Good afternoon. This is Emilio Casalicchio.
FRIDAY CHEAT SHEET
— All the rival parties are pouncing on Reform ex-bigwig Nathan Gill being imprisoned for taking Russian propaganda bribes.
— Rachel Reeves is sick of the “mansplaining” about how to be chancellor.
— Keir Starmer insisted he and his Manchester rival are best pals as his G20 jaunt continues.
— Another MP quit Your Party.
— The PM and his European counterparts are worried about Ukraine again.
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TOP OF THE NEWSLIST
GREEN AROUND THE GILL: All the rival parties are piling into Reform after its ex-leader in Wales Nathan Gill was sentenced to more than a decade in prison for peddling Russian propaganda in exchange for bribes. Nigel Farage has so far been quiet.
From Brussels with love: At the Old Bailey this morning, Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Gill had eroded “public confidence in democracy” as she handed down a ten-and-a-half-year prison sentence. “Your misconduct has ramifications far beyond personal honor,” she said. “The corrosive damage to public life caused by such actions is enduring.” Ouch. Watch her remarks here.
Reminder: Gill, 52, admitted taking cash from Oleg Voloshyn in exchange for making pro-Russia speeches and conducting pro-Russia interviews while he was a member of the European Parliament. Voloshyn, described by the U.S. government as a “pawn” of the Russian secret services, gave Gill around £40,000 in total. Gill pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery between December 6, 2018 and July 18, 2019.
Can’t go back to a 9 to 5: The bribes, which Voloshyn described in code as “Xmas gifts,” originated from pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch and politician Viktor Medvedchuk. Gill’s brief was to support Medvedchuk and two TV channels linked to him that the Ukrainian government was threatening to close. He was also tasked with finding other MEPs to speak on the channels too.
Pouncing on it: Labour is having a field day. Security Minister Dan Jarvis said Gill’s actions were a “betrayal of our country, our people, and our national security.” Defense Minister Al Carns urged Reform leader Farage to conduct a full review of party structures to ensure no remaining pro-Russian links remain. He said Farage must “leave no stone unturned” in the mission.
Having a wonderful few hours: The Labour Press office shared footage of Gill turning up at court … a wider attack ad on Farage and Reform … demands for an independent probe into Reform … some old love between Gill and Farage … and a couple of posts on Farage being silent on the sentencing.
Keeping quiet: Farage indeed has no plans to comment at the moment. But Reform issued a statement this afternoon. “Mr Gill’s actions were reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable,” a spokesperson said. “We are glad that justice has been served and fully welcome the sentence Nathan Gill has received.”
Mitigating circumstances? Officials noted that Gill was Reform leader in Wales for just 43 days. But Gill was a Ukip and Brexit Party MEP under Farage between 2014 and 2020 — including during the time he was taking the bribes.
So it could get worse: Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, confirmed police are looking into others Gill might have tried to recruit. “There’s an ongoing investigation and we have spoken to some other people that are mentioned within that process,” Murphy told broadcasters. “This is Nathan Gill reaching out to individuals that he knows, who are Brits, who might be willing to be paid to go and make speeches. I think this was literally Nathan Gill picking individuals that he sat and worked alongside in the European Parliament.”
Also piling in: The Lib Dems are branding Reform “a danger to national security” because “a traitor was at the very top of Reform UK.” They even put together a new leaflet with a pic of Farage in Vladimir Putin’s pocket. “Nigel Farage has shown time and again he is in Putin’s pocket,” an official said. “People deserve to know where his true loyalties lie.”
Also piling in ii: The Tories have also said the “shocking and treacherous act raises serious questions about Reform UK’s connections to malign Russian influence and proves they cannot be trusted with our national security.” Chair Kevin Hollinrake said Farage “must now come clean on the nature of his relationship with Gill and clearly set out if others in his party were ever involved.”
Not wanting to be left out: Keir Starmer took a little pop at Farage too during his flight over to the G20 in South Africa — for failing to take on comments from Reform MP Sarah Pochin about adverts “full of” black and Asian people. “The man is spineless,” Starmer said. “If that had been someone in my party, I’d have dealt with it straight away.”
Touché: Farage shot back: “For the weakest prime minister in living memory to call me spineless is utterly ludicrous.”
