MEA CULPA: Thanks and huge apologies to all who pointed out your Playbook author’s blunder in referring to “Grimsby FC” in Wednesday morning’s email — the mighty Mariners are of course Grimsby Town FC. I promise to do better in future.
Good Thursday morning. This is Andrew McDonald.
DRIVING THE DAY
COW HERD: It’s another day in SW1 when Keir Starmer’s thoughts will be squarely focused on the conflict in Ukraine. After meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and co. in Downing Street Monday … the U.S. ambo on Tuesday … and an apparently tricky call between European leaders and Trump on Wednesday … the PM will today co-chair the latest “coalition of the willing” call with Zelenskyy and the rest of his Euro pals as the diplomatic whirlwind continues.
Cameras on please, folks: The latest video call was (as of last night, with the usual caveats) slated to take place from 2 p.m., with Starmer, Zelenskyy, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and leaders and officials from around 30 countries. The usual readouts will follow.
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Which comes at … the latest “critical moment,” as described by No. 10 Wednesday — though it would be hard to point to any moment in 2025 which could not be described as a critical moment in peace talks for Ukraine. But things are still moving fast on two key fronts that will be front and center today.
Revision divisions: Zelenskyy last night submitted a revised version of the peace plan to U.S. negotiators, drawn up in part following his London meeting Monday. His plan whittled down Trump’s initial 28 points to 20, and the call today gives the Ukrainian president the chance to strategize with his allies about how they sell it to Trump — and feed back any instant reaction they’ve already received.
In the draft: CNN has some detail. Crucially, according to the broadcaster, it removes language from the first proposal barring Ukraine from ever joining NATO — opting for the approach of not mentioning it at all. It proposes a demilitarized zone along the line of contact … security guarantees in line with Article 5 … EU membership by 2027 … raises the level of the cap on Ukraine’s military … and calls for elections in Ukraine.
And on territory: CNN reckons the new Ukrainian draft contains an acceptance of formal U.S. recognition of Russian-occupied territory. That bit, if true — given Zelenskyy has repeatedly said he won’t make any territorial concessions — will raise concerns among Ukrainians and their allies. The extent of that concern will be depend on which territories, and whether it goes further than recognition of the long-annexed Crimea.
All of which is … unlikely to be all that palatable to Russia and Vladimir Putin — and it isn’t even clear if Putin actually wants peace, of course. As always, what Trump himself thinks is the first hurdle to overcome.
The whirlwind continues? The sales-pitch moment for European leaders might come quicker than expected. Trump revealed last night that Starmer, Macron and Merz had invited him to Europe for a meeting over the weekend … though he didn’t sound overly keen to commit. “Before we go to a meeting, we want to know some things,” Trump said. “We don’t want to be wasting time.” Playbook hears the Europeans would want Zelenskyy to be involved in such a meeting, too.
That wasn’t on the No. 10 readout: Trump also said he had some “little disputes” and “strong words” about Ukraine in his call with the European leaders. No word on whether he called them “weak” to their faces. Still staying above the fray on that stuff, Defence Secretary John Healey told the Sun’s Harry Cole in D.C. last night that Trump, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff continue to have Britain’s full backing — and that Trump didn’t have the U.K. in mind with the “weak” comment anyway.
On that very note … Europeans kind of agree with Trump’s assessment of European leaders, new polling for POLITICO has found. By strong margins in Germany, France and the U.K. respondents reckoned Trump is more “strong and decisive” than their own leader.
To be fair: Starmer gets a pretty decent verdict from Brits on how he has handled Trump — especially considering every other poll verdict on the PM finds his popularity to be somewhere between that of Liz Truss and (former Prince) Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Twenty-nine percent thought he was handling Trump well, with the same proportion thinking he was doing badly. Take the win, PM.
WILLING TO USE ASSETS: The other moving feast is on the use of Russian frozen assets, which Starmer and co. are hoping will move quickly. Today’s call may offer the big three Europeans an opportunity to try and convince any holdouts — and, helpfully, chief holdout Bart De Wever of Belgium is in London Friday. His main concern is that Belgium could be left financially exposed if the money needs to be repaid.
Less helpfully … De Wever doesn’t seem to be shifting. In an interview with Belgian media Wednesday he even refused to rule out legal action against the EU — which is retaliating with a strategy of warning Belgium it could end up being treated like EU outcasts Hungary, my colleague Zoya Sheftalovich writes. If Starmer gets involved in that EU bickering, maybe we’ll get some more strong words.
