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A top British diplomat to Canada says the ever-important job of maintaining relationships and information sharing between key allies is not much different than what audiences can watch on a hit Netflix drama. Although The Diplomat is fictional, David Prodger, the British deputy high commissioner to Canada, says the ripped-from-the-headlines storytelling captures what it’s like to keep crises from spilling over from behind the scenes — particularly the “suppressed air of panic” around many of the characters.“I think a lot of those little vignettes were very, very true to to real life,” Prodger told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.“You’re dealing with big issues, and you’ve got to deal with them quickly as well.”The thriller stars Keri Russell as a car...

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk caused uproar after backing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor in protest. Germany is to vote in an early election on Feb. 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalize the country’s stagnant economy. 2:09 German snap election looms after finance minister fired, ruling coalition breaks Musk’s guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag — a sister publication of POLITICO owned by the Axel Springer Group — pub...

A former chief adviser and close friend to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday he doesn’t think Trudeau will stay on to lead the Liberals in the next election. Gerald Butts wrote in a Substack newsletter that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s surprise resignation from cabinet last week dealt Trudeau a staggering blow that loosened his already tenuous grip on the party.His post came the same day the Conservatives said they will move to bring down the government as early as the end of January, by first moving a non-confidence motion in a House committee that will sit Jan. 7.Trudeau is said to be thinking about his future during the holiday break, as an increasing number of current and former Liberal MPs publicly call on him to step down for the good of the party.Butts said Trudeau w...