Another meldown moment

The weekend political turmoil in London and Edinburgh is undoubtedly bad for the incumbents. [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Remember Boris Johnson? Too bad if you were trying to forget him. Having quit as UK prime minister less than a year ago after one scandal too many, Johnson has again hogged the limelight by announcing his decision to stand down from Parliament. Key Reading: [Britain Is Adrift, and the World’s Executives Are Alarmed]( [Johnson, Once a Tory Winner, Is Desperate for Them to Lose]( [UK Political Drama Intensifies as Sturgeon Arrested in SNP Probe]( [Scotland’s Push to Secede From UK Won’t Go Away]( But it was the manner of his going, lobbing incendiary charges at Rishi Sunak’s government, that was most damaging to the current occupant of Downing Street. In Scotland, another fallen idol — former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon — protested her innocence on Twitter yesterday after police arrested and then released her in connection with an investigation into the Scottish National Party’s finances. The weekend turmoil in London and Edinburgh doesn’t necessarily mean the defining political projects of each government, respectively Brexit and the push for Scots independence, are any more undermined than they've been in recent months anyway. But it’s undoubtedly bad for the incumbents. Sunak’s Conservatives already trail the opposition Labour Party nationally by as much as 20 percentage points. And while a UK election is perhaps 18 months off, Johnson’s departing broadside fuels the sense that fighting over policies and personalities is consuming the governing party just when economic concerns are squeezing voters. The upshot is Sunak, desperate to project calm after the Liz Truss-inspired chaos, instead finds himself on the lip of a vortex of Tory self-destruction and having to fight three special elections. The chief beneficiary is Labour leader Keir Starmer, who looks increasingly like a prime minister in waiting. Seat gains in Scotland at the SNP’s expense may help decide the next election in his favor. There was little sign of this political malaise last week during a trip to England, with the countryside looking its spectacular best in the throes of a midsummer heatwave. The nation’s political rainmakers, though, are wilting under the heat.— [Alan Crawford]( Sturgeon welcomes Johnson in July 2019 in Edinburgh. Photographer: Duncan McGlynn/Getty Images  Check out the latest [Washington Edition newsletter](. You can [sign up]( to get it in your inbox every weekday. And if you are enjoying this newsletter, sign up [here](. Global Headlines Former US President Donald Trump is broadly holding on to his Republican base as he heads to court to face a 37-count federal indictment for mishandling classified documents amid rising concern about [the risk of violence]( incited by some of his most fervent supporters. About three quarters of likely Republican primary voters in a CBS News/YouGov poll said they view the accusations against the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination as politically motivated. - Trump’s attorneys play a role in the federal criminal indictment against him, not only as unwitting participants in crimes he’s charged with, but also as [key potential witnesses]( in the government’s case. Ukrainian troops freed another two villages in the eastern Donetsk region as part of the counteroffensive to [recover]( Russian-occupied areas, according to military officials in Kyiv. The Defense Ministry in Moscow hasn’t commented, though Russian military bloggers acknowledged that its forces had retreated from those areas. - The airspace above Germany will swarm with military aircraft for almost two weeks from today as NATO conducts the [biggest]( air exercise in the alliance’s history. About 60 miles from Ukraine’s border with the European Union, an array of pipes and pumps hints at what stands to become an important part of the bloc’s efforts to secure energy supplies. Storing vital fuel in a country subjected to missile strikes and attacks on critical energy infrastructure may sound [like a crazy idea](, but it’s winning backers as the facilities are far enough from the front line to be deemed safe. Silvio Berlusconi, the flamboyant media mogul whose reign as Italy’s longest-serving postwar prime minister was plagued by sex scandals and allegations of corruption, has died at the age of 86. One of the most influential figures in Italian politics of the past three decades, Berlusconi built a television empire in the 1980s before [deploying his showmanship]( and talent for catchy sound bites to win three national elections. Silvio Berlusconi Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg Best of Bloomberg Opinion - [The Tragic Fall of Boris Johnson: Adrian Wooldridge]( - [India Needs to Restore Faith in ‘World’s Pharmacy’: Mihir Sharma]( - [Erdogan and Orban, Let Sweden Into NATO Already: Andreas Kluth]( China is making a deepwater drilling push as its aging onshore wells and insatiable appetite for energy forces it to become more reliant on foreign crude. China National Offshore Oil Corp., one of the three main state-owned oil firms, is on a spending spree to develop the [drilling technology]( currently dominated by Western oil majors. But pushing into waters contested by China’s neighbors has also put Beijing in conflict with the US government. Explainers You Can Use - [How Gas Stoves Became a Weapon in the US Culture Wars]( - [What’s Behind the Fighting in Sudan and What It Means]( - [How Fast, Cheap Fashion Is Polluting the Planet]( The surprise announcement last week that the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf League would end their dispute and merge showed Saudi Arabia had gained the [upper hand]( in the push-and-pull between a global superpower and an oil-rich nation that was long seen as the junior partner. The PGA and President Joe Biden, who vowed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would pay for the country’s human rights record, learned the same lesson: Saudi Arabia is too rich and consequential to shun. Tune in to Bloomberg TV’s Balance of Power at 5pm to 6pm ET weekdays with Washington correspondents [Annmarie Hordern]( and [Joe Mathieu](. You can watch and listen on Bloomberg channels and online [here](. News to Note - China rejected US claims it has [spy operations in Cuba](, as tensions flare for the second time this year between the world’s two largest economies over Beijing’s alleged global espionage reach. - Iran denied that it’s [negotiating]( with the US over an interim nuclear deal to get sanctions relief. - Europe Now, the nascent political group that’s promising to [modernize Montenegro]( and bring the Balkan nation closer to EU membership, scored a victory in a snap parliamentary election. - The Dutch government is working on legislation that will be used [to bar Chinese students]( from university programs on sensitive technologies including semiconductors and defense, sources say. - China was walloped by a [Covid-19 resurgence]( in May, with a positive test rate nearing the peak seen during the wave at the end of 2022, according to government data. - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s ruling Morena party will [announce its candidate]( for the 2024 presidential election on Sept. 6. Thanks to the 43 people who answered our Friday quiz and and congratulations to Vincent McDwyer, who was the first to name South Korea as the country that elevated its alliance with the US to “nuclear based.” And finally ... Sudan boasts ancient Nubian temples, more pyramids than Egypt and is credited with being the birthplace of modern pottery and metalwork techniques. Simon Marks reports on the efforts by Sudanese archaeologists, curators, academics and volunteers [struggling to protect]( that cultural heritage at a time when a conflict between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group has killed hundreds of people and injured thousands more. The pyramids of the Sudanese kingdom of Meroe. Photographer: Rabih Moghrabi/AFP/Getty Images Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. 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