LORDS AND LADIES
PEER PRESSURE: Expect plenty of awkward questions for the PM’s spokesperson at the usual briefing for hacks at 11.30 a.m., after No. 10 snuck out 25 new Labour peers Wednesday evening.
Obvious criticisms include … further enlarging the Lords to the point that Labour plans to bin off hereditary peers won’t make a lick of difference to the second chamber’s bloated size … giving donor Richard Walker a peerage after he defected to the party last year … not letting Reform UK or the Greens appoint any peers (or any more, in the latter’s case), despite polling well … and the question of whatever happened to this explicit promise from Starmer to abolish the Lords.
Everyone does it! The defense is that the second chamber’s current composition has led to the will of the popular government (don’t laugh) being defied — and that since the Tories chucked out loads of peers in the Lords, there’s an imbalance they needed to correct to get legislation through.
But still … in elevating no fewer than nine former or current party aides, Starmer has opened himself up to the exact same criticisms his party used to make of Boris Johnson’s appointments to the chamber. As recently as 2023, multiple shadow ministers were describing Johnson’s resignation honors’ list — which included the likes of former aide Ross Kempsell — as a “carousel of cronies.”
That attack line was presumably OK’d by the Labour spinner big-wigs at the time, including Director of Communications Matthew Doyle … who is now set to become Lord Doyle, following Wednesday’s announcement. Funny how things work out.
Also getting new lords and ladies: The Lib Dems picked up five new peerages, including two hereditary peers, who will be able to stay in the chamber after their impending abolishment … and the Tories got three in columnist Simon Heffer, former MP John Redwood and swimmer-turned-gender-critic Sharron Davies. The first two are current Telegraph columnists while the third used to be — so go to this page if you want to predict Kemi Badenoch’s next appointments.
And another word for … the Earl of Kinnoull, Charles Hay, a current hereditary peer given a life peerage as a crossbencher. He commands the only private army left in Europe.
TODAY IN WESTMINSTER
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO TALK ABOUT: Its new national plan to tackle homelessness, with levels currently at record highs. MHCLG said it was committing £3.5 billion in investment over three years, aimed at halving the number of long-term rough sleepers and preventing households from becoming homeless in the first place. Although the charity Crisis pointed out that £3.4 billion of that sum was already committed by the government in the spending review earlier this year. Homelessness Minister Alison McGovern has the morning round, as well as an interview in today’s Guardian.
What it won’t want to talk about: Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham popped up in an ITV interview last night to say the strategy isn’t radical enough, as he called for a return of the “everyone in” policy from the pandemic. Ever helpful to the government, Burnham also criticized the chancellor’s decision to freeze housing benefit levels and the Home Office’s policy of evicting asylum-seekers from accommodation once given status to remain as “policies that actually create” homelessness.
In other leadership contender news: In his interview with Harry Cole, Defence Secretary John Healey leaned in and said he wasn’t running for the leadership and that the crown “wouldn’t be thrust on me.” Which he had to say, of course.
BRADLEY BAGGED: Reform nabbed another defection from the ranks of Tory MPs who lost their seats last year, this time in the form of Ben Bradley — the former leader of Nottinghamshire Council and MP for Mansfield. He’s been given a job helping Richard Tice cut council spending, the Telegraph’s Tony Diver reports. One Tory official said this defection surprised them like other recent ones hadn’t, as Bradley had been up to now “very loyal to Kemi.”
Not currently being offered a Reform gig: The adult star Bonnie Blue has also endorsed Reform, in the pages of today’s Spectator.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: Is the PM a “middle of the road politician” playing into the hands of the far right? The Council of Europe appears to be hitting back at Starmer’s efforts to reform the ECHR, which were endorsed by 27 of the 46 CoE members Wednesday (as covered in Playbook PM). The Council’s commissioner for human rights claims in a Guardian interview that for “every inch yielded, there’s going to be another inch demanded.”
WES VS. THE BMA: Ministers made a new offer to the British Medical Association in an effort to avert next week’s resident doctor strike — though it didn’t include any offer of extra pay. The union has agreed to put the deal to its members. More from the Beeb here.
