China in his hands — Home fires burning — Waiting for the ax – POLITICO

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Good Tuesday morning. This is Esther Webber (with Eleni Courea and Stuart Lau sending in dispatches from Bali). Emilio Casalicchio is with you for the rest of the week.

Breaking overnight: Sunday Times Editor Emma Tucker is headed stateside after less than three years in the job to helm the Wall Street Journal, according to Semafor’s Max Tani. Reminder: former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries lifted restrictions on the Times and Sunday Times becoming a seven-day operation earlier this year.

DRIVING THE DAY

CHINA IN HIS HANDS: As Rishi Sunak heads into his first full day at the G20 summit in Bali he will face questions about a softening of his stance on China, as well as a succession of rows at home which refuse to die, over both policy and judgement. Whether it’s Brexit (dis)benefits, small boats or bullying allegations, everywhere he turns he is finding that wiping the slate clean is easier said than done.

Breaking this morning: Sunak has hinted he will ditch plans to declare China a “threat” to the U.K.’s security in the updated integrated review, backing away from the harsh rhetoric he used in the leadership campaign over the summer — and creating the potential for a new collision course with Tory backbenchers. 

Rowing back: Asked by Eleni while en route to the G20, the PM softened the language he had used on the campaign trail. “I think that China unequivocally poses a systemic threat — well, a systemic challenge,” he said, correcting himself, “to our values and our interests, and is undoubtedly the biggest state-based threat to our economic security, let me put it that way.”

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Reminder: Sunak talked tough on China during the leadership contest, branding the country “the largest threat to Britain and the world’s security and prosperity this century” — a statement that raised eyebrows even among China hawks at the time, and was seen as a sign he would update the integrated review to reflect that. 

More on that: In a sign that the government is returning to a more ambivalent position, similar to the one espoused by Boris Johnson, Sunak stressed on Sunday that “China is an indisputable fact of the global economy and we’re not going to be able to resolve shared global challenges like climate change, or public health, or indeed actually dealing with Russia and Ukraine, without having a dialogue with them.” 

Not a threat: Pressed again by Eleni on whether he was dropping plans to reclassify China as a threat in the integrated review, which would have put it on par with Russia, the PM said the view he had just set out “highly aligned with our allies” and their own security strategies, naming the U.S., Canada and Australia. 

Of course … This won’t sit well with Tory China hawks, who were already concerned that a Sunak premiership would mean a tempering of the U.K.’s stance. “What more evidence does he need that they are threatening our very values and the way we live our lives?” former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith tells Eleni. “This is a cop-out on his way to the G20. The saddest part of this is that President Xi Jinping will see this about-turn as a sign of weakness by the PM.”

On the other hand: Alicia Kearns, who chairs the foreign affairs committee, suggested that formally classing China a threat would have been little more than a PR move. “It’s too easy for governments to adopt performative rather than substantive approaches to the Chinese Communist Party,” she said. “Changing the designation of China would have rendered us an outlier amongst our Five Eyes partners and risked distraction from developing a more strategic approach.” Read Eleni’s story in full here.

Right on cue: The foreign affairs committee has an evidence session on the integrated review at 2.15 p.m. this afternoon.

Sunak on Taiwan: Sunak refused to say whether the U.K. should send arms to Taiwan, as Liz Truss controversially vowed to do while she was foreign secretary. “We’re considering all these things as part of the refresh of the integrated review,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile: Previously unnoticed comments by Ben Wallace to the Lords defense committee earlier this month have raised eyebrows. The defense sec said “it is in China’s plan to reunify Taiwan to mainland China. That has been in its 50-year plan, or whatever the plan is called, so it is not a secret. Britain wants a peaceful process towards that. In 1971, the United Kingdom, alongside large parts of the international community, recognized the sovereignty of mainland China over Taiwan.” (H/t Beijing to Britain.)

