In your briefing today:

📣 Political recriminations continue over the murder of Henry Nowak, the teenage student who was murdered by a Sikh man who made false allegations of a racist attack.

Party leaders united in condemnation of Nigel Farage, who used PMQs to allege “two-tier policing” had contributed to the tragedy. Sir Keir Starmer said the Reform leader’s actions were “unforgivable” and Farage was jeered as he spoke in the Commons and said unrest in Southampton as “just the beginning” of the public’s reaction. (Independent)

📣 Ministers have been found in contempt after delays in releasing the so-called “Salmond files”. David Hamilton, Scotland’s information commissioner, had ordered ministers to release the files on December 1 last year, but the Scottish government didn’t start work on preparing the files for release until after Christmas. (Times)

📣 Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a ceasefire - if Hezbollah stops its attacks, the US State Department has stated. The agreement comes after four rounds of talks in Washington and requires Hezbollah fighters - backed by Iran - to be evacuated from an area of southern Lebanon which is currently controlled by Israel. (BBC)

Every morning, financial news follows the same script. Headlines panic, coverage catastrophises, and somewhere inside the noise is the story that actually matters — the one that tells you where the opportunity sits, not just where the fear is pointing.

Most sources have stopped looking. The alarm is easier to sell.

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📣 An untapped area of the North Sea, which includes the controversial Rosebank development, should be exploited to prolong the life of Scotland’s oil and gas sector, a new report says. (Scotsman)

📣 Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth says the Scottish Government is working on proposals for two new council tax bands for homes worth more than £1 million. There will also be proposals on new taxation on private jet flights. (STV)

📣 Edinburgh Festival bosses plan to launch a joint box office for all the city’s events this August, hoping to make it simpler to book tickets and to benefit from customer data held across the 11 festivals. (Guardian)

📣 The NHS will tackle antisemitism after a report found Jewish patients and staff face “routine ostracism” in the service. NHS staff will be restricted from showing political symbols on their uniforms, and they will not be allowed to wear those uniforms at political protests. (Guardian)

📣 Former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger has died aged 62, after being diagnosed with cancer last year. The former head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service was a widely respected figure who occupied senior roles during Britain’s “war on terror”, including as head of counterterrorism in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics in London.

After leaving his position leading the service in 2020, he became a hawkish public commentator on the threat from Russia and was an important voice in calls for the UK to prepare militarily for conflict. (Independent)

📣 Former UK Government advisor Steve Hilton remains confident of winning the California primary, telling a crowd that the state had lost its way and that he could revive its “energy and optimism and ambition”. The state will count votes over the next few weeks. (AP)

📣 A breakthrough drug for ovarian cancer is now available on the NHS in England. (BBC)

📣 Elon Musk’s SpaceX has upped its value - and now says it’s worth $1.75 trillion. (BBC)

📣 A buffalo called Donald Trump has been drawing the crowds - and controversy - at the national zoo in Bangladesh. (AP)

⚽️ A Celtic ultra group has hung a blunt message outside Parkhead amid talks between the club and Robbie Keane, the former player who is in the running to become manager. Some fans don’t like the fact that Keane managed Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv, and he’s been ostracised in his native Ireland for taking the job. (Daily Record)

⚽️ Ryan Porteous says he’s ready for the call should Scotland need him: the defender, now playing for Los Angeles FC, hasn’t been called up by Steve Clarke in more than a year. (Scotsman)

🗣️ In yesterday’s Early Line we noted that the former aide to David Cameron, Steve Hilton, was leading the race to be the Republican candidate for governor of California.

Such is the protracted state of primary vote counting in the State that’s still the case - it may take days to tot up all the postal votes.

But, this morning, it remains the most likely outcome that Hilton will run off against former Joe Biden cabinet member Xavier Berecca in November’s general election.

He’s not likely to win that contest, given the deep antipathy towards Donald Trump (who has endorsed Hilton: it’s not backing that the candidate has, since, done much to tout).

As a Politico profile from 2024 notes, Hilton is remembered as the man who did a lot back in early 2000s to modernise both the Conservative party and - vitally - the image of his boss, David Cameron. The future Prime Minister burnished his green credentials, talked about “the big society” and gave his notorious “hug-a-hoodie” speech, in which he entirely redefined the party’s stance on crime. All of this was driven, in large part, by Hilton.

He was also the real-world character on which the buffoonish and wildly pretentious “The Thick Of It” character Stewart Pearson was, perhaps slightly harshly, modelled. You can see Pearson in (fictitious) action here.

In the TV show, Pearson’s time in government ended badly, and at least one former colleague thinks the real thing would also fair badly in elected office - something he’s never held before.

“He would be terrible!” one government adviser who worked in No 10 at the same time as Hilton told the Guardian. “He is someone who was very quickly insanely frustrated with how government works in reality. He comes in with these incredibly wild ideas, wants them all to happen instantly, isn’t interested in compromise, and when it doesn’t happen he throws his toys out the pram.”

But Katy Balls spent a day with Hilton more recently and found a candidate still keen to disrupt, albeit with a policy platform which suggests he’s been on his own political, as well as geographical, journey.

“Running on a Republican ticket with President Trump’s endorsement, Hilton is campaigning on a change message with a “Califordable” agenda of tax cuts, deregulation and a harder line on immigration and law enforcement,” writes Balls, “alongside slashing healthcare for undocumented migrants and expanding prison capacity.

“Is the fact that he is British not a problem?” asks Balls of one resident who has cast her vote for Hilton “I thought it might be, but then I heard his platform and decided it doesn’t matter,” she’s told. “Actually it’s helpful - he’s seen what single-care healthcare is like,” she says.

“Here, the NHS is an example of what to avoid. Hilton, in fact, formally renounced his British citizenship ahead of launching his campaign.”

Another, more recent, Politico profile paints a more flattering picture of a disruptor who never wears a tie, doesn’t have a smartphone (he uses a flip phone for texts and calls only) and is an “upstart with a talent for gaining attention”.

Michael Gove, who worked with Hilton for many years as a senior minister, tells Politico that Hilton should not be underestimated. “I’m absolutely convinced that it wouldn’t be where he is if he weren’t deadly serious about bringing change”.

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