Rishi and the Red Sea – POLITICO

What’s driving the day in London.

By DAN BLOOM

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TELL ME WHY … “Blue Monday” may be a cynical PR whiz dreamed up by the travel industry to get us all booking flights abroad, but it has a certain ring of truth this year. A crisis in the Red Sea … Israel/Hamas at war for 101 days … fears over Taiwan … five deaths in the Channel … doctors striking in Wales … icy weather … and interminable election gumph on both sides of the Atlantic.

So… some reasons to be cheerful? … Inflation’s slowing … the NHS waiting list fell (a bit) in November … the Post Office scandal is being flushed out at last … the nights are getting shorter … and … er … this Siamese cat survived three days and 800 miles in a van engine. Only six weeks until spring!

Good Monday morning. This is Dan Bloom.

DRIVING THE DAY

TOP OF THE GRID: Warfare. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces the Commons this afternoon for the first time since Friday’s U.S. and U.K. airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen. But first, his Defense Secretary Grant Shapps will lay out broader plans to deal with what Sunak has called the world’s most unstable period “in decades.” They’re taking this Blue Monday thing very seriously.

THIS MORNING: Shapps is on the media round (including Today at 8.10 a.m.) ahead of a 9.40 a.m. Lancaster House speech and Q&A with hacks and military big-hats. Defense officials say this is not a sudden response to the Red Sea drama. It’s been planned for at least a month to set out his vision for defense, four and a half months into the job.

The news line: About 20,000 Army, Navy and RAF personnel will join NATO’s Exercise Steadfast Defender 24 between now and July. The total mooted from all nations was 40,000. Shapps will say: “The tanks are literally on Ukraine’s lawn. The foundations of the world order are being shaken to their core. We stand at a crossroads.” It makes page 1 of the Times.

The other news line? Shapps will say we’re kissing goodbye to the “peace dividend” enjoyed by the West since the end of the Cold War. Which raises the obvious question — without a dividend, do we need more money? Shapps, if you remember, has backed raising defense spending from 2-ish percent (and, at some unspecified point in the future, 2.5) to 3 percent of GDP.

Defense defense: Allies insist this is not a bid for cash at the March budget. Shapps will hail the announcement last week of £2.5 billion for Ukraine this year, up from £2.3 billion the year before. No. 10 officials say the U.K. spends more than “20 other NATO countries combined.”

THIS AFTERNOON: Sunak is expected to give a Commons statement at 3.30 p.m. (or later if there are Urgent Questions) on the Red Sea airstrikes, and his trip to Ukraine. Buckle up — Defense Minister James Cartlidge told Times Radio it’ll be “very lengthy and detailed.”

Question we know the answer to I: Is the U.K. ruling out striking the Houthis again if they carry on attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea? No — Foreign Secretary David Cameron made that clear on the Sunday shows and Sunak did similar.

What we’re less sure of … is whether or how tensions in the Red Sea will escalate. Cameron told the BBC “the escalation has been caused by the Houthis,” not the West. But escalation is escalation. More Houthi saber-rattling via the Guardian.

BREAKING OVERNIGHT: Speaking of which, Houthi rebels fired a cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea overnight and it was shot down by a U.S. fighter jet — the first U.S.-acknowledged attack since Friday’s strikes. Details via AP.

Question we know the answer to II: Will the Commons be consulted if the U.K. strikes again? No — because there is no legal requirement, and the PM is supported in this by Labour leader Keir Starmer (who’ll be sitting opposite), who argues the government must have the ability to act.

Tell that to … Some on the Labour left (and the SNP, Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru) who will doubtless speak up about this. Or the relatively small number of MPs who oppose the actual strikes, like Apsana Begum, who called them “n​​othing short of horrifying, shameful, deplorable.” Or the pro-Palestinian activists who protested at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, from where the jets took off.

The issue: The U.K.’s stance is firmly that the Houthi attacks are separate to the Israel-Hamas war — despite the Iranian-backed rebels claiming they are targeting ships associated with Israel. Cameron said “they have attacked every sort of ship going through the Red Sea, including ships flagged with India and Singapore.” But as interviewer Laura Kuenssberg pointed out to him, if the issues are seen as connected by actors in the region, then the risk of escalation is there.

THE OTHER ISSUE: Starmer could face more questions today over his apparent watering-down of one of the “10 pledges” in his 2020 leadership campaign (several of which have been changed or junked). He told Kuenssberg that his pledge for military action to need support of the Commons only meant big boots-on-the-ground campaigns, rather than targeted airstrikes like in the Red Sea. Other waterings-down via Sunday Crunch.