AGAINST THAT BACKGROUND: Sunak addressed the first G20 session in the early hours of this morning, Eleni reports. The PM said the context for the summit was “stark” but that “one man has the power to change all of this.” He attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it was “notable” that he “didn’t feel able to join us here. Maybe if he had, we could get on with sorting things out.” Sunak pledged to “back Ukraine for as long as it takes and support peace on the basis of the U.N. Charter,” and praised Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “incredible fortitude.”

Papped: No. 10 released a picture of the PM ostensibly glaring at Sergey Lavrov during the first G20 session. The Russian foreign minister was no doubt quaking in his boots.

But back to Zelenskyy … The Ukrainian president also addressed leaders in Bali overnight — and pointedly snubbed Lavrov, who was seen in the room shortly before Zelenskyy beamed in via videolink, Stuart Lau writes in to report. In comments he directed to the “dear G19,” Zelenskyy didn’t hide his joy over Ukraine’s recent liberation of Kherson from the Russian invaders.

D-Day: Comparing the recapture of Kherson to a key turning point that swung World War II to the allies, Zelenskyy said: “It is like, for example, D-Day — the landing of the allies in Normandy.”

No bad deals: But Zelenskyy appeared anxious about potential plans to cook up some sort of negotiated peace with Putin, a concern that flared up again after reports emerged that Bill Burns, the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, met his Russian counterpart in Turkey this week. “I want this aggressive Russian war to end justly and on the basis of the U.N. Charter and international law,” Zelenskyy said. “Ukraine should not be offered to conclude compromises with its conscience, sovereignty, territory and independence. We respect the rules and we are people of our word.” Stuart’s full dispatch here.

TODAY IN BALI: As this email goes out Sunak is about to sit down with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, before being interviewed by U.K. broadcasters around 9 a.m. You can expect to see his answers to the many awkward questions facing him to start dropping shortly after that.

What’s on the agenda: Recent conversations between the U.K. and Saudi Arabia have focused on defense and energy, as well as pursuit of a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council. Sunak can be expected to continue in that vein rather than raising any pesky human rights abuses, irrespective of whether he wants to go in for a fist bump.

MONDAY’S BIG BILAT: Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden met face-to-face for three and a half hours on the margins of the G20 summit yesterday, and effectively concluded that while they were worlds apart on many issues, they shouldn’t allow relations to deteriorate to the point of open conflict. Here’s the White House readout and the Chinese government one.

How did it go? Biden’s comments afterward that “I absolutely believe there need not be a new Cold War” and that the two nations should be in “competition not conflict” might seem to set the bar pretty low, but then they were seeking to rebuild the floor rather than the ceiling of relations. As POLITICO’s Jonathan Lemire sets out in his analysis, they may have secured few concrete accomplishments, but meeting at all was seen as an important step toward deescalation.

How it’s landing: Most of the papers see it as a step to easing tensions, with the Times declaring: “Xi and Biden give peace a chance.” On the flipside, China experts cited in Jonathan’s piece — and on the Tory back benches — will argue the exercise was largely pointless because of the Chinese leader’s “record of saying one thing and doing something else.”

Bilat upon bilat: If dialogue with Beijing is the flavor of the day, then Biden and Sunak are on the same page ahead of their own sit-down meeting, scheduled for the early hours of Wednesday. At this appointment, Sunak will no doubt be seeking above all else to signal he will be just as strong as his two predecessors in support of Ukraine. 

Talking tough: Ahead of today’s meetings at the G20, Sunak said “there can be no normalization of Putin’s behavior” and stressed that “Russia’s actions put all of us at risk.”

Carrying a big stick: Sunak made a point of announcing the next phase in the Type 26 frigate program, which will see a £4.2 billion contract awarded to BAE Systems to build five more ships for the Royal Navy in addition to three already under construction. The government estimates the project will support 1,700 jobs at the BAE systems sites in Govan and Scotstoun, Glasgow, over the next decade. 

Case for the defense: On that note, the Sun’s Harry Cole reveals that Hunt and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace have reached an 11th-hour deal to avoid cuts to the armed forces. The Ministry of Defense will be able to sidestep Whitehall spending rules to borrow cash earmarked for future projects in order to meet shortfalls in current spending, Harry hears.

