Top story: Incumbent to launch campaign for second term
Hello, it’s Warren Murray bringing you an executive summary of the news.
Donald Trump will launch his 2020 re-election campaign today, taking the stage in Orlando, Florida. The president will seek to project self-confidence but he begins his run for a second term in one of the weakest positions of any incumbent president in modern times. Potential match-ups with Democratic rivals show Trump in trouble, according to polls. He is lagging behind Joe Biden 53% to 40%, Bernie Sanders 51% to 42%, and others as well, according to a Quinnipiac University National Poll. Leaked internal polling from Trump’s campaign showed him trailing Biden by double digits in battleground states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In 2016, Trump defied the polls and conventional wisdom to beat Hillary Clinton in the electoral college, though he lost the popular vote by nearly 3m ballots. He goes into 2020 with economic growth above 3% and unemployment at its lowest rate for half a century. George HW Bush was the last incumbent president to lose an election, defeated by Bill Clinton in 1992. The Trump launch is due to take place before a typically raucous 20,000 capacity crowd at the Amway Centre more than 16 months before election day in November 2020.
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‘Rip up the whole thing’ – Boris Johnson is expected to cement his position as the favourite for the Tory leadership in another round of voting today. Sajid Javid, Rory Stewart and Dominic Raab are all battling to get 33 votes from fellow MPs in order to stay in the race. Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove are already past that threshold. MPs from all camps said Stewart appeared to have some momentum behind him. Those left in the race will compete in a BBC debate at 8pm – the first television appearance by Johnson since the race kicked off. Rivals have accused Johnson of promising “all things to all MPs”, especially on getting a Brexit deal. Johnson had been telling hardcore leavers he would “rip up the whole thing” said one MP, while also courting centrists by saying a no-deal Brexit is unlikely. A rival camp claimed Johnson seems to be either in favour of the HS2 rail project or against it, depending on who he is talking to at the time.
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Troop boost in Gulf – The US is sending about 1,000 more troops to the Middle East, with the Trump administration citing “hostile behaviour by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region”. Fears of a confrontation between Iran and the United States have mounted since two oil tankers were attacked last week. Iran says it will soon breach limits on its stockpile of enriched uranium, which the White House called “nuclear blackmail”. Donald Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 nuclear deal limiting Iran’s nuclear activities.
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‘Further into destitution’ – The number of homeless camps forcibly removed by councils across the UK has more than trebled in five years. Campaigners warn that the rough sleeping crisis is out of control, with the number of tent city clearances rising from 72 in 2014 to 254 in 2018. Complaints to councils about homeless encampments have shot up 448% in five years. Some councils seize tents and then charge to give them back. Matthew Downie from the charity Crisis said: “It drives people further into destitution and makes it more likely people will spend longer on the streets.”
In the gardens opposite Cardiff city hall, cardboard boxes, wooden pallets and discarded plastic bags form a shelter from the rain and wind. Three tents stand a few metres away. The council has given two residents 24 hours to find somewhere else to set up camp. One of them, Ian – who ended up homeless in Cardiff after his grandparents died – says: “I would prefer to live in a tent than a scruffy flat. I have clothes and a blow-up bed in here.”
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Egypt ex-president dies – Mohamed Morsi, who has died during court proceedings, made history in 2012 when he became Egypt’s first democratically chosen president. A year later he was overthrown by the military, held in prison on a series of convictions, and his Muslim Brotherhood party banned as a terrorist organisation. Morsi, 67, was undergoing a retrial of charges of espionage for Palestinian Hamas when he collapsed. Shortly before his collapse he is reported to have told the court that he knew “many secrets” that, if revealed, would enable him to be released, though would not disclose them because doing so would harm Egypt’s security. He insisted that he was still the country’s legitimate president.
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Bond with a mollusc – A reversible superglue that acts like dried slug mucus has proved strong enough to bear the weight of an 87kg engineering student (the assumption is it will work on other things as well). The hydrogel brewed up by University of Pennsylvania scientists may overcome the problem of glues being weak and reversible, or strong and irreversible, but never both strong and reversible. This stuff has a strong grip when dry but releases when squirted with water.
Today in Focus podcast: The rehabilitation of Tony Blair?
Tony Blair’s re-entry into the national debate on Brexit comes at a time of a crisis of trust in British politics and a rise in populism. Also: Jim Waterson on the Saudi investment in the Evening Standard.
Lunchtime read: ‘Saudis couldn’t do it without us’
Britain does not merely supply the bombs that fall on Yemen – it provides the personnel and expertise that keep the war going. But is the government breaking the law?
Sport
A furious Nigeria manager, Thomas Dennerby, claimed the officials had ruined the match after Wendie Renard’s retaken penalty following a double VAR check ensured France progress to the last 16 of the Women’s World Cup having topped Group A. Elsewhere, Germany sealed top spot in Group B, two penalties assured Norway a place in the last 16 and a goalless draw sent China and Spain through. Eoin Morgan has said the possible stigma surrounding Alex Hales goes against his chances of a dramatic World Cup recall. Manchester United supporters have been involved in more football-related arrests where racism was an aggravating factor or feature than any other club in England in the four seasons to 2017-18. Nick Kyrgios is leading the latest outpouring of disrespect towards tennis’s big three and says he is happy to keep his feud with Novak Djokovic ticking over at Wimbledon next month. Chris Froome was “lucky” not to have sustained even greater injuries following his crash last week, according to his teammate Geraint Thomas. Toronto police say two people were shot as Raptors fans packed the city’s downtown to watch the team’s NBA title parade.
Business
Stocks in Asia have mostly advanced ahead of interest rate decisions by the US Federal Reserve and other central banks. The Fed’s open market committee will hold a two-day meeting starting today with announcements due tomorrow. The Kospi, Hang Seng, Shanghai and S&P ASX 200 have made gains overnight. The Nikkei 225 fell. The pound is trading at $1.252 and €1.115 while the FTSE should open a touch higher.
The papers
Rory Stewart is the lead on several front pages today. The Telegraph is running a story about his alleged background as a spy: “Mystery of Stewart’s past links with MI6”, the i has: “100 Tory MPs ready to block Johnson on no deal, warns Stewart” and the Times’ splash is “Gove tries to knock out Stewart in Tory contest”.
The lead in the Express is: “Farage: I won’t do deal with Boris”, the Guardian has “UK homeless crisis triggers council purge of ‘tent cities’”, while the Mirror has an interview with the Isis “Beatle”: “Killer Ringo”.
The Mail has more on the hospital listeria story: “Hospital sandwich crisis: the scandal deepens”. The Sun leads with warnings from Women’s Aid that a relationship on Love Island was abusive: “Love Island ‘abuse’ crisis” and the FT has: “Sotheby’s snapped up by French billionaire Drahi in $3.7bn deal”.
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