Top story: Tories rebuff withdrawal bill
Good morning – Warren Murray serving up the news this morning.
Boris Johnson is believed to have stepped up manoeuvres for a Tory leadership bid after Theresa May’s offer of a “new deal” on Brexit in her forthcoming withdrawal agreement bill (Wab) was pushed away with both hands from all quarters of parliament.
May has offered a people’s vote if the deal is passed but Jeremy Corbyn dismissed it as a “rehash” and many of her own Tories rejected it as well, while EU officials suggested the bloc was no longer interested in negotiating with the PM. Peter Walker breaks down May’s proposals, from “alternative arrangements” for Northern Ireland and the border, to workers’ rights, environmental protections, a “customs arrangement”, the potential second referendum and MPs’ control over the Brexit process.
Meanwhile – “I am not confused.” Nice to hear that someone isn’t! The Labour peer Andrew Adonis has been on the EU elections campaign trail trying to convince voters that his party is doing the right thing on Brexit: “Now the talks are over, Labour’s policy is clear that there should be a second referendum with the option to remain. Period.” Corbyn has been more equivocal.
Riots over Indonesia result – Six people have reportedly been killed as supporters of an unsuccessful candidate in Indonesia’s presidential election clashed with security forces in Jakarta, the capital. Indonesia’s Election Commission on Tuesday said President Joko Widodo had won a second term with 55.5% of the vote in the 17 April election. His opponent, former general Prabowo Subianto, has refused to accept the results and declared himself the winner. National Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said protests turned violent late on Tuesday and continued through the night, with dozens of people detained by Wednesday.
‘National asset’ faces meltdown – As British Steel slides towards collapse, Rob Davies explains why the steelmaking industry is so important to the UK – and how weak demand, high raw material prices, energy costs and, yes, the uncertainty surrounding Brexit have contributed to the company’s problems. Talks with the government about a £30m emergency loan have been inconclusive, and bankruptcy could be declared today. Jeremy Corbyn has called for the company to be renationalised – Steve Turner from the Unite union said: “It is a national asset supporting UK plc that cannot simply be left to the market.” British Steel employs about 5,000 people including more than 3,000 at its main site in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, and supports 20,000 more in the supply chain. Workers have been told they will receive their pay for May despite the predicament.
Midweek catch-up
> All but three of Jamie Oliver’s UK chain restaurants are to close, with the loss of 1,000 jobs. The mass-market Jamie’s Italian was a hit initially but foundered against competition and customers’ increasing preference to order in and watch Netflix.
> Jokha Alharthi, the first female Omani novelist to be translated into English, has won the Man Booker International prize for her novel Celestial Bodies.
Judges praised the novel’s “subtle artistry” in telling the stories of three Omani sisters – “Through the different tentacles of people’s lives and loves and losses we come to learn about this society … it starts in a room and ends in a world.”
> The first pictures have emerged from the Pike River mine in New Zealand, where experts have gone underground to search for bodies from an explosion in 2010 that killed 29 people.
> Floods of 2009 and 2015 in north-west England were the worst for more than 550 years, according to analysis of lake sediment. Professor Richard Chiverrell from the University of Liverpool said the findings pointed to “a link with a warmer world and recent extreme flooding”.
> Queen Victoria’s naughtier side is being fleshed out with an exhibition of romantic gifts including nude paintings exchanged between herself and Albert. It is being held at Osborne House, their grand seaside retreat on the Isle of Wight.
Straw no more – Drinking straws, cotton buds and drink stirrers will have to be made of something other than plastic from next April. Nearly 5bn plastic straws are used each year in the UK, along with more than 300m of the stirrers and nigh on 2bn cotton buds. Surveys have found waterways across the UK teeming with plastic, putting wildlife at risk. Drinks without straws or stirrers, or the use of alternative materials such as paper and other biodegradables, will have to become the norm. The Briefing remembers waxed-paper drinking straws with a barber-pole swirl, back in the day … updating them to include a concertina bendy bit could be tricky.
Today in Focus podcast: John Bolton’s drumbeat to war
Julian Borger describes the role of Donald Trump’s national security adviser in the tense standoff between the White House and Iran. Also: Katharine Viner on how the Guardian is updating its language on climate.
Lunchtime read: Could you give up flying?
Roger Tyers took four days to reach Moscow by train from Kiev. His destination is Beijing: a trip that will take 14 days, with a couple of overnight stops along the way. Tyers, an environmental sociologist, is on his way to China to research attitudes to the environment, the climate emergency and personal responsibility. “I thought it would be somewhat hypocritical of me to fly,” he says.
The well grounded people of the no-fly movement are reducing the number of flights they take or giving up air travel altogether. Campaigners say it warrants the same attention as shunning plastic or eating less meat. The climate activist Greta Thunberg hasn’t flown since 2015; she did her European tour last month by train. Paul Chatterton, a Leeds professor, hasn’t flown since 2004. “You travel light, you make it an adventure with your kids. Who wants to sit in a departure lounge? I think we have to get back into the idea that travelling is special; it’s a privilege.”
Sport
A confident Eoin Morgan declared England to be “in the best possible place” and simply desperate for the World Cup to start after their 15-man squad and a new retro-looking kit were officially unveiled. Niki Lauda’s former teammate, John Watson, recalls his Nürburgring crash, his remarkable fighting spirit and off-track sense of humour following the death of the three-time Formula One world champion.
The Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, has warned of the threat posed by Danny Cipriani in Saturday’s Premiership semi-final. Cardiff City’s chairman, Mehmet Dalman, has called for radical regulation of football agents in the wake of the death of the Argentinian striker Emiliano Sala after likening the mentality of some of them to the wild west. Fabian Delph is to report early for the England squad in an attempt to prove form and fitness before next month’s Nations League finals. One of the former skating partners of two-time US pairs champion John Coughlin has accused him in a series of Facebook posts of sexually assaulting her over a two-year period.
Business
Asian stocks have been on shaky ground as earlier relief over Washington’s temporary relaxation of curbs against China’s Huawei Technologies failed to offset deeper worries about trade frictions between the world’s two largest economies. (Regardless of blacklisting, the Chinese company went ahead and launched its latest cut-price smartphones). Shanghai, Australia and South Korea fell while Japan’s Nikkei edged up slightly. The pound is worth $1.271 and €1.139 while the FTSE looks like opening higher.
The papers
Theresa May’s facial contortions dominate today’s papers as her last attempt at a Brexit deal is mercilessly torn asunder. The Telegraph goes in hard, placing an unfavourable triptych of May’s expressions during her speech next to the headline: “Desperate, deluded, doomed”. It says the prime minister is facing calls from her party to resign immediately after the “outrageous” offer of a vote on a customs union and second referendum.
The Sun deploys a similar picture alongside: “You’ll be gurn in the morning” and says she will face a coup today. The Express shows May looking up – for inspiration? – and describes her latest speech as her “last hurrah” while the i goes Laurel and Hardy with the headline “Another fine mess”. In gentler treatments of the PM’s woes, the Guardian says the PM’s final effort to win backing for her deal has fallen flat after MPs across the board rejected her 10-point plan. The Times reports that “MPs including Boris Johnson” have rejected May’s final Brexit offer.
The Mail perhaps optimistically says May’s deal is “hanging by a thread” and the FT focuses on Tory anger at May’s offer as part of what she called “the last chance” to deliver Brexit. The Mirror proudly displays its “next gen edition” and probably changes the lives of three cub reporters who get their byline (and age) on the front. The subject is not politics but the problem of cyber bullying.
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