NOW READ THIS: With his faltering war on Ukraine, Putin has made himself and his henchmen vulnerable to prosecution for war crimes — so there’s no doubt they’re considering exit strategies. POLITICO spoke to some experts to figure out where Putin could run to, and have this slightly tongue-in-cheek story on potential boltholes. Among the top picks: Saudi Arabia, Syria and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s mansion in the Turkish coastal village of Gümüşlük. Surely Schröder has room on his couch for an old friend?

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MEANWHILE, AT HOME

HOME FIRES BURNING: Several dozen binfires are smoldering away that will require the PM’s attention sooner or later. One of them is that old chestnut, the legacy of Brexit. Sunak has always had a rather contradictory image on Brexit, favored by the more Remainer-y parts of the party even though he was a Brexiteer from the get-go. To that puzzle he can now add being the Treasury-minded prime minister tasked with defending Brexit as its economic ramifications come under increasingly open fire. 

On Monday: Former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee Michael Saunders told Bloomberg that “without Brexit, we wouldn’t be talking about austerity this week” … London said goodbye to being the most valuable European stock market … the rollout of Britain’s post-Brexit quality assurance mark has been delayed again … and a former Cabinet minister admitted the post-Brexit trade deal with Australia “wasn’t very good.”

Gorgeous George: George Eustice made a pretty punchy set of remarks in the Commons last night, arguing that the U.K.-Australia trade deal was a blow to Britain. The former environment secretary said that in that negotiation and in the New Zealand deal “the U.K. gave away far too much for far too little in return.” He went on to say the good stuff in the deal was thanks to his old department, Defra, while the rubbish bits were down to the Department for International Trade. Natch. 

We told you so: NFU trade chief Nick von Westenholz told Playbook’s Emilio Casalicchio that the agreement always ran “a major risk” that U.K. farming would be “badly damaged” but “sadly that argument was never conceded by the government, despite being pretty self-evident and confirmed by DIT’s internal impact assessments. Instead, we were always told that these two deals were good for U.K. agriculture.”

Get a grip: Conservative MP and Chairman of the environment select committee Robert Goodwill played down the remarks’ significance, telling Playbook: “The U.K. is not Australia’s primary target for beef and lamb exports and we are not likely to be swamped by these products … There are great opportunities for premium British products around the world and we should grasp rather than reject these opportunities.”

SUNAK’S TRADE CRUSADE: Trade analyst for Flint Global and frequent voice of reason Sam Lowe tweeted that the deal was on balance “fine” but that the “self-imposed deadline reduced U.K. leverage.” Which, as it happens, is exactly where Sunak is diverging from his predecessors in a trade strategy that he will get to test out as he meets with G20 leaders such as Japan’s Fumio Kishida, India’s Narendra Modi and Indonesia’s Joko Widodo over the next 24 hours. 

Slow trade movement: As top colleagues Graham Lanktree, Emilio Casalicchio and Seb Whale first reported last week, Sunak is trying to avoid the headline-grabbing deadlines favored by both Johnson and Truss, opting instead to wait for more wins from trade talks. Accession to the 11-nation Indo-Pacific trade pact CPTPP and a final deal with India aren’t expected now until early to mid-2023, sailing past deadlines set by his predecessors. 

India insight: POLITICO’s trade team hears from a person briefed on the U.K.-India talks that he will “need to avoid accusations that he has signed a deal that favors India, so will negotiate harder and possibly longer to get a deal that is balanced and which he can defend as pro-U.K.” Sunak is also expected to do more for Britain’s financial services and its services sector, seeking to calm the nerves of services firms who were increasingly alarmed at the state of the talks.

But but but: Whether it achieves the desired result is of course another matter.

Choppy waters: In more bad news for the government from the Commons, the deal on small boats did not exactly have a magical healing effect. Tory MPs warned Suella Braverman at Home Office questions that she’s at risk of throwing “good money after bad” with the new agreement with France to deter cross-Channel migrants.

Not only that: The Times’ Steven Swinford has been told that ministers have privately conceded that the latest initiative will not be enough to significantly reduce the number of people making crossings, and want to see hundreds more French officers patrolling the beaches. 