But the Tories want to press Streeting on … the puberty blocker trial. The Tories’ equalities spokesperson Claire Coutinho, out in broadcast studios this morning, has an op-ed which splashes the Mail describing the trial as “state-sanctioned chemical castration of children.” Remember that the drugs were banned after the Cass review came out — the same review which recommended a clinical trial to provide more evidence on whether the drugs are beneficial.
Also expect opposition parties to leap on … a report from the National Energy System Operator which says the U.K. could save an average of £14 billion a year if it ditched its legally binding target to reach net zero. The report splashes the Times.
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’: Tech Secretary Liz Kendall is headed to California for a two-day visit where she’ll be doing the rounds bigging-up the U.K.’s tech partnership with the U.S., our tech colleagues write in. While she’s there, Kendall will be taking part in a fireside chat with Business Secretary Peter Kyle and Google President Ruth Porat at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
Deep stuff: In other tech news, Google DeepMind has signed an MoU with the government, a deal Keir Starmer described as “national renewal in action.”
Last night, not in Westminster: Business Secretary Kyle met Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick and Jamieson Greer and “celebrated the success of the recent pharma deal.” And according to a readout of the meeting, the U.S. committed to implement its new beef tariff quota for British farmers in time for the agreed Jan. 1 deadline.
WHISKY DIPLOMACY: Anne McElvoy interviews EU Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds on Politics at Sam and Anne’s this morning, as he visits Brussels to advance Britain’s reconnection with the EU. He took a bottle of whisky to give to EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič to help smooth the way to agreement on youth mobility and other issues. Anne also pushes the minister on why the government’s promise to get British travelers out of the “other passports” naughty queue has been so slow — after she spent 90 minutes last week waiting in line to get into Germany.
LIB LAND: Lib Dem MP Al Pinkerton, who forced the customs union vote, told the Telegraph there are around a dozen more Labour MPs who could rebel on the issue who are “sitting on their hands” because of Labour’s whipping operation. Leader Ed Davey’s Thursday is a bit more festive than customs union chats, though — he’ll be spending it in Surrey making festive baked goods, decorating cakes and talking about Britain’s high streets. Expect a pool clip around 1 p.m.
TODAY AT THE COVID INQUIRY: Former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and incumbent Andrew Bailey give evidence from 10 a.m.
CAN THEY GET MORE EXPENSIVE? A Home Office policy paper seen by the Times recommends making football clubs and music festivals pay the entire cost of policing the “vicinity” of their events — which would obviously lead to higher ticket prices. More here.
SW1 EVENTS: The U.K. Children’s Parliament, a charity set up by the late Conservative MP David Amess to teach kids about democracy, is holding an event to lobby MPs to suspend the business of the House of Commons for one day to allow primary-aged children to occupy the chamber (4.30 p.m.).
REPORTS OUT TODAY: Residents of buildings waiting for remediation of dangerous cladding are experiencing “unacceptable” delays caused by the Building Safety Regulator’s approval processes, according to Lords’ Industry and Regulators Committee … the Commons should prioritize accessibility and embed it in its culture, says the Modernisation Committee … and the government should get its fair pay agreement for care workers off the ground quickly and set high enforcement standards, says the Resolution Foundation.
HOUSE OF COMMONS: Sits from 9.30 a.m. with business and trade questions … business questions to the Leader of the House Alan Campbell … a debate on St. Andrew’s Day and Scottish affairs … and a general debate on the impact of foreign interference on security, trade and democracy. An adjournment debate on historic interim development orders.
HOUSE OF LORDS: Sits from 11 a.m. with questions on intelligence sharing with the U.S., the role of social media platforms in enabling scam adverts and fraudulent content, and the evidence West Midlands police relied on to make decisions relating to the Aston Villa-Maccabi Tel Aviv match … a statement on safeguarding … Infected Blood Compensation Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2025 … a short debate on plans to publish a strategy for a wheelchair provision by NHS and social care services … and a debate on the Common Good Foundation and Centre for Policy Studies report: “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.”
BEYOND THE M25
GUNNING FOR IT: Big news out of South America, where Argentinian President Javier Milei told the Telegraph that his country is in negotiations with the U.K. to overhaul a Falklands-era weapons ban that could allow it to purchase state-of-the-art military technology. The paper reports that Milei is also set to become the first Argentinian president to visit Britain since 1998, likely in April or May. He wants to meet Keir Starmer and opposition leaders including Nigel Farage while he’s here. Chainsaw photo-ops incoming.
