We’re all on the same Teams – POLITICO

Presented by Climate Group

By ANDREW MCDONALD and SAM BLEWETT

with BETHANY DAWSON

Good Wednesday morning. This is Andrew McDonald in London and Sam Blewett in Newport as the Playbook summer tour rolls on.

DRIVING THE DAY

STARM OFFENSIVE: Keir Starmer will spend his afternoon in sweltering London hoping for cool heads and no virtual walk-outs, as he joins group calls with European leaders, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump — ahead of the latter’s summit with Vladimir Putin at Anchorage on Friday. With all involved in today’s multiple chats excluded from the Alaskan appointment minus Trump, it’s in all likelihood the last moment for Starmer and Europe to stick their oars in … or, more importantly, for Zelenskyy to make himself heard to the U.S. president.

We’re all on the same Teams: The first virtual call begins at 1 p.m. with Starmer dialing in from Downing Street for a meeting with Zelenskyy and several European leaders — Germany’s Friedrich Merz in the host chair, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Poland’s Donald Tusk, the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen, NATO’s Mark Rutte and Finland’s Trump-whispering President Alexander Stubb. According to an agenda seen by Playbook, they’re slated to talk for about an hour.

And then it gets really interesting: When Donald Trump and his Vice President JD Vance join the Teams lobby from 2 p.m. for an hour of talks with the leaders, including Zelenskyy.

QTWTAI … probably not: Vance, of course, is still holidaying in the Cotswolds and as per the Times’ Katy Balls will be dialing in after finishing up a breakfast with Nigel Farage (and having met Robert Jenrick Tuesday and, err, pillow salesman, former Apprentice contestant and bosh-shouter Tom Skinner the night before). Farage has changed his tune on Putin and the war lately, and was recently critical of Trump for giving the Russians “far too much” in negotiations. Could Farage actually be helpful to Starmer as an influence on Vance’s thinking this morning?

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The chat room where it won’t happen: Today’s virtual meetings are really all about the excluded parties trying to shape those much more critical talks on Friday between Trump and Putin, which CNN says will take place at a U.S. military base in Anchorage. It’s particularly important for Zelenskyy, who will get time to discuss his sticking points on negotiations directly with Trump — provided there aren’t too many interruptions from gratitude-seeking vice presidents.

The Donbas ultimatum: As my colleague Veronika Melkozerova writes from Kyiv this morning, Ukrainians are having nightmares about Friday’s summit — with visions of Trump forcing through a war settlement that sells out their country. With that in mind Zelenskyy will use the meeting today to try to set out his red lines. A key one is the fate of the part-occupied Donbas with its large ethnic Russian minority, which the American side is floating Ukraine give up in exchange for Putin stopping his troops from any further occupation of Ukraine’s south. Zelenskyy last night vowed “we will not leave Donbas” … leaving him with plenty to discuss with Trump and Vance this afternoon.

But from a European POV … today is important too. The day’s events were characterized by an official as led primarily by Germany, France and the U.K., and as an ideal moment to come together, agree their common ground and then plant some pithy thoughts into Trump’s head for when he meets Putin. Those thoughts may not totally align with the Trump worldview, however.

Eg: A European diplomatic source tells the i’s Richard Vaughan and Arj Singh that permanent changes to the Ukrainian border would not be accepted and land swaps must be off the table in the discussions — which does not seem like something Trump would agree with at all given he has already talked about land swaps.

Concrete bits: The other key ask of Trump is on security guarantees in a post-ceasefire world. Trump hasn’t said much about that issue for a little while, and the White House has said that Friday’s meeting — a “listening exercise,” per Trump’s press secretary — is an important moment for gauging Putin’s attitude toward the concessions needed for any lasting peace, such as security guarantees from the West. But officials aren’t sure what Trump’s attitude to the future U.S. role is at the minute, meaning leaders will be listening closely to his language today — despite the usual caveats about his capacity to change his mind at will.