Meanwhile: The Daily Mail team of Chris Brooke, David Barrett and Ryan Hooper report that foreign nurses studying for U.K. qualifications have been told to leave their accommodation in order to make way for asylum seekers.

DOM-INEERING LATEST: If it turns out that fixing the migration system and capitalizing on Brexit are pretty difficult, Sunak is also learning that running a government based on “integrity and decency” (as he promised in the leadership campaign) doesn’t always go according to plan. Particularly when the bullying allegations keep coming against one of your key lieutenants in Cabinet.

Double whammy: Bloomberg’s Alex Wickham reports that civil service chief Simon Case was told by senior officials of concerns about Justice Secretary Deputy PM Dominic Raab’s “abrasive” treatment of junior staff, and privately took steps to try to improve his behavior, while the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot hear Raab was warned about his behavior toward officials during his time as foreign secretary by the department’s top civil servant, Simon McDonald. 

One more for good measure: ITV’s Anushka Asthana is told *another* senior FCDO figure warned others about Raab’s behavior and suggested junior staff were accompanied in meetings with him.

Awks: Raab is due to stand in for Sunak at PMQs tomorrow, which is sure to make for some interesting exchanges. As the Mirror’s John Stevens points out, it comes during anti-bullying week. 

No complaint made: Raab’s office has not denied that the conversations cited by Bloomberg and the Guardian took place, but is sticking to the line that no formal complaint has been made, as is Downing Street. Answering journalists’ questions in Bali, Sunak said he didn’t recognize the characterization of Raab in the media after days of bullying claims.

Trouble is: There’s a Catch-22 at work here here, since No. 10 can continue to deflect criticism on the basis that no complaint has been lodged, but many civil servants would not dream of making one because of a lack of faith in the system. The FDA trade union’s Dave Penman has written to the PM calling for an overhaul.

Bottom line: While the drip-drip of stories undoubtedly chips away at his standing, unless something truly devastating emerges, Sunak will want to stick with Raab if he possibly can. Losing a second minister over bullying claims in his first month as PM would deal a blow from which he might struggle to recover. 

Punching down: A few MPs told Playbook they were keen to avoid a scenario “in which demanding standards become seen as bullying.” Seen as key to Gavin Williamson’s exit was the emergence of claims he had bullied people who were junior to him, whereas former Chief Whip Wendy Morton was officially his senior. Tricky for Sunak is the fact that most of these allegations relate to Raab’s handling of junior staff. Let’s hope Hunt has found some money in the Autumn Statement to bump up the salary for the next independent ethics adviser.

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TODAY IN WESTMINSTER

WAITING FOR THE AX TO FALL: There’s an odd sense of limbo around Westminster as MPs don’t really know what to kick up a fuss over until they see the Autumn Statement on Thursday. With two Labour-led debates today, Tory MPs are on a one-line whip — not unusual, but as one Conservative MP put it, “there’s a sense they [the government] don’t want to push” with bigger battles soon to come.

Checking his list: Specifics emerge via the Times’ Steven Swinford and Chris Smyth of Sunak’s plans to replace plans for universal assistance with targeted help. He will announce a rise in the national living wage of around 10 percent and give 8 million households on Universal Credit or disability benefits payments worth up to £1,100, according to Steve and Chris.

Scrooged: Complete with Dickens-inspired photoshop, the Sun’s Harry Cole runs through the main options open to Hunt in his “Scrooge” budget and rates them for the pain they will cause. Letting energy bills soar and freezing income tax thresholds are both up there. 

Blowing in the wind: Seen as one of Hunt’s less-painful options, the FT’s Lobby team has some fresh detail on the potential for a new windfall tax on electricity generators. The idea would be to impose a new tax of 40 percent on their “excess returns” while lifting the existing windfall tax on oil and gas companies from 25 percent to 35 percent, they say.

Here we go: There’s more from the Telegraph’s Daniel Martin on Sunak’s plan for council tax, as he predicts a rewrite of the rules to allow higher increases without a local referendum in order to help meet the cost of social care. And that could mean council tax surges past £2,000 for the average household, in bad news for fans of the last Conservative Party manifesto.

