The start of a new bromance? – POLITICO

Good Wednesday morning. This is Eleni Courea.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: A brand-new podcast hosted by two of SW1’s favorite hacks — POLITICO’s own Jack Blanchard and Sky’s Sam Coates — is launching at this year’s Tory conference. The podcast, titled “Politics at Jack and Sam’s,” was unveiled Tuesday night at glitzy Sky showcase in Somerset House. More to come.

Spotted sipping fizz: Tory Chair Greg Hands … Shadow Cabinet ministers Bridget Phillipson, Jonathan Ashworth and Thangam Debbonaire … Ministers Paul Scully and Victoria Atkins … Shadow Ministers Kevin Brennan, Chris Bryant and Abena Oppong-Asare … Tory MPs Laura Farris, Caroline Dinenage and Bim Afolami … Deputy Commons Speaker Nigel Evans … SpAds Steph Schwarz, Dylan Sharpe and Pierre Andrews … Tory strategist Isaac Levido … Labour officials Matthew Doyle, Sophie Nazemi, Jill Cuthbertson and Owain Mumford …

And breathe … Sky bigwigs David Rhodes and Jonathan Levy … Sky stars Beth Rigby, Sophy Ridge, Sarah-Jane Mee, Yalda Hakim, Alex Crawford, Niall Paterson, Dominic Waghorn, Cécile Frot-Coutaz, Mark Kleinman, Sam Coates and Trevor Phillips … Political editors Pippa Crerar, Harry Cole, Kate Devlin, John Stevens and Katy Balls … Hacks Sonia Sodha, Helen Lewis, James Harding, Tim Shipman, Ayesha Hazarika, Harry Lambert, Thomas Seal, Alex Farber and Anna Mikhailova … former U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Matthew Barzun … and many more.

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DRIVING THE DAY

PMQs: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak goes head-to-head with Labour leader Keir Starmer at noon — his last PMQs before the four-week conference recess. The PM will be armed with a thick folder of notes on how to answer tricky questions on …  

… THE SLUGGISH UK ECONOMY: GDP shrank by 0.5 percent in July, according to stats just released by the ONS. It comes after 0.5 percent growth in June. More broadly, GDP grew by 0.2 percent in the three months to July, according to the figures.

… SPIES — SPIES EVERYWHERE: Scoop of the day goes to the Times’ Steve Swinford and Fiona Hamilton, who report that the Tories took two people off their parliamentary candidates list after MI5 privately warned they could be Chinese spies. The pair allegedly had links to the “United Front Work Department,” a branch of the Chinese Communist Party tasked with exerting influence abroad. It splashes the paper.

Elsewhere in spygate: The FT’s Lucy Fisher and George Parker report that Sunak was told of the arrest of the Tory parliamentary researcher suspected of spying for China back in March — but pursued more engagement with Beijing anyway.

… REFORMING HUMAN RIGHTS LAWS: Former Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has said the European Convention on Human Rights is “lunacy” in its current form because it protects terrorists plotting abroad from being captured by U.K. authorities but not killed. In an interview with Isabel Oakeshott for the Telegraph, Wallace said he wasn’t calling for a U.K. withdrawal from the ECHR but that unless it is modernized it will drive people to “more extreme measures.” It splashes the paper.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO TALK ABOUT: The Tories and Labour are fighting for control of the narrative on the NHS today. Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay are hosting a mid-afternoon roundtable in Downing Street with NHS leaders to discuss mitigating winter pressures. The BBC has a write-up.

In the red corner: Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting is touring morning broadcast studios to highlight figures showing that 36,000 cancer appointments and ops have been canceled because of strikes — the Telegraph has a write-up.

SCOOP — TIME FOR A NEW BROMANCE? Keir Starmer is drawing up plans for a high-profile visit to Paris next week to meet French President Emmanuel Macron, two people briefed on the visit tell Playbook. The Labour leader is planning to meet Macron for a bilateral meeting at the Elysée on Monday or Tuesday. Read the full story here.

Un grand succès: This would be Starmer’s first public meeting with a major foreign leader and a significant PR coup in his mission to appear statesmanlike. Under the plans, joining him on his trip will be his Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy — and new Chief of Staff Sue Gray, barely two weeks into the job.

Is this normal? Opposition leaders have held meetings with foreign leaders during the run-up to elections in the past. Barack Obama met David Cameron at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in London in 2009, and Tony Blair developed a close relationship with Bill Clinton before he won the 1997 election. “The calculation is between looking like you are an alternative government-in-waiting, versus looking presumptive,” said Catherine Haddon of the Institute for Government. “What is interesting in this is not that Starmer is doing this, but that Macron is.”

