Good afternoon. This is Emilio Casalicchio in the POLITICO pub at Conservative conference in Manchester. Turns out finishing work at 5 p.m. next to a bar on the regs isn’t the healthiest. Who’da thought?
TUESDAY CHEAT SHEET
— The shadow of 20 Conservative councillors defecting to Reform followed Kemi Badenoch around the conference interview circuit.
— Badenoch and Robert Jenrick have been defending the whole “another white face” thing.
— But Mel Stride told POLITICO he would not have used the same language.
— Jenrick had a Kodak moment with a judge’s wig. And faced anger from a former top justice.
— There are still no bids on a painting of Jenrick in Manchester. Poor bloke.
— The U.K. risks being squeezed after the EU confirmed a massive escalation in its tariff dispute with Donald Trump.
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TOP OF THE NEWSLIST
A STUNT FROM EVIL K-NIGEL: Kemi Badenoch dismissed 20 Conservative councillors defecting to Reform this morning as a Nigel Farage “stunt,” as she faced a fresh round of broadcast interviews in Manchester — all released in the past few minutes.
Drama on email: Reform dripped out press releases, annoucing defections across 17 councils, as Badenoch began facing reporters first thing this morning — and the questions about the Farage gambit continued into the afternoon.
Stunting the attack: “This is a stunt that Reform has pulled,” Badenoch said in an interview with the Beeb’s Chris Mason. “Some people just want to go with whoever is winning,” she added. “Lots of people just jump around with the polls.”
The Conservative to Reform defections in full: Councillors Duane Farr, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole … Robbie Lammas, Medway … Mathew Forshaw, South Ribble … Christopher Marlow, Bromley … Denise Howard, East Riding of Yorkshire … Brett Rosehill, Hertsmere … Caroline Clapper, Hertfordshire & Hertsmere … Gary Harding, Gravesham … Emma Elliot, Gravesham … Aaron Elliot, Gravesham … David Beattie, Gravesham … Debbie Solomon, Rushcliffe … Richard Craddock, Cannock Chase … Barry Dunning, Hampshire … Paul Miller, Basingstoke & Deane … Lewis Stanniland, Bassetlaw … Karl Vincent Arthur, North Yorkshire … Mark Whittington, South Kesteven … Heike Sowa, Suffolk … and Jack Rydeheard, Bury.
Salt in the wound: “The Conservative party is dead and can no longer serve as an effective opposition,” Farage said in a statement to go alongside the announcement. “It is no wonder that councillors who actually want to fix this country are finding their natural home with Reform.”
So long, farewell: Badenoch told Chris Hope from GB News she’s “sorry to see councillors go” but quipped that defectors who believe in nationalizing industries and increasing welfare (via lifting the two-child benefit cap) have little choice. “If people agree with those policies, then they do have to go, they’re not going to get them with us,” she scoffed. She might have mentioned that Reform councillors in Kent are also expecting to hike council tax the maximum 5 percent, since their promised “DOGE” savings never materialized. Although the Tories have a habit of doing that too, of course.
Not bitter at all: Senior Tories Playbook PM has been speaking to at conference also argue the defectors to Reform so far are the dregs and are doing the Tories a favor by quitting. Ouch.
The other recurring issue Badenoch is being asked about is … the Robert Jenrick comments, leaked to the Guardian overnight, about not seeing “another white face” during a visit to Handsworth in Birmingham. As well as attacking the Guardian (shoot the messenger, natch) Badenoch has been insisting the comments from her shadow justice secretary (and former leadership rival) were taken out of context. “I don’t think Birmingham is a model of integration,” she told Andy Bell from Channel 5 News. “We are seeing sectarian behavior. We are seeing MPs more interested in what’s happening in Palestine than what’s happening on their own streets. And I think that’s what Rob is referring to.”
Bear in mind: Conservative former West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said Jenrick was “wrong” because Handsworth is “a very integrated place.” And Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride told the POLITICO Pub this afternoon: “I’ll be frank and say that they’re not words I would choose.”
The Jenrick words in full: “I went to Handsworth in Birmingham the other day to do a video on litter and it was absolutely appalling. It’s as close as I’ve come to a slum in this country. But the other thing I noticed there was that it was one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been to. In fact, in the hour and a half I was filming news there I didn’t see another white face. That’s not the kind of country I want to live in. I want to live in a country where people are properly integrated. It’s not about the color of your skin or your faith, of course it isn’t. But I want people to be living alongside each other, not parallel lives. That’s not the right way we want to live as a country.”
