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Good Thursday morning. This is Eleni Courea.
DRIVING THE DAY
BONFIRE-TURNED-FIREFIGHT: Ministers are grappling with pop-up rebellions from incensed Tory MPs over Brexit, leveling up, housing reforms and renewed grumbling over small boats. Last week’s drubbing in the locals has emboldened PM Rishi Sunak’s critics and driven the Conservative Parliamentary Party to a new unsettled state.
REBELLION 1: Kemi Badenoch has alienated some of her former fans after formally announcing she was ditching the commitment to scrub all remaining EU law from the statute book by 2023. Tory MPs last night were muttering darkly about Sunak’s leadership campaign video in which boxes of EU regs were dumped into a shredder — he pledged to repeal them all in his first 100 days (and since then civil servants have found more than 2,000 new ones).
Heart-to-Hart: A group of around 20 Tories met Chief Whip Simon Hart on Wednesday afternoon to relay their concerns. One MP who was present said Hart mainly sat and listened and took “a copious amount of notes,” adding acidly: “They’ll be the only thing that’s going in the shredder.”
Uh-oh: Playbook’s mole — who is a senior Brexiteer — claimed No. 10 relayed to them privately that the U-turn was driven “entirely by the secretary of state.” (A No. 10 official denied this.) The same MP said of Badenoch: “If she does harbor any leadership ambitions they are looking increasingly unattainable” and added: “Penny had a good week, Kemi’s had a bad week.”
**A message from Airbnb: Airbnb has long called for new short-term lets rules and a registration scheme for England. To avoid unintended consequences on tourism and hardworking families, it’s essential that new rules are proportionate and based on accurate data. Discover more.**
As it happens: Perennial leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt really is having a good week — she’s on front page of the Telegraph with an op-ed after her star turn at the coronation. She is due in the Commons for the business statement later this morning … expect gags about her wielding a big sword or whatever.
Also on the front page of the Telegraph: Badenoch’s op-ed defending her move. A government official told Playbook: “Kemi voted for Brexit, she now wants to deliver Brexit and make it work. As she has written: ‘getting rid of EU law in the UK should be about more than a race to a deadline. It should be about making sure our laws work for the people who use them.’ If there is an MP who disagrees with that statement they ought to come out into the open and explain why.”
More backlash: Arch Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg told PA that “‘the blob’ has triumphed and the prime minister has abandoned his promise.” A Brexiteer MP tells the Telegraph’s Daniel Martin that “this is dangerous for Rishi Sunak. He sold himself as someone who was trustworthy and he’s broken that promise. His pool of committed supporters is shallower than it was before.” A former Cabinet minister tell the Mail’s Jason Groves that the PM will face “real trouble” when this returns to the Commons. And the Express’ David Maddox reports a group of ERG MPs went to No. 10 on Wednesday morning to warn the PM against the move — with some now accusing Michael Gove of being involved in the climbdown.
But it’s not all bad: Several Tory MPs contacted by Playbook backed the decision. David Davis said the original timeline was “unwise” and risked handing power from Brussels to civil servants in Whitehall, adding: “We should pick out the ones we want to change and the ones we can.” And Theresa Villiers said there were “real practical concerns with the speed of the timetable originally proposed … I can therefore understand why this amendment has been tabled.”
Coming up: Next week the government plans to publish the list of the 600-odd EU laws that will be revoked by the end of the year, the FT reports. A source tells the Times’ Oli Wright that Brexit rebels might try to restore the original legislation when it returns to the Commons later in the summer.
Elsewhere in Brexit: Hugh Elliott — the former ambassador to Madrid who was at the center of the Dominic Raab bullying row — has been returned to the U.K. team negotiating Gibraltar’s future, the Telegraph reports. That won’t do much to pacify Tory Brexiteers — Elliott was summoned home over suspicions he promised that Spanish police could be based permanently in Gibraltar.