The fine print: Starmer insisted there was “no inconsistency” on this point, because “what I said, when I made that pledge, was what I wanted to do was to codify the convention” in the Cabinet manual (page 44 here). Playbook hasn’t yet managed to find a reference to him saying this in 2020, though he did raise it in an interview with the Telegraph in … 2023.

Chance to ask him: Starmer is visiting a Boots in London with Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds to talk about health reforms and business, recording a pool clip around 10.40 a.m.

MEANWHILE IN ISRAEL: It’s now 101 days since Hamas’ October 7 attacks, and the group is still holding Israeli hostages — to the devastation of their families (via CNN). An official tells the U.S. network a deal has been struck to deliver them medication. Ex-Home Secretary Suella Braverman attended a London rally on Sunday “in solidarity with Israel” and appeared to shed a tear (via the Mail).

Meanwhile in Gaza: The death toll is now around 24,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. At Sunday’s Jewish Labour Movement conference in London, Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Israel had a “responsibility” to defend its citizens but “we have seen a disproportionate campaign — and perhaps more alarmingly,” some Israeli government officials have begun “to float the idea of the permanent subjugation of the Palestinian people, of a one-state solution.” H/t Sienna Rodgers.

Now hear this: All this and more are chewed over on this week’s Politics and Jack and Sam’s, the Politico/Sky podcast which sets you up for the coming week in Westminster. Download here and listen to my colleague Jack Blanchard and Sky News’ Sam Coates talk through all the stories that are going to matter this week.

TORY LAND

JUST KEEP PEDALING: Belgian-cyclist-obsessive (and CCHQ campaign guru) Isaac Levido will talk to Conservative backbenchers on the 1922 committee at around 6 p.m. about “the latest polling.” Well, try this one on for size …

BLIMEY: WhatsApp groups will hum of little other than the YouGov mega-survey of 14,000 people that splashes the Telegraph (under an uncomfortably close-up photo of Rishi Sunak). The MRP method — which models results for every seat, with remarkable accuracy in 2017 and 2019 — projects a Labour landslide with 385 MPs … the Tories on 169, four more than 1997 … Lib Dems back as the third party on 48 … and the SNP down to 25.

Count ‘em: The poll reckons 11 Cabinet ministers are on course to lose their seats including Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. There’s a postcode search and YouGov should publish full tables today.

Extra credit: The paper adds its own “Telegraph analysis” which claims without Reform UK taking Conservative votes, there’d be a hung parliament with 311 Labour seats, 265 Tories and 26 Lib Dems. No wonder the Mail on Sunday reported Reform had a “hit list” of possible defectors.

Brickbats: Tory peer David Frost, who let the cat out of the bag two days early (h/t James Heale), writes the party is facing “a 1997-style wipeout if we are lucky,” and tactical voting plus a Nigel Farage return (not factored into the poll) could cause “an extinction event.”

More brickbats: Former Theresa May adviser James Johnson writes the “narrow but viable path to victory” has “all but vanished” … ex-Minister Simon Clarke tweeted  “we either deliver on small boats or we will be destroyed” … and, well, you can guess what Boris Johnson fans Nadine Dorries and Zac Goldsmith said.

ER, BUT … Who, exactly, paid for this poll? We don’t know. The Telegraph reports it was commissioned by a group of Tory donors called the Conservative Britain Alliance, working with Frost. Playbook dutifully Googled “Conservative Britain Alliance” soon after publication and found one entry on the entire internet. It was … the Telegraph article. 

Spotting the same thing: ConHome Editor Paul Goodman reckons it was held for Rwanda week: “I smell a rat – or the seventh cavalry, depending on one’s view.”

SO, SPEAKING OF RWANDA: As Tuesday and Wednesday’s big rebel votes on his Rwanda bill edge closer, Rishi Sunak is talking about immigration (obvs) on a visit to the east of England with Home Secretary James Cleverly. Sunak has a pool clip around 10 a.m.

Stand by your desks: As Sky’s Sam Coates revealed on his podcast with my boss, Politics at Jack and Sam’s, the Home Office is announcing *check notes* a “thing” this afternoon. All a bit mysterious, but it seems it’s separate to the visit or Rwanda bill amendments. Could we get a clue at Home Office questions at 2.30 p.m.?

