Politics

Michael Gove has landed the first British interview with Donald Trump for The Times (where he is, now, a columnist). This is his first interview since he spoke to Justin Welby for The Spectator – it’s online and as good as you’d expect. The ability to build such bridges won’t hurt Gove should he want to return to government. Here are the main points:- Trump congratulates Britain for Brexit.. He says: “People don’t want to have other people coming in and destroying their country. I thought the UK was so smart in getting out [of the EU]… Obama said: they’ll go to the back of the line [queue]… that was

When Heidi Allen announced that she would stand to be the new mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough — while continuing her work as an MP — the decision was reported to have gone down like a cup of cold sick with local Tories. The backbench rebel’s decision to seek the Tory nomination ruffled feathers, with Conservative councillors suggesting Allen was on a mission to have her cake and eat it. Alas Mr S can disclose that Allen’s hopes have now been dashed. The Tory MP has been eliminated from the Cambridgeshire Conservative Mayoral selections. After securing only four votes, Allen has failed to make it into the top three — comprised of

The Guardian has a very significant story on its front page tomorrow. It has obtained notes of a meeting that Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, had with senior MEPs this week. These notes show that Barnier told them that he wanted a ‘special’ deal that would guarantee access for the EU firms and countries to the City of London’s financial markets. Interestingly, Barnier also said—according to The Guardian’s account—that ‘There will need to be work outside of the negotiation box … in order to avoid financial instability.” This suggests that Barnier shares Mark Carney’s view that there are financial stability risks for Europe if the EU cuts itself off

The irony of Barack Obama’s presidency is that while it began at a time when it seemed America’s fortunes could only improve, his inauguration day turned out to be his personal high water mark. The retiring President’s speech in Chicago this week contained flashes of the optimism that he brought to a country and a world which was reeling from the banking crisis and mired in the deepest recession since the 1930s. It recalled the sense of hope that he would lift America’s reputation abroad, shattered as it was by the Iraq war. Yet eight years on, even Obama’s keenest supporters are struggling to answer: what exactly is his legacy?