Good morning. We begin with news that a trio of senior Tory donors has decided against giving money to the party’s general election campaign after commissioning private polling showing Rishi Sunak is heading for an electoral rout.
The donors, who have collectively given more than £5mn to the Conservatives, decided to organise their own survey after feeling mistrustful of claims by Tory campaign figures that the party’s prospects were not as bad as public polling suggested.
The latest public polls give Labour a commanding 21-point lead over the Tories, according to the Financial Times’ tracker.
The donors’ private poll, which cost more than £15,000 and came back last week, also showed Labour was on track for a “Tony Blair-style landslide”, according to two people familiar with its results.
In the wake of the data, three of the donors have resolved against giving any money to the central Conservative party for its election campaign funding, while a fourth is wavering. Lucy Fisher has more on the latest setback to the Tory campaign.
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First debate: Rishi Sunak will go head-to-head with Sir Keir Starmer in the first live television debate of the campaign today. Here’s what to expect.
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The grey vote: Targeting only those who are past retirement age leads to campaigns that are largely about spending public money, writes Stephen Bush.
Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:
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Economic data: Germany has April foreign trade and labour market data, South Africa releases first-quarter GDP figures and BRC-KPMG publishes its UK retail sales report for May.
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Earnings: Bath & Body Works, Chemring and Ferguson report.
Five more top stories
1. Whistleblowers claim to have uncovered billions of dollars worth of previously undetected transactions carried out by Standard Chartered with Iran-linked entities, including sanctioned companies and terrorist organisations, according to a court filing submitted in New York on Friday. The alleged transactions were discovered after whistleblowers found hidden data embedded in documents they had provided to US authorities in 2012 and 2013. Read more about the groups allegedly involved.
2. The centre left’s lead candidate in this week’s EU elections has ruled out forming a majority with the far left or far right. Nicolas Schmit, the European employment commissioner, told the Financial Times that The Left was too unreliable to have an alliance with his Socialists and Democrats group, which is expected to come second in the polls. He also warned against Ursula von der Leyen striking a deal with the hard right in order to secure a second term as European Commission president. Read the full interview.
3. Joe Biden is poised to order a tightening of immigration across the US’s southern border with Mexico in an attempt to neutralise one of his biggest political weaknesses against Donald Trump. The president is set to sign an executive order today that would limit migrants’ ability to seek asylum if they have crossed the border illegally, enabling their rapid deportation. James Politi has more on the proposal.
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US elections: The outcome of the “hush money” trial shows that the laws of electoral gravity still do not apply to Donald Trump, writes pollster and political strategist Frank Luntz.
4. The United Arab Emirates is seeking a “marriage” with the US over artificial intelligence as the Gulf state hopes to use its petrochemical wealth to become a global superpower in the cutting-edge technology. The UAE’s AI minister Omar Sultan al Olama told the FT that a recent deal with Microsoft to acquire a $1.5bn stake in Abu Dhabi’s commercial AI champion G42 was only the start of greater tech collaboration between the two countries and part of a strategy to reshape its economy.
5. Hedge funds are increasingly wary of betting against UK stocks after being burnt by a wave of takeover bids at companies targeted by short sellers. Millennium Management, GLG and Gladstone Capital Management are among funds to have been caught out in recent weeks as stocks such as Hargreaves Lansdown, Darktrace and Keywords Studios soared after attracting offers. Read more about how a wave of dealmaking has forced managers to rethink their strategies.
The Big Read
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen — whose parties belong to separate nationalist, anti-immigration blocs in the European parliament — are set to emerge as the biggest winners in this week’s polls, possibly tilting EU policy to the right on contentious issues ranging from the energy transition to immigration. While the far-right figureheads have much in common, on some issues their differences are stark. How they will work together — or not — will help determine the EU’s future direction.
Interested in how the elections will change the EU? Join FT journalists for a subscriber-exclusive webinar on June 12 and put your questions to our panel. Register now for your subscriber pass, which also gives you access to a recording of the event.
We’re also reading . . .
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Lazard: Peter Orszag, a former Obama cabinet official with only five years of banking experience when he joined Lazard in 2016, has brought star power to the faded investment bank, but its rank and file have doubts about his plan.
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South Africa: It is unclear if the ANC’s electoral setback will spell its decline, but the party could yet stave off disaster for the country, writes Alec Russell.
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Mexico: Claudia Sheinbaum won an emphatic victory in Sunday’s elections, but the president-elect faces daunting challenges.
Chart of the day
Britain has ambitious plans to build new infrastructure ranging from wind farms to data centres after decades of under-investment. The problem is that it cannot find the workers. Large projects and utilities companies have warned of the impact of labour shortages exacerbated by domestic workers retiring early and EU workers returning home.
Take a break from the news
Working from home has opened a new area in which to feel insecure about our appearance, writes Emma Jacobs. Online scrutiny and “Zoom dysmorphia” are prompting some executives to look to professional make-up artists ahead of work and media events.
Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Georgina Quach
Read the full article here