Brutus used a knife. U.K. Justice Secretary Michael Gove, on the other hand, seemed to rely on the most 21st century of technology flubs.
In a back-stabbing episode that’s prompted comparisons to House of Cards and Julius Caesar’s assassination, U.K. politics fell into further disarray yesterday, thanks in large part to an email mishap by Gove’s wife Sarah Vine, a columnist for the Daily Mail. On Wednesday, Vine emailed her misgivings about Boris Johnson’s potential as prime minister to her husband, but “accidentally” copied a member of the public on the message. Thursday morning—perhaps emboldened by his wife’s widely broadcast insight—Gove made the stunning move of undercutting his once-ally Johnson by announcing his own candidacy for Tory leader and prime minister and causing Johnson, considered the frontrunner, to withdraw from contention.
Vine’s email was either an honest mistake that happened to benefit her husband or an intentional strategy so clever even Claire Underwood would be impressed. Either way, removing Johnson from the running could ultimately benefit Home Secretary Theresa May the most, since the former London mayor was seen as her biggest competition, and because Thursday’s drama again portrayed her as the mature adult among a bunch of Mean Boys.
Claire Zillman, writer for Fortune (filling in for Laura Cohn today)
WMPW is talking Monday off in honor of Independence Day in the U.S. so we’ll see you back here on Tuesday. Enjoy the weekend!
EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA
| . |
| A Trio for Rio |
| Triplets from Estonia—Liina, Leila, and Lily Luik—will compete for marathon gold at this summer's Olympics in Rio. They are thought to be the only triplets to ever qualify for the Games. |
| New York Times |
| . |
| Chatting with Chimamanda |
| The usually private Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of Half of a Yellow Sun, talks about race, motherhood, how people should engage with Africa, and what to make of her native country's entrepreneurial drive. |
| Financial Times |
THE AMERICAS
| A sweet deal |
| Mondelez, the maker of Oreo cookies and Cadbury chocolate, is vying to acquire Hersey Co. in a deal worth $23 billion. Hershey has rejected the offer, but the bid remains a bold move by Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld, No. 9 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list, to create what would be the world's largest candy company. |
| Wall Street Journal |
| . |
| Less is more |
| Entrepreneurs Shilpa Shah and Karla Gallardo founded their San Francisco-based clothing brand Cuyana on a specialized manufacturing model and have helped pioneer a new trend in shopping—the "lean closet." |
| Fast Company |
| . |
| Disrupting the pump |
| Startups are looking to reinvent the breast pump to the cheers of many moms. The co-founder of one, Janica Alvarez of Naya Health, has submitted her water-based Smart Pump to the Food and Drug Administration for approval and has raised $3.9 million in VC funding. |
| Associated Press |
ASIA-PACIFIC
| Australia goes to the polls |
| A record number of women will stand for seats in Australia's lower house in Saturday's national elections, but this writer says the vote is unlikely to bring big change to the gender make-up of the nation's parliament. Australia has slid down the ranking of women’s parliamentary representation to 56th place—a drop of 35 spots since 2001. |
| Guardian |
| . |
| China's woman Warren Buffett |
| Hong Kong-based Kathy Xu, founder and president of one of the world's leading investment firms, has five IPOs, four acquisitions, and $1.5 billion in assets under her belt. This profile says she's bankrolling the future of the country's internet and is known to "swing like a sledgehammer." |
| Ozy |
| Money for mines |
| Annastacia Palaszczuk, premiere of Queensland in Australia, is a target of a new report that suggests donations from the mining industry bought access to Queensland state officials. |
| New York Times |
IN BRIEF
| Two transgender candidates—both named Misty—win U.S. primary elections |
| Politico |
| This 14-year-old art prodigy has sold $7 million worth of paintings |
| Financial Times |
| India's first female Uber driver found dead |
| Quartz |
| Two U.S. women sign contracts with minor league baseball team |
| Washington Post |
| How this congresswoman's campaign in 1972 compares to Hillary Clinton's today |
| Politico |
PARTING WORDS
|
|---|
| — U.K. Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, denying that she'd endorsed Michael Gove for prime minister in exchange for a future job in his administration. |