RESIGNATION WATCH: One of the biggest domestic stories of the week could be provided by Tory news-machine Lee Anderson. The Telegraph’s Charles Hymas revealed on Sunday that the party’s deputy chair was “ready to support the amendments” to the bill backed by 56 Tory right-wingers. Several hacks (including Playbook) have since heard similar. 

The latest: Anderson told right-wingers he is considering whether to resign, two people in the rebel camp tell Playbook. They add he was “very clear” that he will back their amendments — but it was less clear what he will do at the final, third reading vote. He hasn’t yet commented.

The big question: Will Anderson, who has a party, not a government job, lose his job if he rebels? No. 10 wouldn’t say. One rebel MP even speculates that the Conservative Party could try to avoid sacking Anderson if he backs the amendments, but then supports the government or abstains at third reading. That’s because of the “headline it would create,” and the potential for a small handful of other red-wallers following him out the door, says the MP.

The other big questions: Which amendments actually get called, and how Labour whips its MPs. But whether Labour MPs abstain or vote against the right-wing amendments, they still have vanishing odds of success. It’s the third reading, where Labour could vote against the bill, that will be the chance for Tory MPs to inflict defeat. But that one will be much trickier for the rebels to get the numbers.

NOT JUST LEE: The Times splash (stood up by PA) says Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch privately met Sunak’s Chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith last month to urge a hardening of the bill. A “leading figure on the right” tells the Guardian “six Tories on the payroll” feel similarly.

On the other flank: One Nation group Chair Damian Green has a Telegraph op-ed saying the right-wing amendments touch on the “authoritarian” and “betray the Conservative tradition of trying to unite our society.” Robert Buckland, who wrote the One Nation amendments, told Times Radio on Sunday he won’t back the bill if it is amended (just as key right-wingers say they won’t back it if it isn’t).

All Greek to them: The Times leader says the rebels “should come to their senses,” while the Mail says the “hubristic” Spartans risk being “overrun by the barbarian hordes” like their ancient namesakes.

Up in the air: How to get asylum seekers to Rwanda, if the government doesn’t get charter plane firms on board? It emerges ex-Home Secretary Priti Patel wanted the Home Office to buy its own aircraft — but the Treasury blocked it when Sunak was chancellor, according to Matt Dathan in The Times.

Protests continue: The i reports six people from *checks notes* Rwanda have been given asylum in Britain since the government signed its deportation deal in 2022 … and Freedom from Torture tells the Mirror it’s “shameful” that the bill is going ahead despite a Home Office assessment saying there are human rights issues in Rwanda.

All this … after the death of five people trying to cross the Channel over the weekend. It happened less than 24 hours after the first recorded crossings of the year.

Laugh or cry: My colleagues Esther Webber and Annabelle Dickson have a deeper dive on the sense of malaise on the Tory benches, as MPs’ eyes drift away from Westminster and towards saving their seats. One ex-minister, asked where hope was coming from, burst out laughing.

A MILLION YEARS AGO: Today marks 5 years since a Tory PM’s flagship policy was defeated amid a divided party, rebel amendments and an unsympathetic opposition. The more things change, the more things stay the same …

LABOUR LAND

ELITE? NOUS? CEOs, politicians and filthy rich investors descend from today on Davos for the World Economic Forum, my colleague Graham Lanktree emails to say. Starmer isn’t there this year but Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Shadow Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds are arriving on Tuesday.

From the government: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Trade Minister Dominic Johnson are all due in Davos too this week. Cameron will be talking about Ukraine and international development. Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch is not expected to go.

Someone else who will be there … is POLITICO’s Suzanne Lynch, who will bring you a Davos edition of Global Playbook from the Swiss Alps all week. Sign up here.

MEANWHILE IN WASHINGTON: For those fancying a bet on which new Labour MPs might glide seamlessly into government jobs in a couple of years, this is not a terrible place to start. Playbook hears a group of Labour parliamentary candidates is being taken to D.C. today to meet Democrat members of Congress and campaign managers. The visit is hosted by Starmer-friendly Progressive Britain and the U.S. Progressive Policy Institute, which employs Starmer’s former director of policy Claire Ainsley.

The list includes: Former Gordon Brown SpAd and Save The Children campaigns chief Kirsty McNeill … former Foreign Office civil servant and son of Blairite peer Charlie, Hamish Falconer … competition lawyer Lucy Rigby … Britain’s first female Sikh council leader Satvir Kaur … former soldier Mike Tapp … Stanford MBA grad Kanishka Narayan … and transplant surgeon Zubir Ahmed.