IT’S THE STUPID ECONOMY
STOP TELLING ME HOW TO BUDGET: Rachel Reeves is fed up of other people telling her which taxes to cut and where to put more cash. “I’m sick of people mansplaining how to be chancellor to me,” she told Keir Starmer biographer Tom Baldwin in an interview for the Times Magazine.
Feeling seen: Reeves also launched a second attack in the interview on us lads in the press. “I recognize I’ve got a target on me,” she said. “You can see that in the media; they’re going for me all the time. It’s exhausting. But I’m not going to let them bring me down by undermining my character or my confidence. I’ve seen off a lot of those boys before and I’ll continue to do so.”
The problem for Rachel is … the economy isn’t going all that great. Official stats out this morning showed borrowing was £17.4 billion last month — higher than the £15 billion economists had forecast and the £14.4 billion the OBR had forecast, not to mention the third highest October deficit on record.
Boys on the attack: Lib Dem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said the numbers were “the latest reminder that the government is failing to turn things around,” while Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch said Reeves has sent Britain into “a doom loop of higher spending, borrowing & taxes.” Treasury Minister James Murray insisted the government is “set to deliver the largest primary deficit reduction in both the G7 and G20 over the next five years — to get borrowing costs down.”
Not helping matters: Consumer finance megastar Martin Lewis was scathing about the government after Ofgem announced a 5 percent hike to electric rates, a 2 percent hike to electric standing charges and a 3 percent hike to gas standing charges in its price cap for the first three months of 2026. A 6 percent reduction to the gas unit rate means the rise is 0.2 percent overall. But Lewis told Radio 4 it was “perverse” that electrics prices are rising because government policies against fossil fuels are “artificially reducing” the price of gas.
All for the greater good, guv: A spokesperson for Keir Starmer accepted energy bills “remain too high” despite promises of a £300 reduction before the election. But he insisted it’s “vital” for the government to take longer-term action to wean the U.K. off fossil fuels and the “rollercoaster” international market.
The alternative view: The Tories argued “cheap energy has to come first.”
DRIVETIME DEBRIEF
MEANWHILE, IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE: Keir Starmer has done interviews with political editors during his G20 trip (including a literal trip) to Johannesburg, with lines due to start landing in the next half hour. In one that’s already dropped, Starmer backed journalists after his mate Donald Trump called one a “piggy.” The PM visited a train depot using carriages made in the U.K. to announce his £400 million package of deals on trains, planes and submarines, and he attended an EY event to chat with business leaders and apprentices.
The happiest of families latest: The lines that have dropped since this morning include his praise for Manchester leader and serial Starmer critic Andrew Burnham. “Andy’s doing a really good job as mayor in Manchester and we work very closely together,” the PM told hacks. Sure thing, guv.
On which note … Labour internal relations continue to hit new highs, with Left-wing Labour MP Nadia Whittome siding with Clive Lewis in urging Starmer to quit.
Other options exist: Whittome and Lewis could of course sign up to Your Party, the leftist Labour offshoot which is now having a row about whether the Revolutionary Communist Group, the Socialist Workers’ Party and the Socialist Party should be courted, according to Sky’s Alex Rogers.
Whoops! Lost another one: The new movement needs all the representatives it can get, too, after a second pro-Gaza independent MP quit. In his resignation statement, Iqbal Mohamed cited “false allegations and smears against me” as his motive for ducking out.
These people exist to serve journalists: One Labour aide quipped that it was the “Independent Alliance of Your Party MPs versus the Your Party of Independent Alliance MPs.”
NO BIRDS WILL CATCH THE WORM: The government is standing behind Whitehall boss and pandemic-era health department perm sec Chris Wormald, who the official COVID probe concluded failed to correct assurances Matt Hancock made to No.10 and the Cabinet Office as health sec that all was in hand. A spokesperson for Keir Starmer told reporters the PM has confidence in the top civil servant and said the government will reflect on all the findings before it responds — expected to be in around six months. Cabinet minister Liz Kendall told Radio 4 Wormald “continues to do really important work for this government.” So that’s OK, then.
At least someone is apologizing: Conservative former Cabinet minister (now Lord) Michael Gove, who was at the centre of the Covid response in the Cabinet Office, told Radio 4: “I want to apologize for mistakes that were made during that period.” However in trademark Gove fashion, it was not clear which mistakes he was apologizing for. He argued the assertion in the report that the government might have saved 23,000 lives had it locked down sooner must not be pinned on Boris Johnson since it was a projected estimation.
