Top story: Queen’s speech arrives with May still lacking majority
Good morning – it’s Warren Murray with your skim-read of the news.
The Queen’s speech will be delivered today without Theresa May having locked in enough votes to carry her agenda through, amid rancour from the Democratic Unionists over negotiations to support the Conservatives in government. Sniping from Tory backbenchers about having to deal with the DUP must stop, says the Northern Ireland party. “Conservative high command ought to stop their backbenchers whingeing about the DUP and show our party some respect,” a party source has said.
While the DUP is expected to side with May where it counts, no British prime minister has been in this position for decades. Due to the government’s fragile position, controversial policies have been stripped from the throne speech – such as grammar schools, ending free school lunches, and tightening social care. Instead the Queen’s speech is expected to focus on Brexit and counter-terrorism. May has promised to respond with “humility and resolve to the message the electorate sent”.
It will be a challenging day for the prime minister. Protesters are planning to march on parliament in a “day of rage” over the Grenfell Tower fire disaster. Meanwhile the Finsbury Park attack has thrown the spotlight back on to the Conservatives’ cuts to policing. The Met commissioner, Cressida Dick, says she needs more funding to “do the job” of policing the capital, while the outgoing chief constable of Lancashire, Steve Finnigan, says the impact of cuts is being felt: “I do think people are less safe in this country now.”
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Saudi king ousts own heir – Mohammed bin Salman has been made first in line to Saudi Arabia’s throne in surprise news just breaking this morning. King Salman issued decrees ousting his nephew, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, as crown prince and installing “MBS” in his place.
The development adds to intrigue in the Gulf as the Saudis lead other states in an embargo against Qatar. Just yesterday the US state department openly contradicted Donald Trump over the situation. The president has endorsed the embargo, citing “high-level” Qatari backing for terrorist groups. But since then his defence secretary has endorsed the sale of fighter jets to Qatar, and now Heather Nauert of the state department has suggested the dispute is less about terrorism and more about “longstanding grievances” held by Qatar’s neighbours. “We are mystified that the Gulf states have not released … details about the claims they are making toward Qatar. The more that time goes by, the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.”
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Brussels explosion – A man has been shot dead by Belgian soldiers after setting off a bomb last night in the capital’s main railway station. No one else was injured, say authorities, in what they described as a terrorist attack. A witness said the man shouted “Allahu Akhbar” – God is great – before the blast and was then shot by soldiers on patrol. Officers suggested he was wearing an explosive belt.
The explosion happened around 8.30pm on Tuesday. Central station and the nearby downtown area, including the historic Grand Place, were partly evacuated and a security cordon put in place. Police said they believed only one person was involved.
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If the shoe fits – A Chinese factory suspected of labour rights violations may have still been making Ivanka Trump branded shoes after her company said production there had ceased. Three Chinese investigators were arrested for going undercover in the plant in Ganzhou. Following the arrests, Ivanka Trump’s label said the factory had not been making its shoes since March. But the Guardian has seen a production schedule for shoes to be made under the brand name in May. A spokeswoman for the brand did not deny the contents of the documents, saying only that it worked with suppliers who maintained “internationally recognised labor standards”.
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Falkland graves opened – Argentina has started exhuming its unnamed fallen soldiers from the 1982 war in an attempt to identify them. There are 123 buried at the Darwin cemetery in the Falklands Islands. Red Cross officials are supervising the work, which involves analysing remains at a temporary mortuary and taking DNA samples to be compared with those of relatives who lost a family member. “Any exhumed remains will be placed in new coffins and immediately reburied in the same location,” said the Red Cross.
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‘Sourtoe cocktail’ – A bar in Canada’s Yukon whose signature cocktail is a shot of spirit served with a mummified human toe bobbing in the glass has been robbed of the key ingredient. At the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, if you can stomach the “sourtoe cocktail” you get a certificate. But a customer who asked to take part in the slightly macabre local rite ran off with it instead. “What a lowlife,” said hotelier Terry Lee. The tradition is said to date back to the 1920s when a smuggler pickled his own frostbitten toe. Thankfully Lee’s got “a couple of backup toes” to keep things running.
Lunchtime read: Tangled question of the Irish border
How will Brexit affect the currently invisible border between the Irish republic and Northern Ireland?
Checkpoints and security barriers from the Troubles are long gone – but once Britain leaves the EU, customs and immigration requirements mean some form of demarcation may have to return. Both sides fear a loss of trade – while unionists don’t want their British identity affronted by passport controls between Northern Irish departure points and the island of Great Britain. Lisa O’Carroll explores the tricky issue of what form a new Irish border might take.
Sport
Andy Murray has admitted he has little chance of retaining his Wimbledon title next month, if he plays the way he did in losing to Australia’s world No90 Jordan Thompson in the first round at Queen’s.
Chase Carey, the chief executive of the Formula One Group, the new owner of the sport, has explicitly criticised the previous administration, managed by Bernie Ecclestone on behalf of CVC Capital. Godolphin’s sandbagging of the Aidan O’Brien runners became the story of day one at Royal Ascot and the rival teams face off again in today’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes.
Manchester United have been cleared of wrongdoing in the transfer of Paul Pogba but Fifa has opened disciplinary proceedings against Juventus. And the former New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Ryan O’Callaghan has come out as gay.
Business
The continued fall in the oil price forced Asia-Pacific stock markets lower again overnight. Brent crude is now officially in a bear market after falling 20% from recent highs to $45.91, thanks to uncertainty about future Opec cuts and a strong rise in US shale output. Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong were all off around 0.5% while the energy stocks dragged the Sydney market down nearly 1.4%.
The moves didn’t do much for the pound either and it is now languishing at a near two-month low of $1.264. On the continent it was buying €1.134 overnight.
The papers
The Democratic Unionists getting stern with Theresa May is the main issue across several front pages today. “DUP threat to walk out from talks with Tories”, says the Times splash – the cover also has a picture and report from the Brussels explosion last night.
The Mirror is less respectful towards the Northern Ireland unionists: “Now even the crackpots can’t work with May.” The Telegraph says “May clings to Brexit lifeline” after manifesto items were ejected from the Queen’s speech. The digital Independent characterises this as the PM’s “first and last Queen’s speech”, saying figures in her own government don’t see her lasting in the job. The Guardian’s splash headline: “Pressure on May as DUP says ‘show some respect’”.
The Daily Mail seeks to divert attention to today’s planned “day of rage” march on Westminster – saying leftwing groups who want to unseat the government are trampling on the feelings of the Grenfell Tower bereaved. “I’ll make your Britain stronger” is how the Express previews the Queen’s speech, saying May is determined to “learn the lessons of her general election setback”. The FT splashes on Barclays and four of its executives being charged with fraud over credit crunch fundraising.
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