It’s all part of … Labour’s conspicuous efforts to court Democrats ahead of the election, with Starmer speaking to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and (as my former colleague Eleni Courea reported) pitching to meet U.S. President Joe Biden. The only fly in the ointment is if Donald Trump becomes president … more of which below.

Count her in too: Ex-MP Luciana Berger, who Starmer has announced will lead a mental health strategy review for Labour, is not set to return as an MP according to the Times’ Oliver Wright in today’s print edition. But … Wright suggests she could be nominated for a peerage and become a Labour minister in the Lords.

BUT NOT HIM: Labour bigwigs including campaigns chief Morgan McSweeney, Chief of staff Sue Gray and informal adviser Peter Mandelson were all at Sunday’s Jewish Labour Movement conference. Mandelson said he didn’t want to serve in a Starmer government from the Lords, as it’s the turn of others — like “new prince” (his words) McSweeney.

Campaign tactics: General Secretary David Evans said Labour’s election focus will be “more working class, more socially conservative voters,” via Sienna Rodgers. But — alas — journalists were not allowed at an “in-conversation” with McSweeney. Playbook’s ears are always open.

HS2 HELL: Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones is launching the party’s “major infrastructure projects” review today to look at why railways, wind farms and nuclear plants are so expensive and slow, reporting back in the spring — though Playbook hears it’s not likely to cut off specific projects. In Sheffield he’ll say the “advisory panel” will include National Grid’s Paula Reynolds and ex-Siemens CEO Juergen Maier.

ICYMI: ITV’s Anushka Asthana has spent three months on and off with Starmer for a Tonight special airing on Thursday evening. She shared her thoughts for the Observer here. 

ACROSS THE POND

BRACING: In -26C weather tonight (yes, really), U.S. Republicans take their first big step in choosing their candidate for president — the Iowa caucuses. The first state to have its say has outsize influence, so naturally Donald Trump fan Nigel Farage is there. Results from the 1,657 precincts should start arriving from about 1.30 a.m. U.K. time on Tuesday, according to the Des Moines Register.

What to expect: My D.C. Playbook colleagues say expectations are “stratospheric” for Trump — a poll in Iowa put him on 48 percent, with rivals Nikki Haley on 20 percent and Rob DeSantis on 16 percent. But they argue the most important outcome from Iowa will be influencing who out of Haley and DeSantis emerges as the main rival to take on Trump.

Ringing endorsements: David Cameron said on Sunday “we will have to try and make it work” if Trump wins … his Labour opposite David Lammy told the Sunday Times “there will be some differences, but there are many more areas on which we can continue to work together” … and ex-MI6 chief Richard Dearlove told Sky Trump’s NATO objections would be “problematic” for Britain’s national security.

Meanwhile: Ex-U.S. Embassy staffer Michael Martins writes in the Spectator that Vice President Kamala Harris needs to explain her views on foreign policy, in case she ends up taking the top job.

TODAY IN WESTMINSTER

POST OFFICE LATEST: The FT splash reports the government tried to block Fujitsu (which made the Post Office’s dodgy Horizon software) from new public IT contracts about a decade ago. But lawyers warned the so-called “Project Sushi” wouldn’t be possible. Sub-postmasters splash the Mirror again.

Techy but important: Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has told the FT he will change the law to reverse the effects of a recent Supreme Court ruling that made life more difficult for “litigation funders” — the very mechanism that helped the sub-postmasters get justice.

Lib Dems fight back: Lib Dem leader Ed Davey is feeling the heat from CCHQ (and many others) over his dealings with campaigner Alan Bates. But there’s no sign of him backing down. After the Sunday Times detailed Tory ministers who weren’t there for Bates either, a “Lib Dem source” in the i accuses the Conservatives of “breathtaking hypocrisy.”

ITV, DO YOUR THING: More than 100 MPs have demanded sped-up compensation for victims of the contaminated blood scandal in an open letter handed to the Times.

OR THIS: Labour peer Doreen Lawrence is among signatories of an open letter to Sunak and Starmer calling on “woeful” Windrush compensation to speed up. The Mirror has a write-up.

BETTY ROW: The Independent picks up on a row over the government deciding not to delay Tuesday’s Commons sitting by an hour for former Speaker Betty Boothroyd’s memorial service in Westminster Abbey. Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who will get a short “leave of absence” to attend, tells the Indie: “I am very disappointed that not everyone will be able to.” Government officials claim it was agreed through the usual channels — i.e. with Labour.

