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8 July 2019updated 07 Jun 2021 1:51pm

Five things you need to know today: Greece moves right and Trump returns fire

By New Statesman

The Greek moving right show

Greece’s centre-right opposition party, New Democracy, has won a landslide victory in the country’s general election. Prime minister Alex Tsipras called Kyriakos Mitsotakis to concede defeat after the incumbent left-wing Syriza party won 31.5 per cent of the vote to New Democracy’s 39.9 per cent. Mitsotakis will be sworn in as Tspiras’ successor today and will form a majority administration. MeRA25, the progressive party led by former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, will enter parliament for the first time after winning nine seats on 3.4 per cent of the vote.

An undiplomatic relationship

Donald Trump has declared that Britain’s ambassador to the US “has not served the country well” after leaked memos revealed that Kim Darroch had described the White House administration as “uniquely dysfunctional” and “inept”. Asked by reporters in New Jersey to comment on Sunday night, Trump said: “The ambassador has not served the UK well, I can tell you that. We are not big fans of that man … I can say things about him, but I won’t bother.” The Foreign Office has opened an investigation into the leaked cables, which were published in the Mail on Sunday

No to no-deal 

Pro-Remain MPs will launch a new attempt today to prevent a future prime minister suspending parliament in order to force through a no-deal Brexit. Dominic Grieve, the former Conservatve attorney general, has tabled an amendment to a new bill requiring a minister to make a statement on Northern Ireland to the House of Commons in October – the month the UK is scheduled to leave the EU. Sam Gyimah, the former universities minister, has said that “30-plus” Tory MPs are examining legislative options to thwart a no-deal Brexit. 

Breaking the bank

Deutsche Bank, the troubled German lender, has announced that it will cut 18,000 jobs worldwide – 20 per cent of its staff – in a retreat from its global ambitions. The bank is to close its loss-making equities sales and trading arm as it refocuses on European corporate clients. The restructure is expected to cost €7.4bn over the next three years following a €2.8bn loss in the second quarter of this year. 

Rapinoe seeks equal pay victory

Megan Rapinoe, the co-captain of the victorious US women’s World Cup side, has demanded greater progress on equal pay for female players. “I think everyone is ready for this conversation to move to the next step,” Rapinoe said after the crowd at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in France chanted “equal pay” and Fifa president Gianni Infantino was booed. Donald Trump belatedly tweeted his congratulations to the US team, which defeated the Netherlands 2-0, after Rapinoe vowed not to visit “the fucking White House” if successful. 

For coverage of the day’s politics follow The Staggers blog

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