What Jenrick argues Jenrick meant: “I was very clear in the remarks I gave at that meeting, this is not about the color of your skin or the faith that you abide by,” he told a Telegraph fringe event at conference this afternoon. “It’s that, wherever possible, I want communities to be well integrated, and for people of all faiths and skin color to be living side by side in harmonious, well integrated communities. That does not happen in all parts of our country.”
Regardless: Badenoch has been insisting her era is not one for quibbles about language. She told Channel 5 News she isn’t interested in “whether people use the perfect phrasing. I’m not dictating the words that need to come out of their mouths.”
And on a similar note … she told Times Radio this morning she didn’t mind her Shadow Treasury Minister Richard Fuller telling a conference fringe the state pension could be restricted to those without workplace pensions, or means-tested. Badenoch insisted it’s not Conservative policy but, “we have free debate. We’re not a Stalinist party. I believe we should hear what everyone has to say.” Headline-seeking reporters agree!
Less enthused: One senior Badenoch ally was not impressed with Home Office Minister Katie Lam telling us EU citizens with post-Brexit settled status should be denied welfare. The person told Playbook PM the proposal was “ridiculous” and amounted to a “witch hunt” of legal immigrants designed to court the Conservative right.
Elsewhere in the Badenoch broadcast tour: The Conservative leader admitted to Beth Rigby on Sky News she could have “done better” at setting out policies earlier in her tenure (though she insisted to BBC Breakfast she never planned to announce almost nothing until late 2027 — which we explored in detail last night.) She admitted to Chris Hope the surge in immigration under Boris Johnson was a “mistake by ommission.” And she complained about BBC Arabic translations being “sanitized” in reports about the Israel/Gaza war — a blatant Twitter “For You” tab special.
Much of the rest of it was … responding to questions about dire polling numbers, whether she might quit and speculative future deals or coalitions after elections. She insisted she would never make deals with Reform — even though some of those around her tell reporters an informal pact with Reform, although not ideal, would be better than dealing with others in the event of a hung parliament.
Rounding up the morning: Elsewhere in her morning interviews, the “no policies without proper plans” Conservative boss admitted leaving the ECHR could prompt the EU to cut criminal law enforcement cooperation with the U.K. … and confessed the Tories aren’t sure how to deal with that if so … and she insisted questions about where she might deport hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants to are indeed “irrelevant” because … Rwanda and returns deals, of course! What could possibly go wrong?
To be fair … at least Badenoch admitted to LBC all Tories must take “collective responsibility” for the failures of the previous government on immigration.
Which is a different vibe from … the Jenrick speech in the main conference hall this afternoon. Playbook PM was in the front row for what was a colorful and often amusing address aimed at the amnesiacs in the room, since it pretended the Tories had not been in power for the last decade and a half. He railed against the shoplifting epidemic, people blaring their phone speakers on public transport and police not responding to real crimes — all issues the Tories realized someone should do something about after losing power.
Robert in Wonderland: Jenrick said Brits have had “enough of being overlooked” and “enough of being treated like fools,” and insisted “the collapse of the old order is in sight” — albeit without reference to his own role in the “old order,” which the public indeed collapsed at the 2024 election. He also attacked Twitter bête noire Richard Hermer as a “useful idiot” for finalizing the Chagos Islands deal the Tories negotiated. Hermer responded with a letter to Jenrick urging him to stop risking collapsing trials with excitable (and sometimes wrong) tweets.
To be fair to Jenrick: His speech was littered with OK gags and contained as much smiling as it did railing and pretending. It felt like a proper leadership pitch. At one point, he retrieved a judge’s wig from a box and held it aloft as he pledged to abolish immigration tribunals and de-politicize the courts by [checks notes] letting ministers appoint judges. (See the clip here.)
Not into it: Former supreme court judge Jonathan Sumption told Radio 4’s World at One show the move would “bring us somewhat closer” to the American court model, where “the Supreme Court has become subservient to the president and enabled him to behave like an autocrat.” He also condemned Jenrick for naming specific judges and branding them “activist.”