REBELLION 2: Ten Tory MPs in the Midlands led by Mansfield’s Ben Bradley have written to the PM demanding he does more for leveling up by the summer. The Sun’s Harry Cole and the Tel’s Nick Gutteridge have the story. The MPs want the Leveling Up Bill (which has been heavily amended and is stuck in the Lords) to be expedited.
DECLARING THEIR INTEREST (RATE): Amid all this it’s worth remembering the issue that overwhelmingly concerns voters is the cost of living. That will be thrown into sharp relief at noon when the Bank of England announces its decision on interest rates. Markets expect a quarter-point rise from 4.25 to 4.5 percent — which would bring interest rates to their highest level since 2008. It splashes the i.
Tune in: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who is in Japan, will record a pool clip mid-afternoon U.K. time responding to the bank’s decision. Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves will record a pool clip in London after noon. Labour today is accusing Sunak of being personally responsible for people’s mortgages going up.
MIGRATION NATION
LAST NIGHT WITH THE BISHOPS: The Lords is really having a moment at the moment — peers debated the Illegal Migration Bill until 10.10 p.m. with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s critical intervention splashing the Guardian, Mail, Express and making p1 of the Times (which has a good overview of the debate).
And on TV: Tory MP Chris Skidmore made some very punchy comments on ITV’s Peston, saying that “Churchill would be turning in his grave if he thought that we were going to be taking the U.K. out of the processes of international law, and that’s just simply something that I’m not prepared to do, which is why I’ve not participated in the bill.” He also said small boats and culture wars were “nowhere” in the public’s priorities.
On the other hand: Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick went on a bullish evening broadcast round where he told LBC’s Andrew Marr that people crossing the Channel on small boats are “breaking into our country.”
NUMBERS CRUNCH: Ministers are finalizing plans to stop international students from bringing family members with them to the U.K. in a bid to bring immigration numbers down, the FT reports in its splash. The Department for Education, Home Office and Treasury (which normally likes immigration) are close to agreeing a plan to stop dependents from traveling with master’s students on one-year courses, several officials tell the paper.
The catch: Keegan is insisting master’s students should be able to bring family members to the U.K. if they stay to work in the country after their studies, according to the story.
The concern: ONS data out on May 25 will show that net migration hit record levels in 2022, the FT says. A minister tells the paper that “we’re a long way from David Cameron’s promise to reduce annual net migration to the ‘tens of thousands’” … which as far as Playbook is aware hasn’t been government policy for years (except for about 25 minutes during Suella Braverman’s conference speech).
Welfare wars return: At Cabinet this week the PM ordered a “cross-government effort” reduce the number of people claiming out-of-work benefits, as part of a drive to stop the U.K.’s reliance on migrant workers to fill vacancies. Fraser Nelson highlights in his Telegraph column that Tories are concerned that government spending on benefits for working-age people has ballooned.
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POLICY CORNER
LEASEHOLD U-TURN? Michael Gove has dropped plans to abolish the archaic leasehold system, the Guardian’s Kiran Stacey reports. Government sources tell him that Downing Street pushed back on the plan on the basis that there wasn’t enough time before the election to enact it. Gove is arguing that ending leaseholds would help the Tories appeal to young urban voters. A Whitehall official insisted the story was “somewhat premature — scope of bill not yet agreed — and you can’t abolish leasehold overnight.” Gove said this year that leasehold “is an outdated feudal system that needs to go.”
REBELLION 3: The i’s David Parsley reports that the Renters’ Reform Bill whose publication was delayed this week is facing opposition from Tory MPs who are landlords. A prospective rebel tells him that 30 MPs could vote against it.
Now read this: The Times’ Oli Wright and Jack Malvern tell the fascinating story of Count Luca Padulli, an Italian aristocrat who lives on a 16th-century moated estate in Norfolk — and controls the freehold to 100,000 properties. Gove accused Padulli of avoiding liability for millions of pounds of work needed to make the buildings safe from fire.