Councils feel the squeeze: As it happens, two of England’s largest councils have told the government that without intervention they will be forced to declare bankruptcy within the next few months. The warning from the leaders of Kent and Hampshire county councils, who said even “drastic cuts” to current services would not be enough to shore up their resources, lead the Guardian splash by Patrick Butler. 

Not sexy: Local sexual health services are at “breaking point” due to reduced funding, a new Local Government Association report published today warns.

Black hole blacklisted: A group of economists have written to the chancellor to warn that another program of public spending cuts would constitute an “act of economic self harm.” More than 100 academics have signed a letter organized by think tank the Economic Change Unit, which rejects the idea there is an economic consensus in favor of further spending cuts.

Shutting up shop: The chief execs of retail chains including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Greggs, plus the USDAW union, have written to the chancellor calling for a freeze in business rates on Thursday. They warn of shop closures across the country without action to help reduce operating costs.

PRAYING IN AID: Sarah Champion, chair of the international development committee, has criticized the government’s pledge of £1 billion for the U.N. Global Fund — making the U.K. the only major donor to cut funding. She noted that the cap on aid spending has been reached and Thursday “represents the last hope for the U.K. to maintain its commitment to the world’s poorest as, without an uplift, I don’t know how ministers can fund their plans.”

How it started, how it’s going: The pledge was announced by International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell, whose appointment has been widely interpreted as a move to neutralize his status as one of the government’s most vocal critics on international aid.

HOME OFFICE FUNCTIONING NORMALLY LATEST: There are “significant gaps” in the Home Office Department’s understanding of the threat from fraud, according to a new report from the National Audit Office. Its most recent estimate of the cost of fraud to individuals is £4.7 billion, but this is based on 2015-16 data, and the department does not have any reliable estimate of the cost of fraud to businesses. Cool, cool.

WHAT LABOUR IS SAYING: Speaking to i’s Chloe Chaplain, Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves have called on the government to tax Amazon and non-doms more, so that ordinary people do not have to pay higher taxes to “mop up the mess” the Tories have made.

More revenue-raising ideas: In parliament today Labour will demand Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng hand back their ministerial pay-offs as the party’s analysis of ONS data suggests almost 2 million people are struggling with their mortgage costs. 

ONLY AT COP: Perhaps Playbook’s favorite “spotted” of recent months comes via CAFOD’s Frankie Leach, who shared a plane to Sharm El-Sheikh with Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy, U.K. Climate Envoy Nick Bridge, and … singer Ellie Goulding, who is an ambassador for the U.N. Environment Program.

David’s diary: Lammy is attending the summit to big up Labour’s “green” foreign policy and raising the case of jailed British-Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who is on hunger strike.

Mayor to (former) mayor: London Mayor Sadiq Khan has interviewed U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for his “Clear the Air” podcast. Buttigieg warned that direct action by climate campaigners will “drive people who are sympathetic to their cause away.” But he said it was down to politicians to create ways of engaging with young people so that “they’re less likely to feel like they’ve got to throw soup at a painting and glue themselves to the wall.”

Red to green: Former Jeremy Corbyn spokesman Matt Zarb-Cousins announced he is joining the Green Party. Asked if he might consider standing for parliament any time soon, he told Playbook: “Just keen on campaigning locally in Southend and in target seats at the next election. It’s nice to feel positive again about a political party rather than constant negativity about one I used to be involved with.”

ICYMI: Corbyn will never be given back the Labour whip, senior Labour figures told the Guardian’s Aletha Adu, Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot, meaning he’d have to fight his seat as an independent. If he’s looking for a campaign manager, Stormzy has described the way Corbyn was treated during the 2019 election as “really disheartening” in an interview with the Indy.

SCOOP — FOOTY PLEA: Kick It Out, which campaigns against racism in football, will release an open letter to the PM later this morning urging the government to not drop or water down the Online Safety Bill ahead of the World Cup. After Black England players received racist online abuse after last year’s Euros, Kick It Out Chair Sanjay Bhandari writes: “Many of us across sport are asking for a safer, more enjoyable online experience that is free from unwelcome abuse. We do not think that this is too much to ask.”