Operating cost: Jenrick got what he wanted out of the wig gambit and judicial attack, regardless. The snappers hovering around the front of the stage popped up like meerkats to pap the made-for-Tele-splash moment. A cameraman shoved his lens into the face of Conservative MP John Hayes (sitting in the front row,) who welcomed a role in the theatrics with some sage nodding.
Once it was finished: Jenrick hopped off stage, kissed his wife (also front row) and led a procession through the crowd out the back of the hall for full spectacle impact. “Why no mention of Reform in the speech?” Playbook PM asked him as he passed. He took one look, realized who had asked the question and quickly turned back toward the adoration of the Conservative faithful. To be fair, Playbook PM wouldn’t want someone harshing the buzz, either.
We got an answer in the end: Jenrick told a Telegraph fringe event afterwards he didn’t namecheck Reform “because I don’t obsess about them.” Although there’s little doubt his speech stole their clothes, somewhat.
The thing is … the membership loved the speech and that’s the audience that matters right now. In fact, it’s the only audience. In his latest Substack this morning, polling veteran Peter Kellner has another must-read about the public ignoring politics. He notes Opinium research showing even Labour voters know nothing about the main policies the government has been bragging about since taking office, nor the main policies their opponents attack them for.
Not to mention: The main refrain from Conservatives at this conference is that the public is not listening to them, so the best course of action is to let time pass, hope Labour continues to defecate on its own doorstep and attempt to look credible, in case an open goal turns up and Reform implodes. Numerous variables, there.
The sad news for Jenrick is … numerous people insist that process will be the same regardless of who leads the Tories. “Replacing Kemi with him won’t make a blind bit of difference,” one shadow frontbencher said.
Now read these: Two long-ish reads on the Jenrick leadership campaign, one from PolHome and one in the i Paper.
CONFERENCE ROUNDUP: The policies the Tories announced over the past 24 hours include: sacking so-called activist judges … recruiting 10,000 more police officers (meaning a net-10,000 addition on top of the 20,000 who were sacked then replaced during their previous stint in office) … allowing police to stop and search people in crime hotspots without grounds for suspicion … bans on kids excluded from two schools from accessing mainstream education … and pushing again to exempt Northern Ireland veterans from criminal investigation.
Also worth knowing: Badenoch told Radio 4 corporate lobbyists have swerved Conservative conference this time because there’s no point asking the opposition for “government favors” — which one Tory frontbencher described as “a bit too honest” … and Conservative London Assembly member Andrew Boff, who was thrown out of the conference hall in 2023, has been making noise again. See here. His antics are becoming something of a habit.
STILL TO COME AT TORY CONFERENCE: Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp is chatting with Onward’s Simon Clarke right now, in Central 5 … Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge is speaking to Mark Wallace from Total Politics in the Derby Suite of the Midland from 5.15 p.m. … Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride is talking tax in the Think Tent Marquee from 5.45 p.m. … Spectator Editor and Conservative peer Michael Gove is speaking at a TBI event in Exchange 8 from 6 p.m. … and Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick is on a Blue Collar Conservatism panel in the Rain Bar from 6 p.m.
DRIVETIME DEBRIEF
COURT CIRCULAR: Nigel Farage said an Afghan migrant’s TikTok video about him while making apparent gun gestures was “chilling.” Speaking at Southwark Crown Court, where Fayaz Khan is charged with making a threat to kill the Reform leader in an October 2024 video, Farage said the clip left him “genuinely worried.” Reuters has a rundown.
SPEAKING OF FARAGE: His attempt to claim Keir Starmer was somehow angling to have him killed doesn’t seem to have landed with the public. Some 23 percent of Brits believe the PM’s attacks on Farage during Labour conference amounted to an incitement to violence, compared with 55 per cent who believe it was not, according to a More in Common poll. Although 52 percent of Reform voters reckon it was. For You strikes again!
TO THE STREETS: As the i Paper first reported would be the case, uni protests about the situation in Gaza are underway despite the PM’s plea they would be “un-British” two years after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. The Independent has a live blog. In a sign of the febrile atmosphere, the Met Police imposed Public Order Act conditions on the London inter-university march requiring protestors to follow a certain route.
Enough is enough: Farage decried the “blatant and normalized” antisemitism in Britain since Oct. 7, writing in the Jewish Chronicle that “anti-Jewish sentiments are no longer confined to the dark corners of the internet.”