Coalition of the less important: With that in mind, once Trump and Vance log off, from around 3 p.m. the Europeans will brief the coalition of the willing members who aren’t invited to the earlier calls. Given the whole CoW thing was set up as a potential counter to fears Trump might not provide security guarantees, this one might actually be fairly important depending on anything the president says. Watch for the usual readout.

Keir to hear: Our own PM’s role today and ahead of Friday is also interesting, given most of the other European leaders involved have been much more public about their asks for Trump. Beyond the vague language set out overnight by No. 10 about seeking a “solution to this conflict grounded in Ukraine’s national interest,” the PM has done most of his diplomacy on Ukraine in private talks rather than via the media. He was also one of the few European leaders to never go that hard on Trump after that Oval Office meeting in February. The (optimistic) hope, as always, is that the PM’s behind the scenes work and his “beautiful accent” will have a positive impact on Trump’s thinking.

As opposed to … those pesky Europeans who’ve been sniping away at Trump publicly. The Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith picks up on some annoyance from government officials that other allies *cough Macron and Kaja Kallas* have been offering unhelpful “running commentaries” and public demands that might needlessly piss off the American president. Playbook has heard similar gripes before from within government, aimed at European leaders accused of being more concerned with playing the social media clicks game rather than keeping robust demands for private settings — though, to be fair, it’s never clear how much any approach actually works with Trump.

Hear, from Keir? Unsurprisingly then, No. 10 was insisting last night that there are no plans for a press conference or any specific interviews with Starmer today, beyond readouts of the various calls — though bits of the meetings will be filmed and it’s not impossible some footage ends up in broadcast bulletins. Plans can also change, of course.

No one who speaks German can be an evil man: Thankfully for fans of scrutiny, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, who has already said Zelenskyy should have been invited to Friday’s talks, is hosting a press conference at around 5 p.m. after the coalition of the willing meeting wraps up … meaning at least one European leader will answer questions today about the thinking ahead of Alaska. Plus, it’s always likely we’ll hear from Trump himself at some point later.

POSTCARD FROM NEWPORT

WELCOME TO THE SILICON VALLEYS: Newport was reared on fashioning steel and exporting coal through its vast docklands. Now those industries are vastly diminished, this is a city that has every opportunity to find pride in making semiconductors, as highly skilled engineers in hyper-sterile environments fashion the mind-melting equipment that powers the 21st century, Sam Blewett writes in. This slither of south Wales couldn’t better typify the starkly different visions Labour and its Reform challengers have for British industry.

Party like it’s 1969: In his big pitch to a Wales he hopes to capture at the next Senedd election, Nigel Farage has called for the reopening of coal mines and for the blast furnaces down the road in Port Talbot to be fired up once more. As Reform hits all the nostalgia notes, the Labour government has instead helped get the construction of the electric arc furnace there underway, with knock-on effects for the Llanwern steelworks in Newport too.

Bag of chips: But the opportunities are far greater than that here. There’s a huge “semiconductor cluster” centered on the manufacture of the chips that are the brains behind so many of our digital devices, from smartphones and cars to medical devices and even fancy kitchen products. It’s this vast and growing industrial site of the future that Ruth Jones, the MP for Newport West and Islwyn, proudly wants to showcase.

Stick your fries: We visit KLA, the tech firm headquartered in the actual Silicon Valley in California that bought out a chip company with deep roots across Wales and the West Country. Believe it or not, there’s a long history of semiconductors here, at least in chip years. This slick new building (made partly with Port Talbot steel) only opened up in May — and there are plans to expand even further. A first-of-its-kind Microsoft data facility is opening opposite, then there’s the Vishay chip manufacturers and an Airbus cybersecurity center too. All set within the green hills of Gwent.

No hard hats: Looking at the shop floor as it were, engineers in powder blue “bunny suits” are assembling incredibly complex machines that will be sold to customers willing to pay a very pretty penny in order to make their own chips. They wear spotless white gloves — there’s not a speck of coal dust, clanging hardware or molten metal in sight. Jones, a former NHS physiotherapist who acutely knows the physical toll heavy industry took on miners, says: “That’s why I don’t want it [coal] to come back, thank you very much. I want people to be running around at 80 not being crippled at 40.”