Unsafe asylum: Afghan refugees say they have been abandoned by the Home Office and fear they are at risk of homelessness because private landlords refuse to rent to them, openDemocracy reports.
DOCTORS ORDERED: The Times’ Chris Smyth reveals plans to draft thousands of hospital doctors without the highest level of training into GP surgeries to reduce waiting times and free up appointments. GP leaders are worried the move could be unsafe.
LABOUR LAND
SCOOP — BLAIRITES ASSEMBLE IN ISLINGTON: Things are hotting up in Islington North, where Labour is looking for a candidate to take on former leader Jeremy Corbyn (who plans to stand as an independent though he’s yet to announce it). Playbook has been forwarded an email from Luke Akehurst to fellow travelers in Islington North aiming to boost their influence in that CLP.
In the letter: Akehurst invited members of Labour First and Labour to Win — grassroots groups on the Labour right — “to discuss how we can get a better organized and coordinated mainstream Labour presence in the structures of Islington North CLP.” He said that “major political developments locally give the opportunity for a fresh start.”
Bullish: When contacted by Playbook, Akehurst said: “Islington North is fundamentally a CLP with a mainstream mass membership — illustrated by nominating Keir in the 2020 contest — which hasn’t been able to make its voice heard because the CLP leadership has come from the hard left. It’s the job of Labour First and Labour to Win to enable mainstream Labour members to have the strongest voice they can in every CLP in the country.” He denied there were any plans to influence the selection.
A left-wing campaigner hit back: “It will take more than a dirty tricks campaign from a Blairite faction to turn people in Islington North against their MP.”
Diary date: After Playbook set hares running, Alex Nunns, a former speechwriter to Corbyn, triggered a notification on Akehurst’s Zoom account by trying to log onto the call several weeks early. FWIW it’s on June 7.
COMPLAINT SHOCKER: My colleague Esther Webber’s shocking story about the Labour adviser who sexually harassed a young intern but was allowed to keep his job gets picked up by all the major papers. Esther and Emilio Casalicchio report that senior women in the Labour Party have now demanded extra protection for staff.
COALITION CHATTER
CABLE FROM VINCE: Former Lib Dem leader Vince Cable has popped up again with another unhelpful (for his party) intervention in the Times letters pages. He argues that “the Lib Dems could provide stability” to a minority Labour government unlike the SNP, DUP or Sinn Féin. “We broadly agree with Labour on the need for electoral reform” — that one might be news to Labour — “for radical decentralisation and for rebuilding links with the EU. But Lib Dems would want to go further and faster. Therein lies the basis for negotiation.”
Headline of the day: From the Sun’s p2 story on the Lib-Lab pact chatter: “The knights will sit around table” … a prospect the paper later brands a “knightmare.”
Meanwhile: There’s been lots of back-slapping in the Labour Party over its admittedly fun boomerang attack ploy which demanding Tories rule out a pact with the SNP. A senior Labour figure told Playbook it was “time to get our own back.” The Mirror’s Lizzy Buchan has a write-up. A Conservative spokesman said: “We will not be doing a deal with any other party. Sir Keir Starmer has never made a promise he intends to keep and we all know about his fondness for second referendums. His words count for nothing.”
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TODAY IN WESTMINSTER
SNOWFLAKE FIGHTBACK: Straight-speaking FDA boss Dave Penman is addressing the union’s annual conference at 10.55 a.m. The Mail’s Jason Groves reports he will warn ministers to stop treating civil servants like “lazy, woke, inefficient, Remainer, activist snowflakes.”
BORIS BILL GROWS: British taxpayers’ bill for Boris Johnson’s Partygate probe lawyers has grown to £245,000 after their contract was extended again, the BBC’s Joshua Nevett and Paul Seddon reveal. The Treasury did not sign off the decision to use public money for it, according to an FOI return — and Johnson (declared earnings since standing down: £5.5 million) is under growing pressure to cough up for his lawyers himself.