Plus, of course: Johnson did stellar work on the vaccine rollout, Gove added.
And regardless: The PM was “wrestling” at the time with a debate between pandemic protections and human liberties. That meant a bit of flip-flopping around, leaving the nation confused, was inevitable. Then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak also noted, in an interview with Radio 5, that it was rather an “uncertain environment” at the time. Gove also waved off suggestions the vibe in No.10 was too toxic for proper decision-making. “The business of government during a crisis can’t be carried on in the manner of a Jane Austen novel,” he said.
NOT SO SAFE: Talks between the European Commission and the U.K. on taking part in the bloc’s €150 billion Security Action for Europe loans-for-weapons plan failed to meet today’s deadline, three diplomats told POLITICO’s Jacopo Barigazzi.
Speaking of national security: Downing Street refused to comment on reports the U.K. will approve the controversial Chinese mega-outpost in London. Bear in mind government officials are not shutting the claims down, which suggests it’s true. A spokesperson for Keir Starmer insisted it’s a quasi-judicial decision and independent of the prime minister. Kendall told Sky this morning that “national security will always come first.”
And speaking of Kendall: The tech secretary was out and about to promote new AI plans and a new AI growth zone. Our former POLITICO colleague Martin Alfonsin Larsen penned a great piece before he left — published this afternoon — about how the tech is coming for MP researchers … once it’s forced them to respond to a wave of “slop campaigning.”
Eyes emoji: One expert tells Martin the “sheer volume” of constituency correspondence that MPs are now getting — and the need to sift through it and reply — means the future of interacting with parliamentarians could become “AI talking to AI.”
TAXING TIMES: Defense Secretary John Healey did not pay council tax on a second home, the Telegraph reported this afternoon. A spokesperson for the defense chief said it was the result of an “administrative error” by Westminster city council, while allies told the paper he had now paid what he owed “in good faith.”
**Debrief: Who the Budget works for, and who it leaves behind. Join our editorial team on Nov. 27 at 10:00 a.m. GMT for a one-hour virtual debrief as they unpack who stands to gain, who may be left behind, and what it all means for Westminster, business, and industry. Gain insider intelligence to help navigate the post-Budget landscape with confidence. Register today.**
SOCIAL (MEDIA) AFFAIRS
NOT GOING DOWN WELL ON X: The Department for Education video with parents bragging about free breakfast clubs allowing them a lie in or to go for coffee with their pals. At least a bit of outrage about the comms means more people will hear about the rollout. Albeit at what cost?
REAL MEN TALKING ABOUT REAL THINGS: The clips from the Keir Starmer interview with walking ink canvas influencer Pete Wicks (New Media Unit klaxon) are worth a watch. The PM wells up when talking about the final time he saw his brother. And in the full podcast Wicks compliments the Downing Street coffee.
REACTION VIDS HIT SW1: New Substacker on the block Harry Lambert videoed Blue Labour peer Maurice Glasman watching Shabana Mahmood promising to tear Britain’s immigration regime a new one. It’s part of a big Glasman interview.
VIDEO ENVY: The Jewish Chronicle’s Lorin Bell-Cross profiled Dov Forman from Robert Jenrick’s team, credited with helping the shadow justice sec seriously punch up his video content. “If I’m being totally honest, Jenrick’s videos have made a lot of us change how we do our comms,” one Labour minister admitted. Full piece here.
BEYOND THE M25
UKRAINE LATEST: The new Donald Trump-backed peace plan that’s already got European leaders spooked would confirm Ukraine’s sovereignty — but limit its armed forces to 600,000 personnel and bar the country from joining NATO permanently. Read the full plan on POLITICO here.
Shouting from the sidelines: Keir Starmer said he and his French and German counterparts all agree Ukraine must decide on its own future. His comments came after a joint call with Volodomyr Zelenskyy. “We all want a just and lasting peace,” Starmer told broadcasters. “But the principle that Ukraine must determine its future under its sovereignty is a fundamental principle.”
Very much not on the sidelines: Zelenskyy himself, who said in a video address to the nation: “This is one of the most difficult moments in our history. Currently, the pressure on Ukraine is one of the hardest. Ukraine may now face a very difficult choice, either losing its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner.” More from the Times here.