You could eat your lunch off it: In fact, this worksite is meant to be run at the same level of cleanliness as an NHS operating theater. “Have your hip replacement done here,” Jones jokes. There are 680 people at the flash new KLA site. Headcount for the firm here has doubled since 2020. Jones is keen to point out these are “sticky jobs,” meaning the level of investment required is so huge and too hard to move once built — but still, it’s hard not to think about this paling in comparison to the scale of the industry of old.

The local picture: KLA (unaffected by Trump’s latest tariffs when it comes to the Welsh operation) does take on apprentices from the area and is trying to drive up interest from school kids — but it’s a huge multinational headquartered in the States. It uses universities across the region and beyond as feeders for new hires — but also transfers staff from Singapore, Japan and China. Jones says there’s no requirement to hire locally, arguing recruits should be picked “based on merit,” and that there’s no desire to “hamper” the firm anyway.

Another tale of gentrification: Walking around a visibly regenerating Newport center, the late teens and 20-somethings who may well have aspired to work here seem to know little about the cluster. For now, they think more about moving to London for opportunities. But that goes two ways — high prices in Cardiff have led to an influx from the Welsh capital, and the elimination of the toll on the Prince of Wales Bridge means Bristolians are moving here too (ousted MP Thangam Debbonaire included).

Don’t tell Trump: Jones has a cunning plan to get more investment out of the government for the chips sector: “It should be part of defense spending,” she says, making the case that the 5 percent of GDP target for defense should incorporate subsidies for the industry. “That’s what we’re pushing for.” She points out the nuclear subs we want can’t be made without these state-of-the-art chips, and the government hasn’t been shy about incorporating other spending to make up the 5 percent.

INDUSTRIAL-SCALE ATTACKS: But here’s where Labour taking the challenge to Reform comes in. Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens has been attacking Farage’s “war on clean energy” as being a “war on jobs” for Wales, arguing Reform would destroy 37,800 jobs across the nation alone with its anti-net zero industrial vision.

Futures past: Toby Rhodes-Matthews is the man Reform suggests Playbook speak to on this visit. He’s ex-military and the chair of the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend branch of the insurgent party. He ran at the last general election, coming third — but things may well be different when he runs for the Senedd in May. He insists Reform is “not looking in the past” with its talk of coal mines, citing its eagerness to procure donations through cryptocurrency.

Brown-tinted glasses: Rhodes-Matthews says Reform just wants to “strike a balance” between future and heavy industries, as it dispenses with net zero commitments, regardless of the “brown filter over the camera” when some envision coal production. He’s happy to put it into “full HD color” as long as energy prices come down.

CoalGPT: Rhodes-Matthews insists though that the Reform plan isn’t “putting people down the pits” again, saying Farage envisions a scenario where they are “utilizing technology to extract that fuel that we have.” That too seems like it’d be lighter on jobs than the sweat and toil of old.

Hondt hondt: Still, as things stand a long way from the general election, Reform could do something huge by seizing this old steel city. Its first stop is the Senedd election in May, in which it’s expecting to gain from the Welsh government’s move to the De Hondt system of proportional representation that Farage benefited from massively in EU elections (a reform Jones describes as “nuts”). Labour has little time left to show it’s regenerating this proud industrial city with a modern vision to fend off the re-industrialists in Reform.

TODAY IN WESTMINSTER

MIGRATION PAINS: Home Office Minister Diana Johnson has the morning round to sell a new government policy of using facial recognition technology to catch mega criminals — always a controversial issue given privacy concerns, though the Home Office reckons those not on wanted lists won’t have their data stored. But she’s likely to face more never-ending questions about small boats, after Labour earned the unwanted milestone Tuesday of more than 50,000 Channel crossings since Starmer took power last year. The Mail splashes on that very issue, and on the insistence from Minister Jacqui Smith on Tuesday’s morning round that the numbers are all the Tories’ fault.