WHAT’S YOUR EMERGENCY? Almost 420,000 patients waited more than 12 hours for hospital admittance from A&E in 2023, says analysis of NHS England stats by the Lib Dems. The Royal College of Nursing accuses the government of “refusing to get to grips with the crisis” — via the Sun.

UNINQUIRING MINDS: Ex-Health Minister James Bethell has told the Times the Covid Inquiry is focused on “tittle-tattle” instead of the “arthritic nature of the machinery of government.”

PREPARE YOUR DEFENSE: The union Prospect has reported the MoD to the Equality and Human Rights Commission after female civil servants said it had failed to resolve claims of sexual assault, writes the Guardian.

HIT THE ROAD: Utility firms could face a £10,000-a-day fine for letting roadworks run late under a DfT consultation covered by PA. Good timing for the AA to say pothole-related callouts rose 16 percent last year — via the Guardian.

COMPUTER SAYS YES: A fully digital disability work grant system launches in April, Disabled People Minister Mims Davies confirmed. Via the Standard.

BITTER PILL: The Guardian splashes on 96 drugs appearing on the shortages list on December 18, a doubling in two years.

SHOPPED: Police arrested six people after the Express infiltrated a plot by pro-Palestinian protestors to shut down London’s Stock Exchange — then passed its dossier to police.

SW1 EVENTS: Bright Blue holds a Q&A with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan about post-16 education at 11.30 a.m. … Chatham House has an in-conversation with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about AI from 12 p.m. … the Catholic Union of Great Britain hosts a “pub talk” with ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith in the Morpeth Arms from 6 p.m. … and Onward holds an event about improving life for parents with speakers including Tory Deputy Chair Rachel Maclean and Tory MPs Siobhan Baillie and Neil O’Brien at 7 p.m.

HOUSE OF COMMONS: Sits from 2.30 p.m. with Home Office questions … Prime Minister Rishi Sunak‘s statement on the U.K.’s participation in air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen … a motion on the speaker’s absence … the remaining stages of the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill … and a motion on the Intelligence and Security Committee. Tory MP Steve Double has the adjournment debate on funding for public services in Cornwall.

WESTMINSTER HALL: Debates from 4.30 p.m. on an e-petition related to allowances and tax arrangements for foster carers (led by SNP MP Martyn Day).

On Committee corridor: Leveling-Up, Housing and Communities Permanent Secretary Sarah Healey is among those probed by the Public Accounts Committee about leveling-up funding to local government (4 p.m.).

HOUSE OF LORDS: Sits from 2.30 p.m. with oral questions on aid and consultation on news and current affairs programs … then the main business is the second day at committee stage of the Automated Vehicles Bill.

BEYOND THE M25

MEANWHILE IN KENT: The 359,000-page planning application for a new Thames road tunnel — which has been so slow, your author remembers covering it as a local reporter — would be five times the length of the actual road if laid end-to-end, reports the Times.

GOING GREEN: Welsh Economy Minister Vaughan Gething is launching his campaign for first minister mid-morning in Newport, where he’ll pledge to invest in green sectors — the BBC has the details.

OUT ON STRIKE: Junior doctors in Wales have begun industrial action until 7 a.m. on January 18 due to a pay dispute between the BMA and Labour-run government.

ONCE MORE WITH FEELING: Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris is holding meetings with Northern Ireland’s main parties at Hillsborough Castle this morning, as he tries to convince the DUP to end its long Stormont boycott. This Thursday marks when Heaton-Harris has to call assembly elections if no executive is formed, though the BBC reports he is likely to push the deadline back by at least a year.

TO BE: TV news was dominated by Frederik X’s lavish arrival as king of Denmark on Sunday following his mother Queen Margrethe’s abdication. My colleague Clea Caulcutt has a write-up.

CHINESE PUSHBACK: China’s Foreign Ministry and its embassies condemned foreign governments for congratulating Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party and its president-elect William Lai, with the Chinese embassy saying Foreign Secretary David Cameron’s words of congratulations were “incorrect actions”  — via Reuters.

MEDIA ROUND

Defense Secretary Grant Shapps broadcast round: GB News (6.45 a.m.) … Times Radio (7 a.m.) … Sky News (7.15 a.m.) … BBC Breakfast (7.30 a.m.) … LBC (7.50 a.m.) … Today program (8.10 a.m.) … GMB (8.30 a.m.).