HE’S (POSSIBLY) RUNNING: Shadow Cabinet Minister James Cleverly told the BBC Newscast podcast he would be “stupid not to think about” a run for London mayor.
BEYOND THE M25
RUH ROH: The EU confirmed it will double its tariffs on steel to 50 percent, in line with U.S. levels, in a bid to bring the Trump administration to the negotiating table and hammer out a deal to get them back down again. It means the U.K. getting squeezed in the middle. A trade department spokesperson said the government “will always defend our critical steel industry which is why we are pushing the European Commission for urgent clarification of the impact of this move on the U.K.” Writeup for POLITICO Trade Pros here.
MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Israelis gathered to mark two years since Hamas’ attacks where 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages were taken. Relatives of people killed at the Nova music festival gathered at dawn to mourn the dead while a large rally will be held in Tel Aviv calling for the release of the remaining hostages. The Guardian has a live blog of the commemorations.
DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS: Emmanuel Macron’s first Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said the president should resign before the end of his term in 2027 because of France’s deepening political crisis. Philippe, who just so happens to have announced he’ll run for the presidency next time round, said Macron should organize an early election once a budget is passed for next year. My colleague Victor Goury-Laffont has more info.
IN GERMANY: Iris Stalzer, the incoming mayor for the western town of Herdecke, was found with several stab wounds and serious injuries just days after her election. Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the “terrible deed.” The Independent has a write-up.
FEAR IN GREENLAND: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned Donald Trump was still hankering for the U.S. to own Greenland despite few public comments about the Arctic island recently. “There is perhaps a feeling that we can breathe a sigh of relief,” Frederiksen told the Danish parliament. “It is my belief that we cannot.” POLITICO’s Seb Starcevic has the rundown.
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TONIGHT’S MEDIA ROUND
LEADING THE NEWS BULLETINS: Channel 5 News (5 p.m.) and ITV Evening News (6.30 p.m.) focus on the parole hearing for Stephen Lawrence’s murderer David Norris … Channel 4 News (7 p.m.) leads on two years since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and has an interview with Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch.
Tom Swarbrick at Drive (LBC, until 6 p.m.): Shadow Health Secretary Stuart Andrew and Birmingham City Council Labour Leader John Cotton (both 5.05 p.m.).
Drive with John Pienaar (Times Radio, until 7 p.m.): Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge … former Palestinian Ambassador to the U.K. Manuel Hassassian … former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy.
BBC PM (Radio 4, 5 p.m.): Tory peer Tony Sewell … human rights activist Sara Khan.
News Hour (Sky News, 5 p.m.): Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center Senior Fellow Yezid Sayigh (5.05 p.m.) … former Canadian Leader of the Opposition Michael Ignatieff (5.30 p.m.).
Tonight With Andrew Marr (LBC, 6 p.m.): Labour Deputy Leadership contender Lucy Powell … Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp … West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker … University of Oxford academic Annette Idler.
Farage (GB News, 7 p.m.): Former Cabinet Ministers Ranil Jayawardena and Michael Ellis … former Lib Dem adviser Jo Phillips.
Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge (Sky News, 7 p.m.): Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly … former Cabinet Minister Penny Mordaunt … former Tory adviser James Starkie.
BBC Newscast (Podcast, drops at 7 p.m.): James Cleverly.
The Evening Edition with Kait Borsay (Times Radio, 7 p.m.): Crossbench peer Ruth Deech (7.25 p.m.) … former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi (7.40 p.m.) … former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (8 p.m.) … Tory peer James Bethell(9 p.m.).
Cross Question with Iain Dale (LBC, 8 p.m.): Tory MP Joe Robertson … commentators Tim Montgomerie and Albie Amankona.
Newsnight (BBC 2, 10.30 p.m.): Tory peer Daniel Finkelstein.
Late Show Live (GB News, 12 a.m.): Former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton
… former Democrat strategist Malbert Smith.
TWEETING TOMORROW’S PAPERS TONIGHT: Alfie Tobutt.
REVIEWING THE PAPERS TONIGHT: Times Radio (10.30 p.m.): Journos Alicia Fitzgerald and Owen Bennett-Jones … Sky News (10.30 p.m. and 11.30 p.m.): Times Radio’s Theo Usherwood and writer Jenny Kleeman.
