress where he also unveiled a sweeping $1.8tn package for families and education that could transform the role government plays in American life. The huge spending plan includes community college tuition for every American, paid medical and family leave for American workers, and expanded affordable childcare. Biden, who made history by being flanked by two women in the roles of vice-president and House leader, will also target child poverty in a scheme to be funded by tax increases for the country’s wealthiest people.
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Scottish plea – The novelist Ian McEwan and the director Richard Eyre are among a group of prominent cultural figures who have urged European leaders to make an “unilateral and open offer” to Scotland to rejoin the EU should it vote for independence in a future referendum. The group’s open letter comes ahead of next week’s Holyrood elections where a pro-independence majority of MSPs is a near certainty. And a study released today shows that after 20 years of devolution Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have significantly worse outcomes in health and education than England.
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Unionists revolt – Northern Ireland has been plunged into fresh political turmoil after Arlene Foster said she was stepping down as leader of the Democratic Unionist party and first minister after a sudden internal party revolt. Foster has struggled to keep her party in line after supporting Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal that many unionists now see as a betrayal and which has led to street protests.
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‘Covid disaster’ – As India’s catastrophe unfolds, the novelist Arundhati Roy examines how gloating by the country’s rightwing prime minister, Narendra Modi, about how his government had defeated the virus has come back to haunt him. “The crisis-generating machine that we call our government is incapable of leading us out of this disaster,” she writes. India has now seen 18 million cases of Covid, according to figures out this morning, and the US has advised its citizens to leave. You can read the latest developments at our live blog. The UK sent oxygen and ventilators to help ease the crisis – but no vaccine doses. The government did, however, order a further 60m doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine for booster shots to be taken by Britons later this year.
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Murder inquiry – A serving police community support officer who was found dead on Tuesday afternoon was murdered, police have said. No arrests have yet been made following the death of Julia James, 53, whose body was found near Dover in Kent.
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‘It’s not Shakespeare’ – Ewan McGregor has confessed that it was “difficult” when the Star Wars prequels in which he plays a young Obi-Wan Kenobi were panned by critics and audiences. The actor, who reprises his role in a series for Disney’s streaming platform due in 2022, said that the poor script meant it had been hard to develop the role. “I don’t want to be rude, but it’s not Shakespeare,” he told Hollywood Reporter.
Today in Focus podcast
For months, information has been leaked to the press from inside Downing Street, including allegations Boris Johnson was given the cash – which has not yet been published in any declarations – to do up his official residence. Rafael Behr discusses how damaging this could be for the prime minister.
Lunchtime read: In Britain’s deep, dark woods
Much of Britain’s temperate rainforest has been destroyed, leaving only relatively small pockets of trademark stunted oaks, verdant mosses and lichen. But the woodlands can regenerate and the writer and environmental campaigner Guy Shrubsole describes how the race is on to map what survives and restore what we can.
Sport
Pep Guardiola praised Manchester City’s aggression and passion in Paris after they came from behind to beat PSG 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. Harry Kane has expressed frustration at a continued inability to achieve his ambition of winning major trophies at Tottenham, in comments that will raise the alarm about his happiness at the club. Team GB will have male and female flag bearers at the Tokyo Games for the first time in Olympic history. New Zealand Rugby has moved a step closer to selling a stake in the game after a unanimous vote to agree a huge deal with a US investment firm. Shaun Murphy repelled a strong comeback from the world No 1, Judd Trump, to claim a 13-11 victory and book his place back in the World Snooker Championship semi-finals for the first time since 2015. Haseeb Hameed, the batsman who impressed with England at 19 but was later released by Lancashire, has found form at Nottinghamshire. And the Canadian Grand Prix has been officially cancelled for the 2021 season and will be replaced on the calendar over the weekend of 12-13 June by the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul.
Business
The number of electric cars, vans, trucks and buses on the world’s roads is on course to increase from 11m vehicles to 145m by the end of the decade, which could wipe out demand for millions of barrels of oil every day. The FTSE100 is expected to edge up slightly this morning while the pound is buying $1.394 and €1.149.
The papers
The prime minister’s problems are the focus of most papers this morning. The Guardian’s main headline is “PM’s fury as watchdog launches inquiry into ‘cash for curtains’” above pictures of him railing in the Commons. The Times has “Downing St concern at ‘paper trail’ to PM’s flat”, the FT says “Johnson faces formal probes into who paid for Downing St facelift”, the i leads with “PM will give evidence to electoral watchdog”, and the Mail has a more colourful “Boris painted into a corner”. The Mirror splash says “Boris is the judge at his own trial”.
The Express prefers to lead on some better news for the government – “60m booster jabs to halt third wave” – and the Telegraph quotes Prof Jonathan Van-Tam’s vaccine advice: “‘Incredibly safe for two vaccinated people to meet freely’”. The Scotsman has an interesting poll showing support for independence is down to 42%: “Support for Yes slides to lowest level since election”.
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