Shadow Culture Minister Chris Bryant broadcast round: Times Radio (7.50 a.m.) … Sky News (8.15 a.m.) … TalkTV (8.35 a.m.) … LBC News (8.50 a.m.).

Also on Times Radio Breakfast: Former Counter-Terrorism National Coordinator Nick Aldworth (7.30 a.m.) … Tory MP Damian Green (8.15 a.m.) … former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker (8.30 a.m.).

Also on Sky News Breakfast: Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci (7.30 a.m.).

Also on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: U.K. Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Jonathan Hall (7.10 a.m.) … Damian Green (7.20 a.m.) … Tory peer Eric Pickles (8.05 a.m.) … former U.S. Department of Defense Middle East Adviser Jasmine El-Gamal (8.10 a.m.) … Israeli government spokesperson Elon Levy (8.20 a.m.).

Mariella Frostrup (Times Radio): SNP Foreign Affairs Spokesperson at Westminster Brendan O’Hara (2 p.m.).

TODAY’S FRONT PAGES

POLITICO UK: Tory MPs are too busy trying to save their skin to save Rishi Sunak’s.

Daily Express: Express exposes plot to shut down Stock Exchange.

Daily Mail: Queen’s fury over naming of baby Lilibet.

Daily Mirror: We can’t let them off the hook.

Daily Star: So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye!

Financial Times: Whitehall’s “Project Sushi” sought to block Fujitsu from contracts in 2010s.

i: Revealed — U.K. grants asylum to Rwandans despite claims country is safe.

Metro: Stop the deaths.

The Daily Telegraph: Tories facing 1997-style wipeout.

The Guardian: NHS drugs shortage poses threat to patients’ lives, say pharmacists.

The Independent: Revealed — huge rise in women drinking themselves to death.

The Sun: Ice to see you Holly.

The Times: Top Tories urge Sunak to toughen Rwanda bill.

LONDON CALLING

WESTMINSTER WEATHER: Sunny and a gentle breeze. Highs of 3C.

BIG MEDIA NEWS: Daily Mirror Editor Alison Phillips is leaving after 26 years with parent firm Reach (previously Trinity Mirror) as part of its wave of redundancies and budget cuts. The Daily Drone broke the news and staff are despondent. Phillips was the left-wing tabloid’s first female editor since 1903 and has campaigned for gender equality in the industry, including her own paper. Ex-Mirror staff hailing her “compassion” include the lobby’s Pippa Crerar and Lee Harpin.

CONGRATS: CCHQ Director of Communications Alex Wild and James Hallwood of the Council of Deans of Health have announced they’re engaged. Here’s the tweet (with handsome pet dog).

NEW GIG: Brexiteer economist Gerard Lyons is joining the Centre for Policy Studies think tank as a research fellow.

COULD GET A NEW GIG: A Lib Dem snout tells Playbook it is indeed TV investigative veteran John Sweeney bidding to be the party’s candidate in Hamble Valley — as first tweeted by Michael Crick. Even the Telegraph’s gloomy mega-poll predicts it’d be a Tory hold, though.

WHERE EAGLES DARE: Labour MP Maria Eagle is being replaced on the Intelligence and Security Committee today by … her twin Angela Eagle.

DON’T MISS: Sophy Ridge presents her Politics Hub program from a new studio on Sky News at 7 p.m.

NOAH’S CULTURE FIX: House of Commons Library clerk and author of the forthcoming Book The Wild Men: The Remarkable Story of Britain’s First Labour Government David Torrance presents a Radio 4 documentary about Labour’s first Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald a century on from him assuming office, featuring contributions from Labour’s most recent Prime Minister Gordon Brown at 8 p.m.

NOW READ: In the New Statesman, Rachel Cunliffe profiles Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, arguing her selling point for the future Tory leadership comes from appealing to the “right’s divided tribes without entirely alienating centrists.”

WRITING PLAYBOOK PM: Andrew McDonald.

WRITING PLAYBOOK TUESDAY MORNING: Dan Bloom.

BIRTHDAYS: Derby South MP and former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett … Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Jackie Baillie turns 60 … former Holyrood Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh … FCDO head of Latin America James Dauris … Unaffiliated peer Andrew Tyrie … Lib Dem peer Jeremy Purvis turns 50 … FCDO Director General for Corporate and Finance Corin Robertson … DBT SpAd Dylan Sharpe.

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

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