Made my afternoon

What made Speaker Mike Johnson change his mind about Ukraine?

Mike Johnson has been stalling Ukrainian aid for months, each time giving a different excuse. But yesterday, he came with a very clear message, condemning russia and expressing his support of Ukraine. Why?
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Good morning from Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial where a potential alternate just confessed to “trying to find a wife” as one of his hobbies

1 week & 25 client meetings in HongKong & Singapore later... Lots of interest in EU-China relations, Ukraine & impact of Trump presidency on both. EU elections, populism & UK elections & implications. Tories seen as 🤡, Brexit a stupid waste of time. So much for “Global Britain”

As someone who grew up in the UK & Ireland (2 countries that are awful at infrastructure) and spent most of my adult life in France, it still amazes me that 6 French cities have metros and 26 have tram networks while the UK (similar population) only has 4 metros and 8 tram

Thoughtful piece by Martin Kettle. But I remain of the view that The Labour Party and Keir Starmer Govt will be much more ambitious towards the EU, including possibly on stuff like a CU, in its first term than consensus suggests. Thread 1/

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

'Si la politique de ceux qui dénigrent l'Europe depuis 5 ans avait été suivie, on ne serait pas là pour parler de la même façon de notre Europe.

Ils auraient soigné à l'hydroxychloroquine, pris le vaccin russe, divisé l'Europe suite à l’agression russe (...)' Emmanuel Macron

‼️ There was the highest ever lead – 15 points – for Marine Le Pen’s Marine Le Pen Far Right party in the daily European Elections tracking poll by IFOP for Le Figaro and others tonight. Such a result on 9 June could be calamitous for President Emmanuel Macron 1/

A great notion to put the Olympic opening ceremony on the river Seine. But was it a good idea? thelocal.fr/20240417/opini…

Tiens, voilà une information à la fois surprenante et rassurante: 57% des jeunes Français interrogés sont prêts à défendre la France 'en cas de guerre', et 51% à combattre en Ukraine, si nécessaire.

If the US, France & the UK put their air forces in harm’s way to defend Israeli civilians against Iranian drone & missile attacks, when Israel already has the world’s best anti-aircraft & anti-missile defences, shouldn’t they do the same for Ukraine, which really needs the help?

France finds itself in an uncomfortable bind in the confrontation between Israel and Iran – de facto involved on the Israeli side but having no influence on the actions of the Isaeli government 1/

Great to see the 120th anniversary of the 🇬🇧🇫🇷 Entente Cordiale marked by the participation of the Coldstream Guards in a ceremony at the Elysée at the same time as 1/

You are half as likely to be murdered in France as you were 30 years ago - despite the media and far right drumbeat on a 'descent into savagery'. Me for The Local
thelocal.fr/20240410/opini…

Gloomy figures for Macron & his centrist alliance in the first of 2 months of daily polls by IFOP before the EU elections on 9 June. Marine Le Pen’s Far Right has a 13-point lead despite Macron’s efforts to make the election a referendum on her party’s links to Vladimir Putin 1/

Well worth listening to this long, bilingual message by Emmanuel Macron on 120th anniversary of Fr-British entente cordiale. Anti-British Macron? Hardly. He is evidently counting on UK, Brexit or no Brexit, under Tories or Labour, to play a big part in EU response to Russia 1/

Long live the Entente Cordiale,
Vive l’amitié franco-britannique !

It is impossible to have any discussion in Bxl/EU capitals about France or France's EU policy without reference to the risk of a Le Pen presidency in 2027. It is a cloud hanging over the credibility of everything Macron says & does

Me in POLITICOEurope

politico.eu/article/france…

Remember the French bed-bug scare last Autumn? Senior French officials tell me a concerted Russian on-line bot campaign “massively amplified” the issue - one prominent example of Russia's disinformation campaign against France...