NOT HOW THE SAUSAGE IS MADE: Brussels’ battle over whether plant-based foods can be sold as “veggie burgers” and “vegan sausages” ended the year in stalemate on Wednesday, after talks between EU countries and the European Parliament collapsed, my POLITICO colleagues report.
FLAT NOTE: Iceland is boycotting next year’s Eurovision song contest over Israel’s participation, saying the competition would “neither be a source of joy nor peace.” Iceland is the fifth country to withdraw from the 2026 competition, joining the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia.
TRUMP VS. MADURO LATEST: U.S. President Donald Trump said American forces seized a “very large” oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a major escalation of the administration’s efforts to punish the South American petrostate. Trump said it was seized for “a very good reason,” without elaborating. A person familiar with the matter told my Stateside colleagues that the shipment was bound for Cuba, where the state company Cubametales was planning to sell it to Asian energy brokers.
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MEDIA ROUND
Local Government Minister Alison McGovern broadcast round: Times Radio (7.05 a.m.) … Sky News (7.15 a.m.) … LBC (7.50 a.m.) … GMB (8.30 a.m.) … GB News (9.05 a.m.).
Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho broadcast round: Times Radio (7.45 a.m.) … GB News (8 a.m.) … Talk (8.15 a.m.) … LBC News (8.45 a.m.) … Sky News (9.15 a.m.).
Also on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee Deputy Co-Chair Arjan Singh (7.05 a.m.) … NHS Confederation Director of Policy Layla McCay (7.10 a.m.) … Green Party peer Natalie Bennett (9.05 a.m.).
Also on Times Radio Breakfast: London Ambulance Service Chair Andy Trotter (7.35 a.m.) … BMA Resident Doctors Committee Deputy Chair Shivam Sharma (8.05 a.m.) … barrister and crossbench peer Alex Carlile (8.20 a.m.) … Council of Europe Secretary-General Alain Berset (9.30 a.m.).
TODAY’S FRONT PAGES
POLITICO UK: Trump dominates in Europe, Europeans tell international POLITICO Poll.
Daily Express: They cannot be trusted with Brexit!
Daily Mail: Stop Labour’s ‘grotesque’ puberty drug experiment on children.
Daily Mirror: £3.5bn war on homelessness.
Daily Star: Champ Luke’s £50-a-week pocket money.
Financial Times: Fed cuts rates to lowest in three years as weak jobs market eclipses inflation.
Metro: Defensive trawl for World Cup fans.
The Daily Telegraph: Falklands arms ban must end, says Milei.
The Guardian: Visitors to US could have to reveal five years of social media activity.
The i Paper: UK set to turn back clock on Brexit and rejoin EU’s student exchange scheme from January 2027.
The Independent: Revealed: Britain’s ‘racist’ system of stripping citizenship.
The Sun: Davina weds in secret.
The Times: Net zero plan to cost households £500 a year.
TODAY’S NEWS MAGS
New Statesman: All alone.
The Spectator: Christmas special.
LONDON CALLING
WESTMINSTER WEATHER: Sunny spells. High 13C, low 11C.
SPOTTED … at No. 10 Downing St. for the Lobby Christmas party, with huge gold and silver sparkly ornaments looming over the staircase: Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who quipped that he would have given Zarah Sultana a job in the Treasury if he knew how good she was at “squirreling” away money, and described Liz Truss as having “reverse imposter syndrome” … the No. 10 team, including Director of Communications Tim Allan … Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Dan York-Smith … senior comms SpAd Bal Izzet … Director of Strategic Communications Tom Price … press secretary Sophie Nazemi … Head of Political Media John Stevens … Head of Broadcast Calum Masters … SpAds Lidia Fanzo and George Mason … press officer Joseph Brookes … senior press officers Sophie Clare, Flo Chappell and Lucy Stretch … chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, leaving as the hacks arrived … Larry the Cat asleep on the windowsill, totally ignoring the press … Press Gallery administrator Elizabeth Johnson, whom Starmer paid tribute to ahead of her retirement … and half the Lobby (though one veteran hack told Playbook it was the quietest PMs’ drinks they could remember).
Also spotted … at Lancaster House for Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper’s Christmas drinks: No. 10 aide Stuart Ingham … No. 10 Policy Unit boss Harvey Redgrave … Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Suzuki … U.S. Ambassador Warren Stephens … FCDO Political Director General Ed Llewellyn … British High Commissioner to India Lindy Cameron … SpAds Jess Leigh, Callum Tipple, Natasha Collett and Amy Richards … FCDO Head of News Toby Castle and Deputy Head Philippa Russell … the development minister’s press secretary Sam Bond … BBC Diplomatic Correspondent James Landale … Political Editors Beth Rigby and Robert Peston … broadcaster (and Cooper’s husband) Ed Balls.
