Top story: Parliament centre stage for two more crucial votes

Good morning briefers. I’m Martin Farrer and these are the stories that you need to know about as you start your day.

Backbenchers from both sides of the political divide have scrambled to take control of the Brexit process after Theresa May suffered a second humiliating Commons defeat for her withdrawal proposal. With the prime minister’s authority ebbing away, manoeuverings in parliament seem certain to dictate the agenda as MPs prepare to vote today on a motion over whether or not to accept a no-deal Brexit. If that scenario is rejected, they will vote on Thursday on extending the Brexit deadline beyond 29 March. MPs from the pro-Brexit European Research Group – who turned fatally against May – have been busy tabling amendments to today’s motion. Moderates are meanwhile hoping to push the government into finding a cross-party majority for a deal they could support. If you’re still confused, we have a handy list of possible outcomes from this point, including a general election and the PM going for an ignominious hat-trick with another attempt to revive her deal. And you can follow all the latest developments with our blog.

Polly Toynbee says that the “revolutionary” Tories who promised that Brexit would be about taking back control have now “lost control”. Rafael Behr says there is an “almost perfect mismatch between the prime minister’s character and the skills she has needed” to negotiate Brexit.

Pell sentenced – The disgraced Catholic cardinal George Pell has been sentenced to six years in jail for abusing choirboys in Australia. Pell, who was found guilty by a jury in Melbourne last year, was told by senior judge Peter Kidd overnight that his offending was “breathtakingly arrogant” because he believed the victims would never complain. The 77-year-old, who was the third most senior Catholic cleric in the world before his conviction, was sentenced to six years, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months. Our columnist David Marr says there is nothing to celebrate in Pell’s sentence because his crimes were so appalling. But Australia can be proud that “no other country stares down the Catholic church as we do now”.

Tech curbs – Philip Hammond will use his annual spring statement today to welcome the findings of a Treasury-ordered review into the growing power of big tech companies. Led by Jason Furman, Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser, the review found that Google, Facebook and co have become too dominant and said a competition unit should be set up in Whitehall to help increase consumer choice. Hammond will flag measures to address the problem later in the year. The spring statement is also likely to include a growth downgrade for this year tempered by stronger public finances.

Boeing pressure – The US aviation regulator has defied a worldwide backlash against Boeing by declaring that the 737 Max 8 model of jet that crashed in Ethiopia on Sunday will not be grounded. The Federal Aviation Administration said a review “shows no systemic performance issues and provides no basis to order grounding the aircraft”. It comes despite the EU and UK regulators yesterday suspending all flights involving the plane. India and New Zealand have also grounded the aircraft. Donald Trump put pressure on Boeing when he spoke to the company’s chief executive and tweeted that planes had become “too complex”. The world’s biggest planemaker saw its shares fall for a second day, slicing $28bn off its value.

Google fail – Users of Gmail and other Google services could experience problems this morning after outages affected countries all over the world overnight. There were reports of problems with Gmail, Google Drive, Hangouts and Google Maps across the US, South America, Asia Europe and Australia. Websites tracking Gmail problems and outages showed a spike in users reporting problems from about 2am. Google said it was investigating.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Felicity Huffman with her husband, William H Macy. Photograph: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Entryism, Hollywood-style – Actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin have been charged in the US along with dozens of other wealthy parents over an alleged $25m scam to obtain places for their children at elite universities. Thirteen sports coaches also face charges of receiving bribes to ensure admission for often non-existent sporting prowess. Parents spent anywhere from $200,000 to $6.5m to guarantee their children’s admission in a scam allegedly masterminded by Boston-based William “Rick” Singer. His alleged methods included recruiting teachers to sit tests for students, falsifying test results and Photoshopping students’ faces onto pictures of athletes he found on the internet. Huffman, who appeared in Desperate Housewives and is married to actor William H Macy, was bailed in Los Angeles overnight. Loughlin’s daughter, the YouTube influencer Olivia Jade, was caught up in the scandal after her parents allegedly paid $200,000 to secure her a place on the University of Southern California rowing team despite her never having rowed before.

Today in Focus podcast: how Bellingcat broke the news

In 2012, Eliot Higgins began blogging about the news from his front room in Leicester. Seven years later, his investigative website Bellingcat has been responsible for revealing key aspects of some of the world’s biggest stories. And: Jonathan Freedland on the result of Theresa May’s meaningful vote.

Lunchtime read: Kelly Holmes: ‘I’ve been to the lowest point’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

Not content with being one of Britain’s greatest ever athletes, double Olympic gold medal winner Dame Kelly Holmes has continued to rack up the awards in retirement. Since hanging up the spikes after her triumph in Athens 15 years ago she has won 25 trophies, she proudly tells our interviewer Simon Hattenstone, including awards for philanthropy, mentoring and charity work. Now she has turned her talents to podcasting in a series focusing on mental health as she discusses with other well-known people how they have coped with depression. “I’ve been to the lowest point and to the highest point and everything in between,” she says, as she opens up about her tough childhood, the injuries that almost wrecked her career and her own demons.

Sport

The last race on day one at the Cheltenham Festival turned into a very troubling spectacle, with twice as many fallers as finishers, and it ended with the death of Ballyward, who had started the race as the 9-4 favourite. Cristiano Ronaldo scored two majestic headers and a penalty to seal another remarkable comeback as Juventus booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals with a 3-2 aggregate win over Atlético Madrid. Pep Guardiola praised goal-hungry Manchester City as “incredible” after they trounced Schalke 7-0 and said he was “sorry for the English people” but he wants Bayern Munich to beat Liverpool. The British Olympic Association is expecting to make history by selecting more women than men for next year’s Olympics. England have turned to Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton for inspiration as the Six Nations title race enters its final days while Gareth Anscombe has said Wales are desperate for Grand Slam success. And Tiger Woods has admitted his recent neck injury is a consequence of a fourth back surgery.

Business

The pound edged up overnight thanks to the Brexit vote as foreign exchange traders calculated that it increased the chances of a delay. Sterling is buying $1.309 and €1.159 this morning. The meltdown in Boeing’s stock price dragged the Dow Jones average into the red at the close last night and set the tone for Asian markets which are mostly in deficit today. The FTSE100 is looking at a fall of 0.3% this morning.

The papers

Theresa May looks downcast on the front pages of most of the papers today, which all focus on the defeat of the Brexit deal last night.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: THE GUARDIAN

The Guardian reports the vote was “Another huge defeat for May. And just 16 days until Brexit”. The Mirror calls it: “Brexit delay mayhem”, and the i’s headline is: “Out of control”.

“May clings on despite a second humiliating defeat,” says the Telegraph and the FT reports “May loses control of Brexit after MPs throw out revamped deal”. The Sun focuses on May losing her voice, calling the vote the “Croaky horror show”, while the Times has a picture of May in a car leaving parliament: “Driven to despair.”



The Mail is unimpressed with the MPs who voted down the deal: “The house of fools” and the similarly pro-Brexit Express wonders “How much more of this can Britain take?”

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