Guto’s grand narrative: The first episode of Guto Harri’s podcast turned “political memoir” just went up on Global Player. Apparently there are good lines on what Boris Johnson really thinks of Sue Gray and just how angry he was with Sunak when he resigned. A former BBC journo, Harri was Johnson’s last comms director in No. 10 and worked with him in City Hall before that.
BRIDGEN DERISION: Rob Hutton’s latest sketch for the Critic eviscerates new “Renew, or Review, or probably Reclaim” MP Andrew Bridgen who crossed the floor on Wednesday. A senior Tory told Playbook: “Nobody wants to hear the nonsensical ravings of a loudmouthed malcontent.” (If you get it then you get it.)
LORDS IN THE LIMELIGHT: In a briefing on the upcoming legislative agenda, the Hansard society points out that “given the pile-up in the Lords of some very large, complex and contentious bills, it is on the Upper House that much of the legislative focus will fall in the coming months.” (Including, as mentioned in this email, the Illegal Migration Bill and the Levelling Up Bill.) Peers are already scheduled to sit for a week longer than expected and the BBC’s Mark D’Arcy has reported suggestions that their summer recess could be curtailed.
Speaking of the legislative timetable: Whitehall departments have been busy making submissions for the king’s speech expected in November. That will open the fourth and final parliamentary session before the next election — likely to be limited to up to a dozen or so relatively straightforward bills with a retail offer to voters.
POST OFFICE SCANDAL: MPs called for the Post Office boss to be sacked and the company mutualized in a Commons debate on the Horizon IT scandal Wednesday. The Times has a write-up.
SW1 EVENTS: Transport Minister Jesse Norman speaks at the Future Logistics Conference from 10 a.m. (OK that’s in Farnborough) … and Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride speaks at a lunch in parliament for political journalists from noon.
HOUSE OF COMMONS: Sits from 9.30 a.m. with Cabinet Office questions followed by Commons leader Penny Mordaunt’s business statement … and then the main business is two backbench debates on the future of overseas territories (led by Tory MP Alicia Kearns) and no recourse to public funds (managed by Labour’s Stephen Timms). Tory MP Matthew Offord has the adjournment debate on economic aid to Sri Lanka.
WESTMINSTER HALL: Debates from 1.30 p.m. on topics including Allergy Awareness Week (led by Labour’s Jon Cruddas).
On committee corridor: The public accounts committee hears from witnesses including the Department for Business and Trade’s Permanent Secretary Gareth Davies on local authority administered COVID grant schemes (9.30 a.m.) … and King’s College London Academic Lawrence Freedman gives evidence to the Lords’ AI in weapon systems committee (10 a.m.).
HOUSE OF LORDS: Sits from 11 a.m. with oral questions on plans for the U.K. to join the Horizon Europe scientific research program, financial resources for additional beds and extra ambulances and the policing arrangements during the coronation weekend … and then the main business is the final day at committee stage of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill and the sixth day at committee stage of the Online Safety Bill.
BEYOND THE M25
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: Speaking at a CNN Republican Town Hall, U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump refused to say whether he wanted Russia or Ukraine to win the war, or whether he believes Vladimir Putin to be a war criminal … claimed that if he were president he “will have that war settled in one day” … insisted he “had every right” to take classified White House documents home with him … and refused again to acknowledge he lost the 2020 election. My Stateside colleagues have the story.
Meanwhile: Two female members of Trump’s team say they witnessed his inappropriate behavior with women in the White House. The Times writes up comments from former Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin, who said she saw “countless cases” of “impropriety,” and former Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, who said she took steps to protect a female staff member from his attentions.
Over in New York: U.S. President Joe Biden told an audience of mega-rich donors at a fundraising event that he traveled to the island of Ireland for the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement to make sure “the Brits didn’t screw around” (h/t James Franey).