OVER IN THE LORDS

NO LONGER GOING WITH THE FLOW: Here’s an interesting political development. Labour is preparing to vote against the government’s plans to dilute EU-era anti-water pollution rules in order to build more houses.  

Hanging in the balance: Labour’s decision means the government’s amendment could be defeated in the Lords tonight. The Lib Dems and Greens are already opposed as are some rebel Tory peers. The vote is expected around 7 p.m.

Significantly: If the amendment is stripped out of the Levelling-Up Bill, it may never be reinserted because the legislation has already been through its Commons stages. Caitlin Doherty explains on PolHome.

Quick refresh: Housing Secretary Michael Gove set out plans to scrap the pithily named “nutrient neutrality” rules last month, arguing that this would have a negligible impact on pollution while turbo-charging housebuilding.

But but but: Environmental campaigners slammed the proposals saying they would mean loads more pollution flowing into our already filthy rivers.

Now Labour wades in: Shadow Housing Secretary Angela Rayner and Shadow Environment Secretary Steve Reed — both new to their roles — have written for Times Red Box arguing that there are “far better ways to build the new homes we desperately need than green lighting water pollution.” Labour insiders argued to Playbook that the party wants to encourage housebuilding — but not at any cost, and particularly not if it means damage to the environment.

Guns out: The Tories have been quick to slam Labour’s new position. Gove accused Starmer of “attempting to end the dream of home ownership for thousands” and Labour of being “the party of the blockers not the builders.” Multiple Tory officials remarked wryly that it was only natural Starmer would support keeping EU red tape.

On the other hand: Labour’s decision today has been praised by prominent environmental campaigners including Feargal Sharkey.

Notably: Lisa Nandy — who shadowed Gove before being demoted last week — had made it clear she was preparing to support the government on this (see this story in Building magazine). One Labour official told Playbook Tuesday night: “Nandy was in completely the wrong place on it — she wanted to back the government against the wishes of many in LOTO.”

Awks: Some Labour-run councils, including Canterbury and High Peak, supported the government’s plans according to this thread.

What Labour says it would do instead: Let developers start building homes that are in the planning process — but force them to take steps to counteract environmental damage before those homes are occupied. More in the Times write-up by Adam Vaughan.

Speaking of sewage: A separate row is brewing over an official watchdog’s investigation into whether the government broke the law by failing to keep polluting sewage companies in check. The Office for Environmental Protection made the announcement on Tuesday, and Labour seized on it. A government official said in response that the watchdog was also looking into Labour’s time in government, specifically guidance introduced in 1997, as well as the Tories. A Labour official said the law that could have been broken was only introduced in 2012.

TODAY IN WESTMINSTER

OVER IN THE COMMONS: MPs will consider Lords’ amendments on the Procurement Bill. On the list is an amendment aimed at stopping the U.K. becoming complicit in organ harvesting in China, which was narrowly passed by peers this week. Hawkish Tory MPs will use the debate to insist that China is included in the enhanced tier of the forthcoming Foreign Interest Registration Scheme.

CLEVERLY’S GIBRALTAR JAUNT: James Cleverly spent time socializing with a well connected Conservative lobbyist during a “private” visit to Gibraltar last week, my colleague John Johnston reports. The foreign secretary stayed in the same hotel as Ahzaz Chowdhury, whose firm, Nudge Factory, has previously lobbied the U.K. government for projects on behalf of Gibraltar.

In response: A spokesperson for Cleverly said Chowdhury was a family friend, and was already on “the Rock” holidaying with Cleverly’s children before the Cabinet minister decided to visit. No rules were broken but transparency campaigners have raised concerns about these types of informal meetings — read more here.

BLAIR WADES IN: Tony Blair has given the FT an interview where he both warned that Labour can’t just tax and spend in government and insisted he won’t be a back-seat driver. It splashes the paper.

Also: Blair confirmed the Sunday Times story that he still advises the Saudi government despite the horrific murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Elsewhere: Blair told the Times Health Commission that ministers should tax junk food to tackle obesity.

MORE POLITICIANS FROM THE PAST: The New Statesman’s Rachel Cunliffe has spoken to Trussite Tories about their plans for a comeback as we mark a year since she (briefly) became prime minister. “If we are in opposition, I think that the party will certainly have the opportunity to refine its thinking and actually think about a staged, sequenced approach,” one person tells her. “The growth agenda isn’t going away.” 