Now read this: On the Comment is Freed Substack, foreign affairs academic Lawrence Freedman offers a sharp annotated version of the plan being pushed by Washington.
NET ZERO PRINCIPLES: Despite echoing the anti-net-zero noises of its central overlords, the flagship Reform council in Kent published an energy efficiency plan which is quite … green. Kent will be assessing its estate for EV charge point potential … developing a solar plan … and pushing ahead with existing heat decarbonization work. You can read the Kent County Council proposals here, and there were more details in the POLITICO Energy and Climate U.K. newsletter this morning. It is, of course, not the first time local and national Reform have pulled in different directions on climate.
TACO LATEST: Donald Trump backtracked on even more food and drink tariffs, this time on items from Brazil, amid cost of living woes in the U.S. his levies are thought to have fueled. It was a week ago that the U.S. president implemented a tariff reversal on some 200 products — even handing back levies that were paid since their implementation last November.
Speaking of trade: Britain is backing the rapid expansion of the CPTPP trade bloc to include the UAE, Uruguay, Indonesia, and the Philippines, Trade Minister Chris Bryant declared during a visit to Australia. The UAE addition could stick in the craw for Labour MP Emily Darlington, who wants the government to pressurize the Middle Eastern nation to extradite Andrew Tate to Britain to face rape and sexual assault charges when he appears there for an upcoming boxing match.
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TONIGHT’S MEDIA ROUND
LEADING THE NEWS BULLETINS: Channel 5 News (5 p.m.) is leading on the energy bill price rises … BBC News at Six is leading on Gill … ITV Evening News (6.30 p.m.) is leading on the Ukraine peace talks … Channel 4 News (7 p.m.) is leading on Gill.
Tom Swarbrick at Drive (LBC, until 7 p.m.): Anti-corruption campaigner Bill Browder.
BBC PM (Radio 4, 5 p.m.): Former intelligence officer Christopher Steele … U.K. climate rep Rachel Kyte … leader of the Ukrainian Golos Party Kira Rudik … former Barack Obama aide Jim Townsend.
Drive with Cathy Newman (Times Radio, 5 p.m.): Former intelligence officer Christopher Steele … Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine … PM biographer Tom Baldwin … former Labour frontbencher Jon Ashworth … former Conservative frontbencher Penny Mordaunt … former Volodymyr Zelenskyy aide Igor Novikov … Vice Chair of the European Parliament Defense Committee Riho Terras … Baroness Dambisa Moyo.
The News Agents (Podcast, drops at 5 p.m.): Conservative former ChancellorKen Clarke.
Dewbs and Co (GB News, 6 p.m.): Labour councillor Seb Salek … Together Association founder Alan Miller.
Any Questions (Radio 4, 8 p.m.): The panel in Belfast Metropolitan College includes Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn … Sinn Féin chair Declan Kearney … CBI rep Angela McGowan … DUP MLA Peter Martin.
Friday Night with Matt Goodwin (GB News, 8 p.m.): Political shape-shifter David Frost.
Patrick Christys Tonight (GB News, 9 p.m.): Broadcaster Linda Duberley … broadcaster Cristo Foufas … local Reform chair Orla Minihane.
Newsnight (BBC 2, 10.30 p.m.): Labour peer Thangam Debbonaire … GB News presenter Tom Harwood … Times Economics Editor Mehreen Khan.
TWEETING TOMORROW’S PAPERS TONIGHT: Alfie Tobutt.
REVIEWING THE PAPERS TONIGHT: Times Radio (10.30 p.m.): LBC Pol Ed Theo Usherwood and former spinner Jo Phillips … Sky News (10.30 p.m. and 11.30 p.m.): The Guardian’s Zoe Williams and former Tory PPC Alex Deane.
YOUR WEEKEND IN POLIICS
BIG GUN DIPLOMACY: The G20 summit continues through Saturday and Sunday in Johannesburg.
NO U-TURNS HERE: The Margaret Thatcher Centre’s inaugural policy summit takes place in Yorkshire on Saturday with speakers including Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick from 9 a.m.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO TALK ABOUT: Rail fares, with Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander on the Sunday sofas.
