Hello and welcome to The Midge, the e-bulletin that takes a bite out of politics in Scotland and elsewhere.
Today
- Tory grandees slate BofE and Treasury for “phoney forecasts”
- Poll shows majority of Scots backing Brexit
- Sturgeon accused of scaremongering by Sillars
- Teachers hit at direct funding for schools plan
06.00 BBC Today headlines
Lamont, Lawson, Howard, IDS attack Treasury and B of E … Labour leaders of 10 cities outside London back Remain … US Fed Reserve sidesteps rate rise over Brexit uncertainty … French police and England fans clash in Lille … Divers find body of two-year-old seized by alligator in Florida … Third woman makes abuse allegations against Clement Freud … Two public health bodies call for drug decriminalisation … Led Zep’s Jimmy Page denies lifting riff for Stairway to Heaven.
07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland headlines
SNP/Tories/Labour/LibDems join forces for Remain ... Labour and Brexiteer Gisela Stuart in Glasgow ... Tory grandees ... Citizens Advice Scotland highlights rural bus fare hikes ... EIS strike vote result to be announced ... Wreckage from EgyptAir plane found on seabed ... Charity speaks out on toddler speech problems ... First Disney theme park on mainland China opens in Shanghai.
Front pages
In The Herald, Michael Settle and Daniel Sanderson report on the reaction to George Osborne’s “emergency Budget” threat.
The National features historian Michael Fry on how to win the currency argument in the independence debate.
The Evening Times reports on trouble with firebugs in a city lane.
The Mail headline is “Scots reject Project Fear” after a poll shows a slump in support for Remain.
The Times leads on a call from the Royal Society for Public Health and the Faculty for Public Health to decriminalise drugs.
The Telegraph reports that Sir Alistair Graham, former chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, has called for nationalist MP Michelle Thomson to withdraw from the BHS inquiry. “You are clearly not on the high moral ground if your own business dealings are the subject of a police investigation, he tells the paper.
The FT says several blue-chip firms, including Airbus, are considering suing the official Leave campaign for using their logos in a leaflet supporting Brexit.
Camley’s Cartoon
Camley spies two men in a boat up a Westminster creek.
Five in five seconds: Michael Gove
1. On a special edition of BBC Question Time last night it was Michael Gove’s chance to shine. Lingering questions over the EU’s role in the collapse of his father’s fish processing firm aside, he grabbed it, with cheers from sections of the audience when he accused Remain of "talking the country down". But who is this man Gove - who writes in The Herald today - and where might he be heading post referendum?
2. Age 48, born in Edinburgh, adopted at four months and brought up in Aberdeen. State school then Robert Gordon’s College, Oxford (2:1). Began career as journalist on the P&J before moving on to broadcasting (STV and BBC) and the Times. MP for Surrey Heath since 2005. Married to the Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine, two children.
3. Pals with both George Osborne and David Cameron, thought to be closer to former than latter. Said recently he would not want to be PM, citing fellow Scot Gordon Brown’s time in the job as a careful-what-you-wish-for experience.
4. But that still leaves open the question of whether Gove, currently Justice Secretary, could become Deputy PM under a post-referendum, Cameron-led, reconciliation reshuffle. Osborne has not had a good referendum as far as some of the party’s backbenchers are concerned. Yesterday’s threat by 65 of them to oust him over claims that Brexit would require an emergency Budget with £30 billion of cuts and tax rises, makes it more likely Osborne could be on his way to the Foreign Office come June 24 (assuming Remain wins).
5. Gove is a controversial figure (ask a teacher in England their view of his time as Education Secretary), but he has a solid reputation as a radical ideas man. Perhaps more importantly in terms of Cameron appointing a deputy he does not have to fear, Gove is not Boris.
Afore ye go
I will be meeting with the NRA, who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2016
Donald Trump takes the intiative on gun control
"Having spent last week at Shepherd Neame in Kent and having spent yesterday at Greene King in Bury St Edmunds, I agree with you that a large quantity of real ale is one of the best ways to get through this gruelling referendum campaign - and I'd recommend it to everybody.”
Answering a question on small breweries, David Cameron reveals the secret of his campaign stamina. Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images
“It is absurd to say that if people vote to take back control from the EU that he would want to punish them in this way. We do not believe that he would find it possible to get support in Parliament for these proposals to cut the NHS, our police forces and our schools ... If he were to proceed with these proposals, the Chancellor's position would become untenable.”
A joint statement by 65 Tory MPs reacting to the Chancellor, and his predecessor Alistair Darling, above, saying Brexit would require the passing of an emergency Budget containing £30 billion of cuts and tax rises.
"I ask Labour supporters to ask themselves do they really trust Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Iain Duncan Smith with our jobs, our public services and employment rights?”
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who will appear at a Remain event with Gordon Brown today. Carl Court/Getty Images
"You are no fisherman's friend.”
What Remainer Bob Geldof shouted at Ukip’s Nigel Farage when their rival flotillas, Mr Farage’s made up of fishing trawlers, met on the Thames. Jeff Spicer/Getty Images. Read the story here.
[Some of them have taken] several days out of their working week to come and make their protest, to say, ‘Look, we want to take back control of our seas, we want to get jobs back in this industry’. To see multi-millionaires frankly mocking them is a pretty shameful sight.”
Nigel Farage strikes a Partridgesque pose and fires a shot across Geldof’s bow. Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
Three news copters move David Coburn to roar: "Bloody hell! IT'S LIKE SAIGON!"
— Marina Hyde (@MarinaHyde) June 15, 2016
The Guardian's Marina Hyde enjoys the messing about on the river
"Are you going to fight Midge Ure in a Spitfire next?"
One reporter's question to Nigel Farage as he takes on Ure's old Live Aid mucker.
The Duke of Cambridge becomes the first member of the Royal Family to be photographed for the cover of a gay publication.
“I would say it's resolvable, it's sortable, we will sort it, we will find a solution and I want to give my assurances to the 20,000 pensioners that I am here to sort this.”
Ex-BHS owner Philip Green to MPs on the £571m black hole in the firm’s pension scheme. At one point during the session he accused an MP on the committee of staring at him. Watch video here.
What most troubles me about Sir Philip Green is that no one is brave enough to tell him how bad that haircut is. pic.twitter.com/PBYcbOCvez
— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) June 15, 2016
"We need a constructively powerful US president working candidly with its oldest ally. We rather admire bossy women who get things done”.
Sir Bernard Ingham, once Mrs Thatcher's press secretary, on the prospect of Hillary Clinton becoming president. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
“My only qualification to be a babysitter is I used to be a baby. That’s like saying, ‘Weren’t you the host of a reality show? You wanna be president of the United States?”
13-year-old standup Lori Mae Hernandez, a contestant on America’s Got Talent, lays into a certain bid for the presidency. USA Today. Darren McCollester/Getty Images
@KayBurley I would be obliged if you would kindly refer to the misbehaving fans from these islands as English not brits, big difference.
— jacquie johnstone (@YES2ForScotland) June 15, 2016
Well, we know they're not Scotland fans, Jacquie#Euros2016 https://t.co/aAubdZmcWr
— Kay Burley (@KayBurley) June 15, 2016
Sky News' Kay Burley, plain-spoken as ever
FM @NicolaSturgeon comends social care charity @thistlecharity https://t.co/cRUmOoVYOi pic.twitter.com/TRX0nsoQXU
— Third Force News (@ThirdForceNews) June 15, 2016
Tai-chi Tuesday, wielding a spade Wednesday - you don't have to be fit to be FM, but it helps ...
Thank you for reading. See you tomorrow.
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