SHRINKING BARGE: The Home Office has reduced the maximum number of migrants it intends to house on the Bibby Stockholm barge by 8 percent from 506 to 464 — the Times’ Matt Dathan has the scoop.

Still grounded: The first deportation flight to Rwanda won’t leave until at least December as the Supreme Court does not return to assess the scheme’s legality until October, the Sun’s Natasha Clark hears.

SWITCHING SIDES: The Times’ Oli Wright reports that former No. 10 Chief of Staff Dan Rosenfield, who was nominated for a peerage by Boris Johnson, has angered Tories by deciding to sit as a nonaffiliated peer. His allies said his new job required him to be neutral. One senior Tory tells Wright it “makes Johnson look like a chump.”

DON’T TELL ME YOU FORGOT: It’s Back British Farmers Day, so politicians will be wearing wheatsheaf badges at PMQs. The NFU is hosting a breakfast reception on the Commons terrace from 8.30 a.m. with Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey, DEFRA Minister Mark Spencer and Shadow Environment Secretary Steve Reed all billed to attend. Reed has written for the Farmers Guardian about Labour’s plans for farming.

WONK WATCH: In a major report left-wing think tank IPPR warns that the NHS needs major reform or people will face rising costs for deteriorating health care. It found that the U.K. is lagging behind other European countries in cancer and dementia deaths. It makes p1 of the Times.

VOTER ID: Hundreds of thousands of people could be barred from participating in the next election because of voter ID laws, the Electoral Commission has warned in a report — the Guardian has a write-up.

SW1 EVENTS: … The Resolution Foundation discusses generational strains with speakers including the New Statesman’s Rachel Cunliffe from 9.30 a.m. … The Henry Jackson Society discusses Ukraine’s strategy to win the war with Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko at 5 p.m. … Transport Minister Jesse Norman speaks to the Resolution Foundation about economist Adam Smith at 5.30 p.m. … Bright Blue holds a Drink Tank session with Tory MP Chloe Smith on regulating AI from 6.30 p.m. … Demos is in conversation with Shadow DCMS Minister Alex Davies-Jones about creating a more equal digital society at 7 p.m. … and Labour MP Debbie Abrahams shows her short film about COVID-19 in the Attlee Suite at 7 p.m.

HOUSE OF COMMONS: Sits from 11.30 a.m. with Scotland questions followed by PMQs at noon and Tory MP Andrew Percy’s 10-minute rule bill on asbestos … and then the main business is consideration of Lords amendments to the Procurement Bill [HL] and the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill followed by a motion on the Draft Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2023. Tory MP Jamie Wallis has the adjournment debate on funding for residential cooperative power production.

WESTMINSTER HALL: Debates from 9.30 a.m. on railway ticket offices (led by Tory MP Chris Loder) … high street heritage (led by Tory MP Jack Brereton) … and the energy supply market (led by Tory MP Robin Millar).

On Committee corridor: RMT General-Secretary Mick Lynch is among those probed by the Transport Committee on accessible transport (9 a.m.) … Ofgem Chief Executive Jonathan Brearley speaks to the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee about preparing for the winter (9.45 a.m.) … Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer gives evidence to the Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee (11 a.m.) … Committee on Fuel Poverty Chair and former Labour MP Caroline Flint speaks to the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee (1.15 p.m.) … and Health Minister Will Quince is in front of the Lords’ Public Services Committee discussing home care medicines services (3 p.m.).

HOUSE OF LORDS: Sits from 11 a.m. with the seventh day of the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill at report stage followed by oral questions on Horizon Europe, deep sea mining and supporting NHS trusts.

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OVER AT THE TUC

LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL: TUC Congress ends today — and Playbook’s Dan Bloom asked a bunch of general-secretaries what their unions want from a Labour government.

No love-in? “The honeymoon period is going to be very short,” says a left-wing gen-sec. They argue unions were so relieved in 1997, there were two to three years of relative calm. This time the economy is worse off, Starmer’s Labour has knotted the purse strings, and some workers have decided strikes “work” — they walked out, then they got a pay rise.

Out! Out! Out! A second (moderate) gen-sec agrees strikes would be likely to continue under Labour — as new ministers take longer finding out their negotiating tactics, while pay rises are hamstrung by fiscal rules. A third pro-Starmer gen-sec adds: “I don’t think Labour will have much of a honeymoon. They’re going to take over a country that’s really badly damaged.”