WHERE TO FIND BOOZE IN MANCHESTER TONIGHT
AT THE POLITICO PUB (accreditation needed): Former Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt has dropped in for a chat and is due to hang around until 6.30 p.m.
On the parties circuit (invites needed): The Irish Embassy will be doling out the Guinness from 6 p.m. in Exchange 10 … Shadow Communities Secretary James Cleverly and Tory Chairman Kevin Hollinrake appear at a Conservative YIMBY event in the Trafford Room of the Midland from 6.30 p.m. … Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick is involved in a Daily Express pub quiz at the Impossible Bar from 7 p.m. … TikTok and U.K. Music host their bash at Revolución de Cuba from 7.30 p.m. … Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp and Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith are at Adam Smith Institute drinks in the Trafford Room of the Midland from 8.30 p.m. … and the Spectator booze-up kicks off at 10 p.m. in Alexander Suite B of the Midland.
TOMORROW’S WORLD
LADS ON TOUR: The proper schmoozing begins on the Keir Starmer trade trip to India.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO TALK ABOUT: Flooding, the Western Balkans and smoking.
ON THE MAIN STAGE AT CONSERVATIVE CONFERENCE: Deputy Tory Chairman Matt Vickers on the 2026 local and national elections campaign (10 a.m.) … Shadow Welsh Secretary Mims Davies, Shadow Scotland Secretary Andrew Bowie and Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Alex Burghart chat all things Union (10.30 a.m.) … and Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch addresses the party faithful (11 a.m.) before conference shuts up shop.
SECOND IN COMMAND: Ballots in Labour’s deputy leadership election open.
NO BALKING HERE: Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn host more than 15 European ministers at Hillsborough Castle in Belfast to discuss the Western Balkans. The summit continues into Thursday, too.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
PULLING PINTS AND PULLING ICES: This morning’s Playbook noted how Kemi Badenoch said her pint-pulling prowess is on par with her ice cream-pulling prowess. We’ve found the vid of the latter during a trip to the Isle of Wight. Watch it here.
Speaking of pint-pulling prowess: We’ve collated the vids of Conservative bigwigs pulling pints at the POLITICO Pub … and given them ratings out of ten. Watch it here.
And speaking of sweet treats: Shadow Cabinet Minister James Cleverly responded to the Tories misspelling Britain on their merchandise chocolate bars: “Never skimp on subeditors.” Badenoch told LBC this morning it was a typo and it would be “fatuous” to claim it’s a reflection on whether the Tories might show a little more competence if returned to government.
SPOTTED: Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride pulling a woman’s heel from a grate last night (h/t James Heale.)
GOING ONCE … OR NOT AT ALL? There have been no new bids in the past 24 hours on the conference hall paintings of Margaret Thatcher (current bid £700) … Kemi Badenoch (current bid £400) … and Robert Jenrick (no bids.)
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Former Tony Blair and Keir Starmer adviser Peter Hyman’s Substack about why the infamous No. 10 grid no longer works in the modern media age. “The grid was not designed for a world in which anything can go viral and where false information, conspiracies, campaigns can take off rapidly to scupper a government policy,” Hyman writes, arguing its rigidity prevents the government “competing in the attention economy.”
Change of tune: Instead, Hyman suggests government activity should be seen as a playlist rather than a grid. “A playlist of the key arguments that need to be won in any given period. A playlist, because each of those arguments is targeted at key audiences.” Many of the campaigns could be run (played, surely?) simultaneously, though Hyman wonders if there’s the “mindset shift required to see debates and arguments as the currency, not the policy nugget.”
PACKED LUNCH OR PALACE LUNCH: It’s recess! Those at Tory conference grab anything edible before dashing for the trains.
ON THIS DAY IN POLITICS: On Oct. 7, 1929 Ramsay MacDonald became the first U.K. prime minister to address the U.S. Congress. On the same day in 2001, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan started the George W. Bush “war on terror.” And in 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Some have been released, some have died and around 20 are thought still to be alive in Gaza.
WRITING PLAYBOOK TOMORROW MORNING: Andrew McDonald.
THANKS TO: My editor Ali Walker, reporter Noah Keate and the POLITICO production team for making it look nice.
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