Top story: ‘New phase’ dawns for advancing the EU
Good morning, it’s Warren Murray starting you off today.
Three down, one to go – that’s the vibe in Brussels as the EU leadership rides a wave of relief after Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French presidential election.
Macron, who now sets to work on securing a parliamentary majority, has said he is “not naive” when it comes to the EU’s failings. But there is a sense among ministers from major member states that Euroscepticism and nationalism are on the wane and the most “willing and able” countries should look to speed up integration rather than resile from it. “We have the possibility of launching a new phase,” said Sandro Gozi, Italy’s Europe minister. Since the trauma of the Brexit referendum, three countries – Austria, the Netherlands and France – have held polls where the far right was unable to gain power. Antonio Tajani, the president of the European parliament, says: “People want good solutions for the most important things ... the [populist parties] don’t have solutions, they are only against.”
The “one to go” is Germany in September, and Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats have just been buoyed by a regional election win.
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‘Flynn was compromised’ – One was fired for doing her job; the other for getting caught. Sally Yates has told how she raised the alarm that Donald Trump’s first national security adviser Mike Flynn was vulnerable to Russian influence. Flynn misled the vice-president over his meetings with the Russian ambassador, and Yates, who was the acting attorney general, tried to alert the Trump administration. Don McGahn, the White House legal counsel, responded: “Why does it matter to the Department of Justice whether one White House official lies to another White House official?” Trump ended up sacking Yates because she said his immigration ban was legally indefensible. Flynn stood down after his Russian links came out, but as Julian Borger writes, it had taken the White House 18 days to react.
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Preaching to the conservative – Did the archbishop of Canterbury just try to influence the election? Justin Welby has come under fire over a letter sent to all clergy that emphasised themes of stability, seemingly echoing the Tories “strong, stable” campaign mantra. Some clergy and parishioners have started an online protest against “at worst, an implicit endorsement of one party in this election”.
Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, is pinning Labour’s hopes on building a million new homes and cracking down on the private rental sector to tackle the crisis in housing affordability. The Tories will pick up the theme of high costs today too, with Theresa May promising to cap energy charges. Corbyn says he expects to be “carrying on” as Labour leader regardless of the outcome of the 8 June election. Looking at Wales, Aditya Chakrabortty says this is a battle the party cannot win.
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Prime positions itself – Not content with selling myriad consumer wares, e-books, groceries and song downloads, Amazon wants to absorb the live music scene as well. It will start putting on concerts in the UK to entice customers for its Amazon Prime subscription entertainment service, which competes with the likes of Netflix and traditional broadcasters.
Debbie Harry and Blondie are to perform the first UK gig for Prime Live Events, with Alison Moyet and Texas to follow. (Does the Briefing detect a target demographic here? In publicity for the event, Harry pointed out that it’s 40 years since their first gig in the UK … )
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‘Deep like’ – Guilty of “ghosting”, “breadcrumbing” or “cushioning”? Looks like your secrets are out. Gavin Haynes offers a quite cutting guide to the language of modern dating – it might hit home if you have gone looking for romance in the online age.
Lunchtime read: My teacher, the Taliban
From Afghanistan, Sune Engel Rasmussen has filed a worrying report on how the Taliban have reached into schools to inculcate students in their extremist views.
The militants menace school administrators, threaten teachers, and in some cases simply take over the classrooms in districts they control. Girls are ousted from schools after sixth grade. Boys get passing grades despite being off fighting with the insurgency. The Taliban have also set up their own courts while positioning themselves as a shadow state. “[People] don’t stand up to the Taliban, they don’t open their mouth. And that gives the Taliban more space to influence,” says one Afghan education expert.
Sport
Antonio Conte has urged his players to take “one more small step” to claim the Premier League after Chelsea relegated Middlesbrough to leave them three points from the title. Here are five things we learned from the Blues’ 3-o win at Stamford Bridge.
Eugenie Bouchard, who called Maria Sharapova “a cheater”, produced a brilliant fighting display to win her grudge match against the Russian at the Madrid Open.
Warren Gatland has told Mike Brown to pick up the phone if he wants to know why he was excluded from the British & Irish Lions squad after the England full-back said he was in the dark. And Eoin Morgan has poured cold water on the idea of rejigging the balance of his England one-day team to accommodate Jonny Bairstow in the Champions Trophy side.
Business
Markets in Asia started off a mixed day after a slow Monday session on Wall Street. Many eyes though will be on South Korea where the election is expected to deliver the presidency to liberal Moon Jae-in. Trading is closed in Seoul, so it will be for others to react.
Overnight the pound was buying US$1.30 and €1.18.
The papers
Energy and its place in the Conservative manifesto seems to be the story of the day for the front pages. The Mail goes with “£100 off your energy bills” – saying Theresa May has pledged to limit the standard tariffs paid by most families. The Times notes there is political and industry discontent at the plan: “May faces backlash over energy price cap”. The Telegraph has the same theme but attacks energy companies, saying they have quietly raised standard prices by as much as 37% since May first proposed a price cap.
The Sun splashes with an interview with a British man who was jailed in the US for trying to pull a policeman’s gun from its holster and shoot Donald Trump.
The Mirror leads with “Secret Tory plot to bring back fox hunting” saying pro-hunt campaigners are hoping a 50-plus Conservative majority after the election will give them an opportunity to reverse the ban.
The FT has an unusually strident splash headline: “May to renew Tories’ broken promises on immigration”. It says she will pledge to bring net immigration to under 100,000 a year – the same target the government has failed to achieve over the past seven years.
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