SAFETY FIRST: Playbook has seen an email from Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle asking MPs to pay attention to security features on their phones by setting up multi-factor logins and limiting the time for which messages are stored. The email highlights “recent events” which have shown “hostile states continue to target parliamentarians.” Wonder who he might mean?

ANOTHER NHS WARNING: NHS trust leaders are expecting this winter to be the worst one ever for the health service, NHS Providers warns ahead of its annual conference beginning today. In a survey of trust leaders, 85 percent said they are more worried about this winter than any previous one in their NHS careers. Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting will give the keynote speech today (4.10 p.m.), with his government counterpart Steve Barclay speaking tomorrow (9.35 a.m.).

HOUSE OF COMMONS: Sits from 11.30 a.m. with the pre-Autumn Statement warm-up that is Treasury questions … After the usual UQs and statements, Labour have opposition day debates on ministerial severance payments and Britain’s industrial future … Elsewhere in HM’s opposition, Labour left MP Richard Burgon has an adjournment debate on the “potential merits of enabling the public to call a general election.”

COMMITTEE CORRIDOR: The economics of music streaming are under the microscope at the DCMS committee (10 a.m.) … Reps from Amazon and Zoom will be grilled on AI in the workplace at the BEIS committee (10.15 a.m.) … Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has another committee appearance to look forward to, this time discussing the NI protocol at the European scrutiny committee (2 p.m.) … Former Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind will be sharing his views on the integrated review at the foreign affairs committee (2.15 p.m.) … and Food Minister Mark Spencer is up at the EFRA committee (2.30 p.m.). Full list here.

HOUSE OF LORDS: Sits from 2.30 p.m. with questions on the Midlands Rail Hub, swing bridges and help for elderly people targeted by scammers … Before peers take part in a short debate on calls for peace talks between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

NOT WESTMINSTER BUT: Democrat hopes of retaining the House are fading after another day of vote counting following the U.S midterms. Twenty seats remain uncalled as of this morning and the Republicans are looking increasingly likely to take enough of them to eke out a narrow majority in the lower chamber of Congress, with the Dems having already retained the Senate. As POLITICO’s Zach Montellaro reports, Joe Biden and his team are still pretty happy with the results after the expected Republican red wave failed to materialize.

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HANCOCK WATCH

ARE THE PUBLIC BORED OF MATT HANCOCK? For the first time in the series, Matt Hancock will not be taking part in the humiliation of I’m A Celeb’s next Bushtucker Trial this evening. In last night’s public vote, the whipless MP failed to even make the top three — with disc jockey Chris Moyles, comedian Babatúndé Aléshé and singer Boy George voted in for the three-person trial “Angel of Agony.” After voting five times for him to do trials featuring aggressive snakes, a camel penis and Hancock being literally buried alive in last night’s episode, have the public tired of torturing the former health secretary?

Still watching Hancock so you don’t have to: Before Hancock’s shock election loss, viewers were treated to his latest trial appearance and the aforementioned living burial. In “Deserted Down Under,” Hancock was given the task of unscrewing 11 stars in 11 minutes while underground in a coffin filled with (30) snakes. As if that wasn’t brutal enough, ITV also re-recruited the snake from Sunday’s challenge that took an instant disliking to the former Tory MP and plunged him into complete darkness halfway through.

Hancock vs. Snakes, part II: Much like 90 percent of those COVID pressers back in the day, the trial was a bit of a damp squib. Both Hancock and the 30 snakes kept their cool despite intimately sharing the cramped space — one poor snake even found itself wandering up Hancock’s shorts. The former health secretary made it out with a respectable seven out of 11 stars and declared that he had conquered his fear of snakes. “I thought of my children, I thought of Gina, I thought of everyone I loved,” he told Ant & Dec. Despite their best efforts, ITV haven’t broken him yet.