WEEKEND MEDIA ROUND
Week in Westminster (Radio 4, 11 a.m. on Saturday): Former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt … political shapeshifter David Frost … academic Stephen Reicher … Labour MPs Olivia Blake and Gareth Snell … Lib Dem MP Danny Chambers.
Ayesha Hazarika with Times Radio Drive (Times Radio, 4 p.m. on Saturday): Conservative peer and anti-porn campaigner Gabby Bertin.
Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips (Sky News, 8.30 a.m. on Sunday): Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander … Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride … Reform policy chief Zia Yusuf … Observer boss James Harding … economist Paul Johnson … former Channel 4 Head of News Dorothy Byrne.
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg (BBC One, 9 a.m. on Sunday): Heidi Alexander … Mel Stride … Greens leader Zack Polanski.
The Camilla Tominey Show (GB News, 9.30 a.m. on Sunday): Mel Stride … political commentator and Reform backer Tim Montgomerie … former armed forces boss Richard Dannatt.
Lewis Goodall (LBC, 10 a.m. on Sunday): Heidi Alexander … Mel Stride … former Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle … Conservative peer Ralph Lucas … Labour MP Kim Leadbeater … Night time expert Sacha Lord.
Sunday Morning with Adam Boulton (Times Radio, 10 a.m. on Sunday): Heidi Alexander … Mel Stride.
Ayesha Hazarika with Times Radio Drive (Times Radio, 4 p.m. on Sunday): Labour MP Jeevun Sandher … former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng … Labour MP Fabian Hamilton … Conservative MP James Wild … SNP MP Kirsty Blackman.
Westminster Hour (Radio 4, 10 p.m. on Sunday): Labour MP Paul Waugh … Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith … IFS boss Helen Miller … Bloomberg columnist Rosa Prince.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
COOL SHIRT, MAN: Seven T-shirts highlighting womens’ health terms often suppressed on social media — including “vagina,” “endometriosis,” and “tampon” — were confiscated by parliament security on Thursday, Playbook’s Bethany Dawson clocked. The tops were being brought in for a meeting to discuss how to, er, tackle bans on the phrases. Security services thought they might be protest material, which is very much not allowed on the estate. A Parliament spokesperson said: “We recognise the importance of democratic access to the Houses of Parliament and facilitate the visits of thousands of people to the estate each week. Security staff and officers work within publicly available guidance to decide on what items may be brought onto the Estate.”
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Former Commons Clerk Eliot Wilson wrote for Sky History about the origins and the traditions around the budget. He notes of the famous red box photoshoot: “From 1853 to 2010, the same box was used: made by Wickwar & Co of Poland Street, William Gladstone, four times Liberal prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer, carried it in 1853 for the first of his 12 Budgets, and all but two of his successors used it until it was retired because of its fragility.”
Oh, and: “In March 1733, Sir Robert Walpole, regarded as the first modern prime minister, made a financial statement to the House of Commons proposing an unpopular excise duty on wine and tobacco. He was depicted in a satirical pamphlet as a quack doctor producing dubious remedies from a medical bag under the caption ‘The Budget Opened’: a ‘budget’ was a leather bag often carried by travellers, tinkers and peddlers, borrowed from the French bougette. Applied as a slur to Walpole, it caught on, and by the 1760s was in regular use to refer to the government’s financial plans.”
PLAYBOOK BACK PAGES: Former PM Rishi Sunak revealed to the Beeb’s Matt Chorley that he would escape to the Oval for late night cricket net sessions with his cousin while he was in Downing Street. He said the ground would keep its indoor cricket school open “quite late” and the sessions were his “great stress relief.” He also recalled the time a nipper bowled him out in the No.10 garden, which tested his adherence to instructions that had said “be nice to the kids.”
ON THIS DAY IN POLITICS: On Nov. 21, 1924 then-Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin canceled an unratified trade agreement with the Soviet Union. On the same date in 1989, TV cameras were permitted to film the action in the House of Commons for the first time. And on the same date in 2019, then-Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn unveiled an election manifesto which he described as the “most radical” in the party’s history.
WRITING SUNDAY CRUNCH: Mason Boycott-Owen.
WRITING PLAYBOOK MONDAY MORNING: Andrew McDonald.
THANKS TO: My editor Matt Honeycombe-Foster and the POLITICO production team for making it look nice.
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