PAID A PRICE: Adam Price quit as leader of Plaid Cymru after a damning report found the party harbored a toxic culture of misogyny, harassment and bullying. The BBC says Plaid Cymru members of the Senedd will meet this morning to choose an interim leader.
Here’s a good fact: Price’s resignation means all the political parties that elected MPs in Great Britain in the 2019 general election will have changed their leader since then (h/t Mr Memory on Twitter).
CUT GEMS: The stunning Koh-i-Noor diamond — the notoriously controversial jewel in the royal collection — was nowhere to be seen at King Charles III’s blingy coronation. The absence of the gem, taken by the British East India Company and given to Queen Victoria in 1849, is a sign Britain is starting to get to grips with a new form of soft power in the 21st century, my POLITICO colleague Graham Lanktree writes.
Trade winds: The decision to leave the Koh-i-Noor locked away in the Tower of London last Saturday avoided a major blow-up with the Indian government as trade talks between the two sides continue, those in the know tell Graham. And it is part of a wider trend, with British Museum Chairman George Osborne (remember him?) recently opening talks with the Greek government over proposals to effectively share displays of the Parthenon Marbles and other Greek treasures. The Horniman Museum in south London has already returned two Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, which had been plundered by Britain in the late 19th century.
Vaizey does it: “In the 21st century, these kinds of discussions are actually a way potentially of advancing Britain’s interests,” says Tory peer Ed Vaizey, a former culture minister and chair of the Parthenon Project. Others are less impressed. Efforts to return disputed objects “come from a left (wing) position,” says Oxford University professor Lawrence Goldman, and “from a very crude understanding — or lack of understanding — of empire as always evil and always wrong.” Read the full story here.
SAVE OUR CASH: MPs have urged Trade Minister Dominic Johnson to do more to help free frozen savings belonging to thousands of Hong Kongers, with China locking more than £2 billion in pensions belonging to British overseas passport holders who fled for the U.K. — the Guardian’s Patrick Wintour has that one.
STICK TO THE GRID: Energy Minister Andrew Bowie visits the Shetland Islands to witness an electricity link under construction connecting the islands to the mainland electricity grid for the first time.
CARRY ON CAMPING: Peter Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon’s husband and former SNP chief executive, kept secret the purchase of a £110,000 campervan with SNP cash from the individuals responsible for managing the party’s accounts. The Times reports former party Treasurer Douglas Chapman was kept in the dark about the vehicle expense while in post.
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MEDIA ROUND
Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds broadcast round: Times Radio (7.50 a.m.) … Sky News (8.05 a.m.) … GB News (8.15 a.m.) … LBC News (8.50 a.m.).
Today program: Former Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg (8.35 a.m.).
Also on Times Radio Breakfast: Royal College of GPs Chair Kamila Hawthorne (7.05 a.m.) … Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper (7.20 a.m.) … Royal College of Emergency Medicine Vice President Ian Higginson (8 a.m.) … Dr David Haslam, former chair of NICE (9.05 a.m.).
Also on Kay Burley: Defense committee Chair Tobias Ellwood (8.20 a.m.).
Also on GB News: Home Office Minister Sarah Dines (7.30 a.m.).
Also on LBC News: Daisy Cooper (7.45 a.m.) … St Bartholomew’s Hospital Chief Executive Charles Knight (8.10 a.m.).
TalkTV Breakfast: Tory MP Anna Firth (7.05 a.m.) … Former Bank of England Economist Carsten Jung (8.20 a.m.) … Former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib (9.05 a.m.).
Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: Sarah Dines (7.50 a.m.).
James O’Brien (LBC): Mayor of London Sadiq Khan phone-in (10 a.m.).
Politics Live (BBC Two 12.15 p.m.): Tory MP Bob Seely … Labour’s Ellie Reeves … Times Radio’s Charlotte Ivers … Journalist Ella Whelan.
TODAY’S FRONT PAGES
(Click on the publication’s name to see its front page):
POLITICO UK: King Charles’ missing diamond.