Driving the day (in the jungle): The general public’s mercy means Hancock won’t face a trial today, but trouble still lies ahead. In last night’s episode he was shown to be enjoying his new status as camp leader and rubbed up some of his campmates — particularly Boy George, again — the wrong way with some overzealous delegating. A leadership challenge could be brewing.

Mentions of dyslexia: You guessed it — zero.

Undeterred: A spokesperson for Hancock insisted that, “by going on the show, Matt hopes to raise the profile of his dyslexia campaign.” Unfortunately for him, whether he’s been talking about it or not, ITV are under no obligations to use the footage.

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MEDIA ROUND

Shadow Leveling Up Secretary Lisa Nandy broadcast round: Times Radio (7.35 a.m.) … ITV GMB (7.50 a.m.) … Sky News (8.05 a.m.) … talkTV (8.45 a.m.).

Also on Kay Burley: Defense committee Chairman Tobias Ellwood (7.15 a.m.) … Tory MP David Davis (8.30 a.m.) …

Nick Ferrari at Breakfast (LBC): Former National Security Adviser Mark Lyall Grant (7.05 a.m.) … Former Blair adviser John McTernan (7.40 a.m.).

Also on TalkTV Breakfast: Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith (7.05 a.m.) … Care England CEO Martin Green (9.25 a.m.).

Also on Times Radio breakfast: Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers (7.05 a.m.) … Rear Admiral Chris Parry, former Royal Navy warfare office and aviator (7.25 a.m.) … Former Chair of NICE Dr. David Haslam (8.05 a.m.) … Former Efficiency Minister Theodore Agnew (8.15 a.m.) … Leaders panel with former Conservative leader William Hague and former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale (9.10 a.m.).

Politics Live (BBC Two 12.15 p.m.): Tory MP Danny Kruger … Lib Dem MP Tim Farron … The Sunday Telegraph’s Zoe Strimpel … The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee.

Cross Question with Iain Dale (LBC 8 p.m.): Tory MP Liam Fox … Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed … The Sun’s Noa Hoffman … i columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

Reviewing the papers tonight: Sky News (10.30 and 11.30 p.m.): … Times Radio (10.30 p.m.): Pollster Joe Twyman and former Education Secretary Justine Greening … talkTV (10.20 p.m.): Shadow Domestic Violence Minister Jess Phillips and Tory MP Bim Afolami.

TODAY’S FRONT PAGES

(Click on the publication’s name to see its front page.)

Daily Express: Rishi gets it … ‘pensioners at forefront of my mind.’

Daily Mail: Nurses paying price of migrant crisis.

Daily Mirror: Axe the triple lock … and people will die — TV legend Ricky Tomlinson’s warning.

Daily Star: It’s a cluckin’ disgrace.

Financial Times: Taiwan tensions overshadow Biden and Xi’s push to improve relations.

HuffPostUK: Ex-minister rubbishes Truss Aussie trade deal.

i: Starmer — Raise U.K. taxes for Amazon and non-doms, not lower earners.

Metro: Yes oui can.

PoliticsHome: Here’s what to expect from Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement.

POLITICO UK: Rishi Sunak ditches plan to class China as a ‘threat’ to UK security.

The Daily Telegraph: Households face steep increase in council tax.

The Guardian: Tory councils warn Sunak on stark risk of bankruptcy.

The Independent: Pensioners set to escape raid on public spending.

The Sun: Why I blanked Gary Neville.

The Times: Sunak will help poorest by boosting living wage.

LONDON CALLING

WESTMINSTER WEATHER: ☁️☁️☁️

BIRTHDAYS: North Norfolk MP Duncan Baker … Wrexham MP Sarah Atherton … Former Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad … Former Shadow Scotland Secretary Lesley Laird … Former Tory leader in the European Parliament Ashley Fox … Department for International Trade Director Paul McComb … The News Movement editor-in-chief Kamal Ahmed … Channel 4 News Foreign Affairs correspondent Jonathan Rugman.

PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editor Zoya Sheftalovich, reporter Andrew McDonald and producer Grace Stranger.

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Esther Webber

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