POLITICO London Playbook

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Nigel Farage will haunt Keir Starmer’s big Brexit summit

15 hours ago | politico.eu | Jon Stone |Stefan Boscia |Emilio Casalicchio |Caroline Hug

LONDON — When Keir Starmer sits down with European Union leaders at his big Brexit summit on Monday, there'll be a ghost at the feast: Nigel Farage. Britain's prime minister wants to reset relations with the EU and walk back some of the harder edges of the Brexit settlement. On Monday, he's hoping to finally break ground on the first phase of a deal. But Starmer looks set to spend the meeting looking over his shoulder for the Euroskeptic populist whose party is surging in the polls.
British general named navy chief despite reported cover-ups of Afghan record

1 day ago | politico.eu | Sam Clark

The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence has appointed a controversial former special forces general as the new head of the country’s navy. Gwyn Jenkins was named on Thursday as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, the head of the British Royal Navy. The BBC reported Monday that Jenkins had overseen the rejection of thousands of resettlement applications made by former Afghan soldiers who fought alongside British special forces in Afghanistan over a decade ago.
TikTok breached digital advertising rules, European Commission says

1 day ago | politico.eu | Eliza Gkritsi

TikTok has breached EU rules for failing to disclose sufficient information about advertising on the platform, the European Commission said in preliminary findings released Thursday. TikTok now has the right to respond. If the findings are confirmed, the Commission can fine TikTok up to 6 percent of its annual global revenue. The parties can also agree on remedies to the problems identified to avoid a fine.
“61% des entreprises satisfaites” de la CSRD : les partisans du reporting dégainent leur étude

1 day ago | politico.eu | Sofiane Zaizoune

PARIS — La jeune association WeAreEurope, qui rassemble un millier de hauts cadres et chercheurs, publie jeudi les résultats d’une enquête menée en partenariat avec HEC auprès d’entreprises de 26 pays de l’UE — dont la moitié sont françaises — sur leur perception de la directive relative au reporting environnemental et social (CSRD). L’étude constitue une contre-offensive pour défendre les ambitions et les modalités du texte, largement critiquées par les organisations patronales.
EU slams Eurovision for banning flag from stage

1 day ago | politico.eu | Seb Starcevic

The European Union’s culture chief hit out at Eurovision for banning performers from waving the EU flag, saying Europeans should not need permission to celebrate their identity. The circle of stars was forbidden at last year’s event in Malmö along with other non-national flags, drawing a sharp rebuke from Brussels.
Le trop petit cachet de La Poste

1 day ago | politico.eu | Anthony Lattier

Présenté par Instagram Par ANTHONY LATTIER Avec ELISA BERTHOLOMEY, SARAH PAILLOU et PAULINE DE SAINT REMY PRÉSENTÉ PAR SANS EUX. Le suspense a pris fin dans la soirée : Vladimir Poutine ne viendra pas aujourd’hui en Turquie, où Volodymyr Zelensky l’attendait.
Politics by WhatsApp? Even ‘Pfizergate’ won’t end that.

1 day ago | politico.eu | Mari Eccles

BRUSSELS ― Forget the smoke-filled backrooms of the EU's glory days. Forget hushed conversations in crowded Brussels bars. Forget even the Finnish saunas so beloved of Nordic diplomats. Where most politics takes place these days is over WhatsApp. And Wednesday's bombshell "Pfizergate" ruling means that — in theory — we should be able to get far greater access to officials' and politicians' text messages. After all, who's going to bother going back to the 1980s?
Big Pharma is using tariffs to hold Europe to ransom

1 day ago | politico.eu | Nick Dearden |Peter Maybarduk

Nick Dearden is the director of Global Justice Now. Peter Maybarduk is the Access to Medicines director of Public Citizen. Both are members of the People’s Medicines Alliance. U.S. President Donald Trump has more tariff chaos up his sleeve, and medicine in his sights. This week, he issued an executive order blaming America’s sky-high drug prices on other countries — and pharmaceutical tariffs could be next.
PMQs: Starmer finishes on top as he brands Tories ‘dead party walking’

2 days ago | politico.eu | Noah Keate

Prime minister’s questions: a shouty, jeery, very occasionally useful advert for British politics. Here’s what you need to know from the latest session in POLITICO’s weekly run-through. What they sparred about: The economy, mostly. Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch picked Keir Starmer’s brains on the U.K.’s grim economic outlook — and got an unwelcome reminder of the Liz Truss era in reply.
Canada’s Mark Carney criticizes UK state visit for Trump

2 days ago | politico.eu | Noah Keate

LONDON — Mark Carney made clear his fellow Canadians “weren’t impressed” when Britain offered Donald Trump a historic second state visit. The Canadian prime minister, whose Liberal Party won the country’s federal election last month after a race shaped by anger at the U.S. president, told Sky News the offer from U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer was grating. “To be frank, they [Canadians] weren’t impressed by that gesture … given the circumstance,” Carney told Sky News.