Daily Express: Your attack on small boats law is ‘wrong,’ archbishop.
Daily Mail: What’s so moral about not stopping people smugglers?
Daily Mirror: Hidden toll of long COVID.
Daily Star: Cool Britannia.
Financial Times: Sunak ready to curb students’ family visas as net flows grow.
i: £7,000 mortgage hike after record interest rate rises.
Metro: Arch enemies.
The Daily Telegraph: Whitehall ‘blob’ halts repeal of Brexit laws.
The Guardian: ‘Morally unacceptable’ — Welby in stinging attack on migration bill.
The Independent: Mirror publisher apologizes to Harry at hacking trial.
The Times: NHS plans to send more doctors into GP surgeries.
TODAY’S NEWS MAGS
POLITICO Europe: Why the EU loves Erdoğan.
Prospect: The prince vs. the press — Tom Lamont on the bitter battle between Harry and the papers that hounded them.
The New Statesman: What could go wrong? — Andrew Marr on the dangers ahead for Keir Starmer on Labour’s road to No. 10.
The Spectator: Trump’s second act — Niall Ferguson on why he can still win, in spite of everything.
LONDON CALLING
WESTMINSTER WEATHER: More unsettled weather with spring showers, light winds and highs of 17C.
That might spoil the cricket again: The first match of the season between Khan’s Khampions (Transport for London XI) and the Chatty Bats (HM Lobby XI) on Wednesday was abandoned without a ball being bowled thanks to the rain. If it stays dry today then the Lobby team will take on MPs.
At least summer’s nearly here: The Mail has “seven steps to get Penny’s sword bearing arms” by working out at home.
DIARY NOTE: It’s Rishi Sunak’s birthday on Friday. Here’s some gift inspo — Katy Balls reveals in her Spectator column that one of his favorite novels is Jilly Cooper’s “Riders,” billed as “a tale about the great and good — and a Tory minister for sport — frolicking in the fictional Cotswolds county of Rutshire.”
EUROVISION PREVIEW: The second Eurovision semi-final kicks off at 8 p.m. on BBC One as 16 countries battle it out for 10 places in Saturday’s grand final, Playbook reporter Noah Keate writes. According to the Telegraph, the contenders include a “blistering torch song” from Armenia … a “whomping house number celebrating the LGBT community” from Belgium … a “zinging dance track supposedly written by the ghost of Edgar Allen Poe” from Austria … and a song from San Marino which has “Cmon baby I can smell you like an animal” as its opening line. Of these entries, the odds are most in Austria and Armenia’s favor, though Sweden and Finland, which both qualified for the final on Tuesday, remain the firm favorites.
Eurovision takes SW1: Rishi Sunak hosted a Eurovision reception in No. 10 on Wednesday evening. But the real party was over just across Parliament Square where U.K. Music, Diageo, YouTube and InHouse Comms joined forces for a “United by Music” do featuring headline act Katrina Leskanich from Katrina and the Waves, the U.K.’s most recent Eurovision winner from 1997.
Spotted … sipping Bailey’s Colada and Flat White Martinis and dancing to “Walking on Sunshine,” “Kids in America” and “Love Shine a Light” … Ministers Penny Mordaunt, Andrew Bowie, Guy Opperman, Richard Holden and Graham Stuart … Shadow Ministers Alex Davies-Jones (an amazing singer), Bambos Charalambous, Christian Wakeford and Andrew Gwynne … MPs Eddie Hughes, Damian Green, Bob Seely, David Mundell, Matt Warman, Caroline Dinenage, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Steve Brine, Nigel Adams, Craig Whittaker, Dan Carden, Sharon Hodgson, Pete Wishart and Matt Hancock … No. 10’s Yasmin Goldsmith …
And breathe … Labour’s Director of Communications Matthew Doyle … Labour’s Sophie Nazemi, George Mason, Matt Pound and Matt Faulding … Hacks Fraser Nelson, Katy Balls, Mikey Smith, David Wooding, Hugo Gye, Daniel Martin, Jack Elsom and Mhari Aurora … Onward’s Seb Payne, Ellie Varley and Adam Hawksbee … Openreach’s Denise Westbury-Haines … Businesswoman Gina Coladangelo … InHouse Comms’ Katie Perrior and Luciana Berger … U.K. Music’s Jamie Njoku-Goodwin … YouTube’s Alison Lomax … and the first U.K. Eurovision winner, the iconic Sandie Shaw.
