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    The European Commission's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has slapped down Boris Johnson's over his claim that EU leaders could go whistle. I'm not hearing any whistling. Just the clock ticking, said Mr Barnier. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, he warned that Britain would indeed need to foot a divorce bill as it heads for the EU's door. As negotiations go on, Britain must also make sufficient progress on issues such as citizens' rights and the Irish border before a trade deal is reached, he said. The rebuke comes after the Foreign Secretary was slammed yesterday as arrogant and silly for his suggestions to the House of Commons that EU leaders could simply be brushed off. Jeremy Corbyn was swift to pour scorn on Mr Johnson, saying: I think it is ridiculou...

    The Brexodus among financial service firms appears to be picking up pace – with Dublin and Frankfurt the main beneficiaries. According to EY’s Brexit tracker, some 59 of 222 companies being monitored are either reviewing their options or have started moving parts of their business out of the UK. That represents a significant increase on the 23 firms that had indicated similar intentions in March. Some 19 businesses have said they are moving or considering moving staff or operations to Dublin – just ahead of Frankfurt as a preferred base (18). Luxembourg, with 11, and Paris, with eight, come next in the Brexit moving story. Omar Ali, EY’s UK financial services leader, said: “The difference three months on from the triggering of Article 50 is that we are seeing major financi...

    U.S. President Donald Trump waits for the beginning of the first working session on the first day of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany, Friday, July 7, 2017. The leaders of the… Summits are rarely noteworthy. That’s not to say we don’t take note. There are always hundreds of journalists, and every speech and communiqué is widely reported around the world. But typically, the real substance of these meetings was worked out long ago, in email exchanges between diplomats and bureaucrats and in the occasional high-level meeting. The host nation scripts out every minute, all the official statements are agreed to in advance, and the press and participants know exactly what will happen and what will be announced before any of them even arrive. And, on the surface, the s...