Digging into that very issue this morning … is the Times’ Oliver Wright, who takes a look at the effectiveness of Labour’s varying ploys to stop the boats/smash the gangs since last year.

Out and about today: Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is — like all the cool kids — on a visit in Newport, and has recorded a pool clip that will be released this morning.

BUDGET MURMURINGS: The Guardian’s splash from Anna Isaac — which makes most of the other papers and the Tel’s splash — also poses a good question for Johnson this morning on whether the Treasury is eying up tightening inheritance tax rules as a way to raise money. Isaac reports officials are examining possible changes to the extent to which wealth or assets can be given away prior to death. Expect plenty of excitable and angry noises if the minister declines to rule out any IHT changes this morning.

KHAN IT: A spokesperson for the government of Cyprus has described trade envoy Afzal Khan’s visit to the Turkish-controlled north of Cyprus as “condemnable and unacceptable,” the Mail’s Claire Ellicott reports — as a backlash continues over Khan’s trip to the territory which Britain does not recognize. The PM’s spokesperson insisted Khan made the trip in a personal capacity.

TORIES NOT HANGING OUT WITH JD: Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride is heading to Teesworks this morning to join the most senior elected Tory left in the U.K., Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen. Stride spent his Tuesday on the Isle of Wight with Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch, which appears to be the diary issue that prevented her from joining Robert Jenrick and Chris Philp for a private meeting with JD Vance. A Tory spokesperson said aides for Badenoch and the U.S. vice president had been discussing a meeting but “just couldn’t make it work with schedules.”

NEXT MONTH’S NEWS, TODAY: My colleague Noah Keate has a great primer on the bumpy ride ahead for the assisted dying bill when it begins its journey through the Lords in September.

(NOT) DOCTOR, (NOT) DOCTOR: Physician’s associates are seeking an injunction against NHS England to block the Leng review’s changes to their jobs, the Spectator’s Lucy Dunn reports. The United Medical Associate Professional union says the mental health of 95 percent of its members has been negatively impacted by the review.

DRIP, DRIP: Environment Secretary Steve Reed is making “active preparations” to put Thames Water into a special administration regime, which would effectively nationalize the company and pave the way for its takeover by a new buyer, the Times reports. Chinese firm CKI is a leading contender to take over the struggling company, according to the paper.

TAPESTRY TROUBLES: In exchange for England borrowing the Bayeux Tapestry, Paris asked for some showstoppers never previously seen in France, including the Rosetta Stone, the FT’s George Parker and Leila Abboud report in a fun piece on the story behind the tapestry’s arrival in London. Other eyebrow-raising asks included a cheeky request for free admission for French citizens to see it in the British Museum. “That was never going to happen,” said a U.K. official.

COULDN’T GET AWAY FAST ENOUGH: Police seized 72 supercars collectively worth more than £6 million during a crackdown on antisocial driving in London, the Guardian reports. The Met Police said the cars, including twin purple Lamborghinis, were either unroadworthy or being driven illegally.

BEYOND THE M25

HOTEL PROBLEMS: Epping Forest District Council has requested an interim High Court injunction to stop the Bell Hotel from being used as accommodation for asylum-seekers. The request cites “the clear risk of further escalating community tensions,” given hundreds of protesters have demonstrated outside the hotel in recent months. Sky News has the story.

VEGAN BEEF: The ballot has opened in the Scottish Greens’ co-leadership election, which has turned into a very low-key civil war between the party’s left and very-left wings. The National had a good primer last month.

TO THE RIGHT: The far-right Alternative for Germany has become the most popular party in Germany, according to polling by the Forsa Institute for Social Research and Statistical Analysis. If a national election were held now, 26 percent of Germans would vote for the AfD, according to the figures. POLITICO has the write-up.

BROAD WARNING: Israel’s rules for aid-giving NGOs will exacerbate humanitarian suffering in Gaza, the foreign ministers of 26 countries, including the U.K., have warned. The joint letter notes “the humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels,” and that “restrictive new registration requirements” may force international NGOs to leave the occupied Palestinian territories “imminently,” which “would worsen the humanitarian situation still further.” POLITICO has the story.