Also spotted … at the Tony Blair Institute Christmas party at the Old War Office hotel, where the bar stopped serving by 8.30 p.m.: Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who interviewed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in a very cosy chat where he said he’d been “impressed” by her articulation of the political philosophy behind Home Office migration policy … Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden … Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office Josh Simons … Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister … Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Dan Tomlinson … Digital Economy Minister Liz Lloyd … Migration Minister Mike Tapp … Downing Street Director of Communications Tim Allan … Labour MPs Alan Gemmell, Patrick Hurley, Jon Pearce, Sally Jameson, Emma Foody, Sarah Coombes, Liam Byrne, Gordon McKee, David Pinto-Duschinsky, Tom Hayes, Kevin Bonavia … Labour peers Peter Hain and Wendy Alexander … former Economic Secretary to the Treasury Patricia Hewitt … former MP Conor McGinn … Home Office SpAds Jamie and Josh Williams … No. 10’s Prentice Hazell … former Labour strategist Peter Hyman … Sunday Times columnist Josh Glancy … Flint CEO James Purnell … Blue Labour co-founder Jonathan Rutherford … BBC Economics Editor Faisal Islam … and Newsagents hosts Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall.
Also spotted … at the Irish Embassy Christmas drinks: Ambassador Martin Fraser … Assistant Whip Deirdre Costigan … SDLP MPs Claire Hanna and Colum Eastwood … Sinn Féin MP John Finucane … Lib Dem MP Paul Kohler … Labour MP Adam Jogee … former London Lord Mayor Vincent Keaveny … former No. 10 comms boss and soon-to-be Labour peer Matthew Doyle … Labour peers Vernon Coaker, Kevin Brennan and Tom Watson … Lib Dem peer Tim Clement-Jones … Tory peer Susan Williams … former Farage spinner Gawain Towler … pol eds including Chris Mason, Andy Bell and Ailbhe Rea … PoliticsHome’s Adam Payne … and the Irish Embassy’s Emer Rocke, Jamal Alkayed and Amy Colgan.
Also spotted … at the Good Growth Foundation Christmas drinks at Teneo’s office in the City: Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds … Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Dan Tomlinson … Labour MPs Jeevun Sandher, Helena Dollimore and Chris Curtis … NEC members Elsie Greenwood and Anu Prashar … environment SpAd Ben Szreter … Labour peer Roger Liddle … Darren Jones SpAd Dan Walsh … Rachel Reeves and Darren Jones staffer Ed Lawrence … Young Labour Chair Jack Lubner … Labour Growth Group Director Mark McVitie … Good Growth Foundation’s Ben McGowan, Theresa Bischof and Director Praful Nargund with his mom, Geeta Nargund, founder of Create Fertility and Health Equality Foundation and newly announced Labour peer.
SW1 DOES SPORTS: iNHouse FC won a five-a-side match against Labour staffers 6-5, with Mick Robertson, Luke Clements, Dean Avis, and Tom Jane scoring for iNHouse … and Reg Pula, Nick Rogers, Ben Hall and Fergal Sharpe scoring for the Labour lot.
MOVING ON: Conservative peer Robin Hodgson will retire from the House of Lords after being a politician for 50 years. His valedictory debate will be held today on demographic change.
WRITING PLAYBOOK PM: Emilio Casalicchio.
WRITING PLAYBOOK FRIDAY MORNING: Caroline Hug.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Carlisle MP Julie Minns … Shadow Science Minister Ben Spencer … Tory peer and former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley … former Labour MP Adrian Bailey turns 80 … Labour peer Theresa Griffin … former Scottish government Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans … La Repubblica U.K. correspondent Antonello Guerrera … former Mansfield MP turned Reform defector Ben Bradley … Solicitor General Ellie Reeves … former Hazel Grove MP William Wragg … former Daily Mirror columnist Paul Routledge … former U.K. High Commissioner to Tonga Lucy Joyce … ConservativeHome Deputy Editor Henry Hill.
PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editors Dan Bloom, Alex Spence and James Panichi, diary reporter Bethany Dawson and producer Dean Southwell.
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