ALSO SPOTTED … At Hatchards Piccadilly for the launch of “Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?: Searching for the Truth on Political TV” by former BBC Head of Political Programs Rob Burley … New Statesman pol ed and LBC presenter Andrew Marr … Former Downing Street Director of Communications Craig Oliver and Robbie Gibb … Former Labour Director of Communications Seumas Milne … Sky’s Beth Rigby and Mollie Malone … Outgoing Head of Sky News John Ryley … GB News’ Gloria de Piero … Channel 4’s Ian Katz … GMB’s Neil Thompson … the News Agents’ Lewis Goodall … LBC’s Sangita Myska … Times Radio’s Ayesha Hazarika … the News Movement’s Kamal Ahmed … Former SpAd Salma Shah … Former BBC correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones … and, obviously, Rob Burley himself.
News galore: Burley reveals in his book that BBC board member Robbie Gibb ordered him not to interrogate Vote Leave’s £350 million Brexit bus claim after the referendum (via the Times) … and that Andrew Marr threatened to leave the BBC when he was told he couldn’t interview Boris Johnson unless the then-PM agreed to be grilled by Andrew Neil too (via the i).
Marr’s musings: Andrew Marr recalled in his speech last night that when he sought guidance for interviewing senior politicians Burley would say: “Don’t worry, just wing it!”
ALSO SPOTTED … at an Onward event on Conservatism at the UnHerd Club … PublicFirst’s Rachel Wolf … Tory MP Eddie Hughes … UnHerd’s pol ed Tom McTague, the token non-Tory on the panel … Communications adviser Laura Emily Dunn … the New Statesman’s Freddie Hayward … the Economist’s Matthew Holehouse … and Onward’s Gavin Rice and Adam Hawksbee.
JOB ADS: The Tony Blair Institute is recruiting a political engagement manager in London … and the BBC is hiring a World Online journalist.
NEW GIG: Karishma Vaswani departs the BBC to join Bloomberg Opinion.
BOOKS GALORE: “Didn’t You Use to Be Chris Mullin? Diaries 2010–2022” by former Labour MP Chris Mullin, is published by Biteback … Co-presenter of “The Rest Is Politics” Alastair Campbell’s “But What Can I Do?: Why Politics Has Gone So Wrong, and How You Can Help Fix It” is released by Hutchinson Heinemann … The above-mentioned “Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?: Searching for the Truth on Political TV” by Rob Burley is published by Mudlark … and journalist Andy McSmith’s “Strange People I Have Known … And Other Stories” is published by Biteback.
Alternatively: Head to the Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall to see the Granta Best of Young British Novelists from 7.45 p.m.
NOW READ THIS: Robert Shrimsley argues in the FT that the National Conservatism conference being hosted in London next week — where Suella Braverman, Jacob Rees-Mogg, David Frost and Michael Gove are all due to speak — attempts to import U.S. style NatCon politics that won’t work in the U.K.
BIRTHDAYS: Former Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman … Assistant Government Whip Ruth Edwards … High Court Chancellor Julian Flaux … Crossbench peer Narendra Patel … SNP MSP Bob Doris turns 50 … Political betting expert Mike Smithson … Parliamentary staffer Josephine Amos.
PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editor Zoya Sheftalovich, reporter Noah Keate and producer Grace Stranger.
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