How to win friends: Most (though not all) of the big unions are cozying up to Starmer — for now — in the hope they can persuade him inside the tent. “We want a Labour government,” says the third gen-sec. What, even if Labour doesn’t open the spending taps? “It may well become inevitable if they want to do what they want to do,” they reply, hopefully. 

And influence people: “The lesson of 1997,” says a fourth gen-sec, is unions need influence — not just access. They argue if there’s a slim Labour win, Starmer will have an eye on party management including the left, making their position stronger. “Whatever happens, he is not going to have a 160-seat majority this time.” A fifth gen-sec, who is pro-Starmer, adds “we will hold the leadership’s feet to the fire” on workers’ rights.

Down to business: “I feel we’re at the business end” of conversations with Labour already, says a sixth gen-sec. A seventh, from a union towards the left, says meetings and horse trading are already under way between sectoral unions and shadow ministers about policy. “We will be keeping up the pressure on Labour to fulfil a trade union agenda,” they add.

Or not: An eighth says they are “encouraged by what Labour has to say” in their sector but the party still needs to “set out its stall” before an election. And a ninth says Labour still needs to set out a closer relationship to the EU. They predict Brussels will allow it, as they’ll know Labour is not “intrinsically negative” toward the continent.

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BEYOND THE M25

UP IN SUNDERLAND: Up to 1,000 female carers could lodge legal cases against Sunderland Council claiming discrimination in both pensions and pay — ITV News’ Anushka Asthana has the story.

OVER IN NORTHERN IRELAND: Consulting firm EY plans to add 1,000 new jobs to its operations in Northern Ireland, doubling its employment in the region as it cuts jobs elsewhere in the U.K. The FT has more.

BIDEN HIS TIME: U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced he would move Republicans toward a formal impeachment probe into U.S. President Joe Biden. However, a vote was not held as it was unclear whether McCarthy had majority support for the inquiry — my Stateside colleagues have more. The White House was largely unperturbed, stating the story was “not even wall-to-wall on cable.”

LIBYA FLOODS UPDATE: Over 5,300 people are confirmed dead following the bursting of two damns in Libya as entire neighborhoods were washed away. With at least 10,000 people missing, Libyan National Communications Officer for the World Health Organization, Rami Elshaheibi, said the situation was “disastrous beyond comprehension” — the story makes the Guardian splash.

KIM MEETS PUTIN: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin have met at Vostochny Cosmodrome, a spaceport in Russia’s far east. “I am glad to see you,” said Putin to Kim, according to the BBC, who are running a liveblog of the visit. The two leaders are expected to discuss the provision of weapons from North Korea for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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MEDIA ROUND

Health Minister Maria Caulfield broadcast round: GB News (6.45 a.m.) … Times Radio (7.05 a.m.) … Sky News (7.20 a.m.) … LBC (7.50 a.m.) … GMB (8.30 a.m.).

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting broadcast round: GB News (7.05 a.m.) … TalkTV (7.20 a.m.) … Times Radio (7.50 a.m.) … Sky News (8.10 a.m.) … LBC (8.50 a.m.).

Also on GB News Breakfast: Former Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Mellor and former Labour adviser Scarlett MccGwire (both 7.30 a.m. and 8.30 a.m.).

Also on Times Radio Breakfast: Tory MP David Davis and Mark Lyall Grant, former national security adviser (both 8.05 a.m.) … Historian Peter Frankopan (8.35 a.m.).

Also on Sky News Breakfast: Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur (7.45 a.m.) … Education Committee Chair Robin Walker (9.20 a.m.).

Also on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: Association of School and College Leaders General-Secretary Geoff Barton (8.35 a.m.) … former DWP SpAd James Dowling (9.10 a.m.) … Electoral Reform Society Chief Executive Darren Hughes (9.20 a.m.).

Also on Good Morning Britain: Former Chancellor George Osborne (7.25 a.m.).

LBC News: ONS Director of Economic Statistics Production and Analysis Darren Morgan (7.50 a.m.).

Nicky Campbell’s political phone-in (BBC Radio 5 Live 10 a.m.): Tory MP Damian Green … Shadow Leveling-Up Minister Justin Madders … Lib Dem DWP spokesperson Wendy Chamberlain.

Politics Live (BBC Two 11.15 a.m.): Tory MP Jonathan Gullis … International Development committee Chair Sarah Champion … former Tory SpAd Salma Shah … author Tatton Spiller … Financial Secretary to the Treasury Victoria Atkins … Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry.

