Top story: May says successor ‘must protect union’
Good morning briefers. I’m Martin Farrer and these are the top stories today.
The anti-Brexit minister David Gauke has launched a veiled attack on Boris Johnson by criticising “populist politicians” who deceive the public by telling them what they think they want to hear. With his likely exit from the cabinet just weeks away, the justice secretary used a speech to the annual judges’ dinner in the City of London to attack colleagues who “pour poison into our national conversation”. He said deterioration in the national discourse had led to a “growing distrust of our institutions – whether that be parliament, the civil service, the mainstream media or the judiciary”.
As Johnson and Jeremy Hunt face more hustings in the Tory leadership race today, Johnson has pledged to create 20,000 new police officers with particular emphasis on rural areas. His rival was also pitching for votes in the countryside by promising a parliamentary vote to repeal the foxhunting ban. The pair also face a warning from the woman they are vying to succeed. Theresa May will say in a speech in Scotland today that the duty of the next PM is to hold the union together amid a possible no-deal Brexit.
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Drink problem – The shocking impact on the NHS from alcohol abuse is laid bare today by research revealing that one in 10 people in a hospital bed in the UK are alcohol-dependent and one in five inpatients are doing themselves harm by their drinking. While it is estimated that heavy drinking costs the NHS £3.5bn a year, the numbers of people treated has been unclear. But a major review published in the journal Addiction has collated 124 previous studies involving 1.6 million hospital inpatients and shows that 20% use alcohol harmfully while 10% are dependent. More than 80 people die every day in the UK from alcohol abuse. Cuts to alcohol services in the NHS and the community have made the situation worse, it says.
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Diplomacy double – Donald Trump has issued a Twitter warning to Iran to be “careful with threats” after Tehran said it will exceed within days its uranium enrichment level agreed under the 2015 nuclear deal. President Hassan Rouhani blamed the development on the failure by other parties to the deal to keep up their promises and provide Iran relief from the US sanctions. But, amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, the US president said threats “can come back to bite you like nobody has been bitten before!”. He also faced diplomatic pushback on Thursday from another victim of US sanctions, North Korea, when the Pyongyang regime complained in a letter to UN that Washington was “hellbent” on using trade bans to target the country.
Also in North Korea, an Australian student missing in the country for a week is “safe and sound” and is on his way to Japan. Alek Sigley, 29, was studying at university in Pyongyang.
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Osborne comeback? – George Osborne has told friends he wants to be considered as the next boss of the International Monetary Fund, according to reports. The former chancellor, who was sacked after the Brexit referendum, is the editor of the Evening Standard. But taking the top job at the Washington-based organisation would be a dramtic return to the public arena. The position will become vacant when Christine Lagarde leaves to become head of the European Central Bank. He will face stiff competition for the job but the Financial Times reports that he believes his connections in Washington and Beijing make him a strong contender.
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Hong Kong arrests – Police in Hong Kong have arrested at least 12 people after protesters stormed the city’s parliamentary building in a break-in involving hundreds of pro-democracy activists who vandalised offices and the main chamber. The incident marred largely peaceful protests on Monday. The 11 men and one woman face charges ranging from “possession of offensive weapons, unlawful assembly, assaulting a police officer and obstructing a police officer”. The oldest was 31 and the youngest 14. It comes as the Foreign Office called in the Chinese ambassador to London after he accused foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt of “gross and unacceptable interference” in Chinese affairs for comments about the protests.
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Trust us – The National Trust is divesting its £1bn fossil fuel assets in an attempt to help tackle the escalating climate crisis. The heritage organisation said it would sell the vast majority of its investments within 12 months, and the whole lot within three years. A Guardian investigation last year revealed the trust had invested tens of millions of pounds in oil, gas and mining companies despite having pledged to cut down its own use of fossil fuels and warning about the impact of climate change.
Today in Focus podcast
Kamala Harris was the big winner of the first round of Democratic party debates in the US. This week, her poll numbers surged and so did donations to her campaign. But as Lauren Gambino in Washington tells the podcast, it was bad news for the frontrunners as Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders faltered.
Lunchtime read: From the Krays to Hellbanianz – Britain’s changing underworld
Today’s long read is a tour de horizon of organised crime in Britain by the Guardian’s former crime correspondent Duncan Campbell. From drug dealing and people trafficking to darkweb commerce and fraud, he explores how the country’s traditional family-run outfits have given way to gangs from many different parts of the world such as the Hellbanianz from Albania – Europe’s largest supplier of cannabis – and smugglers bringing young women from Vietnam into a life of debt bondage in Britain. There is still a never-ending supply of homegrown wannabe gangsters fed by “the recruiting sergeants of the underworld – poverty, greed, boredom, envy, peer pressure, glamour”. But as one-time Krays associate Freddie Foreman tells Duncan, they probably won’t become household names like so many of their predecessors because “they won’t live long enough”.
Sport
Eoin Morgan promised England will stick to their typically aggressive approach after the “awesome” feeling of booking a first World Cup semi-final since 1992 with a Jonny Bairstow-inspired win over New Zealand. New Manchester United signing Jackie Groenen ensured the Netherlands finally got the better of Sweden, in extra-time, to set up a Women’s World Cup final against the USA. The 15-year-old American Cori Gauff produced a performance oozing with confidence and maturity as she backed up her win over Venus Williams with an even better display on Wednesday to reach the third round at Wimbledon. Fernando Verdasco came from two sets down to put the British men’s No 1, Kyle Edmund, out in the second round, while Heather Watson was left to rue what might have been after briefly threatening another memorable Wimbledon moment before coming unstuck against the 20th seed Anett Kontaveit. Frank Lampard was at Stamford Bridge on last night to complete the formalities of his emotional return to Chelsea with the club set to confirm the appointment of their record goalscorer as head coach today. Atlético Madrid have signed 19-year-old striker João Felix from Benfica for €126m (£112.9m), making him the fourth most expensive player of all time. And Geraint Thomas has conceded the absence of Chris Froome leaves a big hole in this year’s Tour de France but describes his Team Ineos co-leader Egan Barnel as a “massive talent”.
Business
Asian shares picked up where Wall Street left off overnight by rallying on optimism over Christine Lagarde’s nomination as the next ECB boss and hopes of US rate cuts. Investors expect Lagarde will order fresh stimulus for the strruggling eurozone economy. The FTSE100 is expected to rise slightly at the opening today. The pound is at $1.258 and €1.115.
The papers
The Tory leadership race features on many front pages today. The Sun boasts a manifesto written by Boris Johnson under the banner headline: “My United Kingdom.” The Express goes directly with the police line, saying “Boris: I’ll put 20,000 extra bobbies on beat”, while the Mail has “Now for 20,000 Boris bobbies”. The Telegraph splashes with: “Hunt: Only I can see off the danger of Corbyn.”
Still with politics, the i says “70 Labour MPs face sack threat” in purge by Pro-Corbyn supporters and the Times says: “Labour poll support at record low.”
The Guardian splash headline reads: “Massive burden of alcohol on NHS hospitals revealed” and the FT leads with: “Bond markets rally as investors cheer Lagarde’s ECB nomination.” Finally, the Mirror has exclusive interview with the mother of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne: “I am back where my angel was snatched for the final time.”
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