Further alarms: Separately, Europe’s Crisis Management Commissioner Hadja Lahbib warned that “a full Israeli military takeover would be catastrophic: mass casualties, collapsed services & hostages at risk.”

On the ground: Israel has increased bombing in Gaza, killing at least 89 Palestinians in 24 hours, including at least 15 people queueing for food, the Guardian reports. Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City had intensified after Benjamin Netanyahu’s security Cabinet approved plans to expand the war.

IN THE DOGE HOUSE: Through July, DOGE said it has saved taxpayers $52.8 billion by canceling contracts. But of the $32.7 billion in claimed savings that POLITICO could verify, DOGE’s economization over that period was closer to $1.4 billion. My colleague Jessie Blaeser crunched the numbers.

**A message from Climate Group: Steel is essential to British industry – and so is decarbonising supply chains. SteelZero is a business-backed initiative for future-thinking companies who procure, specify, or stock steel, and are serious about cutting their supply chain emissions. We bring together businesses – from construction, energy, automotive, manufacturing, shipping and more – to show demand for low-emission steel, influence policy and set the standard for responsible procurement. If your business uses steel, SteelZero is the platform to work with other industry influencers to shape the steel transition and future-proof your own operations. With the UK Steel Strategy on the horizon, now is the time to act. Be part of the transition to 100% net zero steel – join SteelZero.**

MEDIA ROUND

Crime Minister Diana Johnson broadcast round: Times Radio (7.05 a.m.) … Sky News (7.15 a.m.) … BBC Breakfast (7.30 a.m.) … LBC (7.50 a.m.) … Today (8.10 a.m.) … GMB (8.30 a.m.) … GB News (9.10 a.m.).

Also on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: Former Israeli MP and former IDF Intelligence Corps Captain Ruth Wasserman Lande (7.05 a.m.) … former independent Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill (8.10 a.m.).

Also on GB News Breakfast: Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately (8 a.m.).

Also on Times Radio Breakfast: Helen Whately (7.45 a.m.) … former Commander of Joint Forces and co-author of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review Richard Barrons (8 a.m.) … CEO of Octopus Energy Greg Jackson (8.30 a.m.) … Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee Brian Bell (8.45 a.m.).

Also on Sky News Breakfast: Former Conservative MP now in Ukrainian Military International Legion Jack Lopresti (8.15 a.m.).

TODAY’S FRONT PAGES

POLITICO UK: Britain’s unelected lawmakers risk public fury in delaying assisted dying.

Daily Express: Record 8M people on Universal Credit.

Daily Mail: It’s not our fault!

Daily Mirror: Dry alert.

Daily Star: We won’t gob off like Gaz.

Financial Times: Arms factories expand at triple speed as Europe switches on to war footing.

The i Paper: Clampdown on stone imports after deadly lung disease linked to kitchen revamps.

Metro: Bungling hitwoman in niqab faces life.

The Daily Telegraph: Families face fresh inheritance tax grab.

The Guardian: Treasury targets inheritance tax rises to plug growing UK deficit.

The Independent: ‘Abject failure’ as smuggling arrests fall under Labour.

The Sun: Taunts of the TikTok migrant.

The Times: Channel boats migrants arriving at record speed.

LONDON CALLING

WESTMINSTER WEATHER: Bloody baking. High 29C, low 17C.

CONGRATULATIONS … to Conservative MP Shivani Raja, who has welcomed a baby boy into the world.

NEW GIG: Labour Staffer Hinna Ghafoor has joined the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists as policy and public affairs officer.

WRITING PLAYBOOK THURSDAY MORNING: Andrew McDonald.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Former U.K. Deputy High Commissioner to Jamaica and the Bahamas Nick Astbury … Welsh Labour MS Hefin David … Guardian Lobby journo Andrew Sparrow … former director of government comms Simon McGee.

PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editor Zoya Sheftalovich, diary reporter Bethany Dawson and producer Catherine Bouris.

We’re all on the same Teams – POLITICO

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