TODAY’S FRONT PAGES

POLITICO UK: U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly holidays with lobbyist in Gibraltar.

Daily Express: Don’t make “sneaky” changes to pensions triple lock.

Daily Mail: Minister’s threat to future of pensions triple lock.

Daily Mirror: Year of the shoplifter.

Daily Star: Secret of success … never give more than 85 percent.

Financial Times: Labour cannot tax and spend its way out of Tory mess, warns Blair.

i: State pension triple lock under threat after election.

Metro: 10,000 “lost in tsunami dam burst.”

The Daily Telegraph: Wallace — “Human rights laws protecting terrorists.”

The Guardian: “Beyond comprehension” — Libya flooding leaves thousands dead.

The Independent: Jails at breaking point over exodus of trained guards.

The Times: MI5 warned Tories — MP candidates may be spies.

LONDON CALLING

WESTMINSTER WEATHER: Sunny intervals and 21C highs. The evenings are getting chillier.

ALONE IN THE O2: DSIT Secretary Michelle Donelan made a speech about AI in an almost entirely empty O2 arena on Tuesday — there’s footage here and here (if you can bear to watch it). The CogX festival she was addressing was apparently disrupted by Fossil Free London protesters who are opposed to the event being sponsored by Shell.

STAYING ZEN: Some 120 MPs have done mindfulness courses in the last decade, the Guardian reports and suggests a mindfulness room could be set up in parliament. Maybe one for the next iteration of R&R.

MAY DAY: Former PM Theresa May has done a flurry of interviews to promote her book, which is published today. May tells the BBC’s Nick Robinson that her Brexit deal was better than Boris Johnson’s and that it “recognized the concerns of the 48 percent” who voted Remain … and recounts to the LBC’s Andrew Marr that during the Brexit negotiations “there were a lot of my male colleagues who wanted me to waltz out of the room, slam the door, beat the table, do all those sort of aggressive macho things against the European Union.”

SPOTTED: At the launch of the Jobs Foundation at the RSA were former Prime Minister Liz Truss … Education Secretary Gillian Keegan … Security Minister Tom Tugendhat … MPs Chloe Smith, Jake Berry and Stephen McPartland … Peers Jonathan Mendelsohn, Gisela Stuart and Timothy Kirkhope … SpAds Pete Backhouse, Guy Miscampbell, Sheridan Westlake, Giles Dilnot and Victoria Hewson … Hacks Andy Silvester, Allister Heath, Martin Ivens, James Heale, Dia Chakravarty, Paul Staines, Nick Tyrone and Robert Watts … former Labour Cabinet Minister Ruth Kelly …

And breathe … the Adam Smith Institute’s Duncan Simpson … the Centre for Social Justice’s Nathan Gamester … the Legatum Institute’s Radomir Tylecote and Fred de Fossard … the Institute for Economic Affairs’ Mark Littlewood … the TaxPayers’ Alliance’s John O’Connell … Fullbrook Strategies’ Alice Robinson … Portland’s Emma Dean … FGS Global’s Ruth Porter … Hanover’s Charles Lewington … Cicero’s Matthew Kilcoyne … College Green’s Thomas Borwick … Stonehaven’s Malin Baker Bogue … Henham’s Nick King … Campaigners Brendan Cox and Anna Ryder … comms adviser Laura Dunn … the RSA’s Andy Haldane … and the Jobs’ Foundation’s Georgiana Bristol, Matthew Elliott, Patrick Spencer and Katie Harrison.

NOAH’S CULTURE FIX: One for Westminster’s many Succession fans — the show’s creator Jesse Armstrong leads a conversation on the publication of the show’s scripts alongside other writers from the show at the Royal Festival Hall from 8 p.m.

NEW GIG: Shelby Wilder has become London correspondent for the U.S. conservative news channel Newsmax. She previously covered the war in Ukraine for the channel.

JOB ADS: PA is hiring a parliamentary reporter … and the DfT is looking for a policy adviser.

WRITING PLAYBOOK THURSDAY MORNING: Eleni Courea.

BIRTHDAYS: Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers … SNP Home Affairs spokesperson at Westminster Alison Thewliss … Tory peer Colin Moynihan … Reform U.K. leader Richard Tice … Prime Minister of Fiji Sitiveni Rabuka  … President of the Philippines Bongbong Marcos.

PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editor Jack Lahart, reporter Noah Keate and producer Seb Starcevic.

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