Merkel backs down

Angela Merkel has said she is prepared to relax Germany’s restrictions on British travellers arriving in the country “in the foreseeable future”, as she made her final visit to the UK as Chancellor.

The move signals a reversal of the tough stance spearheaded by Merkel to force all Brits to quarantine for 14 days on arrival across the EU, in an effort to contain the spread of the Delta variant.

Tourist hubs such as Greece, Spain and Portugal have rebelled against the plan which now looks set to be watered down to allow vaccinated Brits to travel freely without needing to quarantine.

There had been fears that up to five million Brits might not qualify for the exemption because AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in India are not yet authorised by the European Medicines Agency.  

But Boris Johnson said today that he was “very confident” that the EU digital travel pass would accept AstraZeneca vaccines from India. Eight EU states including Spain have already said this won’t be a problem.

Merkel met the Prime Minister at Chequers before addressing the Cabinet via videolink, the first foreign leader to do so since Bill Clinton in 1997.

Before the talks both sides had agreed to rebuild relations battered by five years of Brexit tensions. The press conference was chummy, with Merkel graciously conceding that England had deserved to win in their Euro clash with Germany.

One of the highlights was Merkel’s exquisitely diplomatic response to being asked to sum up how she felt about Boris Johnson as a person: “We look at each other, we look at how different people can be and we make the best of it…”
 
Battle of Batley
 
In the end there were just 323 votes in it. After an ugly, bitter by-election campaign Labour’s Kim Leadbeater, sister of murdered MP Jo Cox, pipped the Tories to win the seat of Batley and Spen.

The win is a lifeline for a beleaguered Sir Keir Starmer who called it a “fantastic result”. In many ways, it isn’t. Historically, governing parties just don’t win by-elections. The Tories have been in power for 12 years yet still managed to slash Labour’s majority.

It’s a wafer thin margin, especially when you consider that Howling Laud Hope of the Monster Raving Loony Party bagged 107 votes. George Galloway, the ex-Labour agitator, hoovered up over 8,000 votes after a campaign focussing on Muslim voters, an important Labour base.

Still, the result will come as a huge relief that buys Sir Keir breathing room. Labour’s hard-left will be kept at bay for the time being and Starmer will avoid a leadership challenge this summer.

Tory hubris has made the Labour hold more significant than it need have been. Boris Johnson kept bringing up Batley and Spen at PMQs this week and even travelled there yesterday to have his photo taken with Ryan Stephenson, the losing Tory candidate. Staking so much political capital on the vote is a hint that Boris thought he was invincible. The result is proof that he isn’t.
 
Long shadow lifts
 
The last remaining US and coalition troops have left Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, the centre of foreign operations for the last 20 years.

The exodus is a significant milestone in the end of international military involvement in the country. Bagram has been symbolically and strategically vital to the US efforts to keep the Taliban at bay. The task of securing Bagram will now fall to Afghan forces. Joe Biden has said that all US troops will have left the country by 11 September.

As America’s forever war draws to a close, violence between government forces and the Taliban is worsening. As Tim Marshall writes in his weekly column on geopolitics below, the Islamist group is poised to reassert itself.
 
It’s coming Rome
 
England fans are preparing for tomorrow’s quarter-final showdown with Ukraine in Rome which you can watch on BBC One at 8pm. Gareth Southgate’s team are riding high after beating arch-rivals Germany on Tuesday and go into the match as favourites to win the Euros. We’ve now had 55 years of hurt and counting since Bobby Moore held the Jules Rimet trophy aloft at Wembley. No pressure then.
 Mattie Brignal,
News Editor