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LITERAL SCOOP: Keir Starmer had a brush with French beach police for selling ice creams illegally while a student, my colleagues Ailbhe Rea and Aggie Chambre reveal in today’s Westminster Insider podcast.
Sorry, what? A university friend of Starmer tells today’s edition — the first in a two-part profile — that officers confiscated the future Labour leader’s contraband after he and his mates were duped into selling ice creams on a lads’ holiday for “about four francs a day.” Labour insists “no arrests were made” and “the only loss of liberty occurred to some cut-price ice creams.” Write-up here.
All this from: The so-called Mr. Rules who thought the dual carriageway speed limit was 60 mph (not 70) … and, er, was director of Public Prosecutions when a man was jailed for 16 months for (checks notes) stealing two scoops of ice cream during the 2011 riots.
Good Friday morning. This is Dan Bloom, back from holiday. Rosa Prince returns on Monday.
**A message from Ørsted: Ensuring that we maximise the benefit of the expansion of offshore wind in the UK means making sure even more of our supply chain is globally competitive. Achieving this will require industry and Government to work together in partnership. Find out more about Ørsted’s UK supply chain here.**
DRIVING THE DAY
AND NOW, MISERY: Jeremy Hunt is meeting the biggest high street mortgage lenders from around 8 a.m. to cap a grim week for the economy — which saw inflation stubbornly high, interest rates surge to 5 percent, and his own MPs alternating between throwing brickbats at the Bank of England and pleading with the government to do more.
Breakfast at Jeremy’s: The chancellor is expected to spend about an hour in 11 Downing Street with CEOs such as Lloyds’ Charlie Nunn … Santander U.K.’s Mike Regnier … Nationwide’s Debbie Crosbie … Barclays U.K.’s Matt Hammerstein … NatWest’s Alison Rose … HSBC UK’s Ian Stuart … Virgin Money’s David Duffy … plus the Financial Conduct Authority’s Nikhil Rathi.
On the table: Whether things banks already do (and pledged at a similar meeting in December) are being done consistently, like extending mortgage terms … allowing repayment holidays … and switching people to interest-only. The Mail’s Jason Groves hears similar, with a Tory source saying holidays “would be a game changer” for families struggling to cope with annual extra bills in the thousands.
BUT BUT BUT: With variable mortgage rates already creeping up by the hour, critics will no doubt ask what this meeting actually achieves in the short term. Government officials have been hosing down any hint of a big breakthrough or new policy. Only a mid-morning readout is planned and Hunt is doing no media.
Rishing in action: There was no suggestion overnight that Rishi Sunak would “drop in” to liven things up. The PM is meeting troops on an Armed Forces Day visit this morning (no media invited) before spending the weekend in No. 10. Incidentally Sunak, much of the Cabinet and Keir Starmer all spent Thursday evening at Rupert Murdoch’s summer party (more below).
Everything is fine: Government officials insist there’s currently little sign of distress in the mortgage market. Today’s meeting is about drilling into consumer data to model the potential time bomb coming down the track. A survey by research group GfK found U.K. consumer confidence actually rose in June (via the FT) … while Treasury Minister Andrew Griffith tells the Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics arrears are “almost as low as [they have] ever been.”
THE BIGGER DRAMA: Might come after Hunt’s meeting early next week with regulators — including Ofwat, Ofgem, Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority — to “make sure falls in input costs are passed onto consumers.” In other words, don’t profiteer. The Telegraph focuses on that, as does the i on Sunak’s warning that “we are looking at the supermarkets” in particular.
FEELING THE PAIN: Despite officials hosing down hopes of a big bang moment (and the Titan submarine disaster leading most papers) the i splashes on Sunak ruling out tax cuts, while the Times devotes half its front page to the story with the headline: “Mortgage misery for millions.”
Excrement, meet fan: The Times says annual bills face being £6,300 a year higher than in 2021 … Halifax raised its standard variable rate to 8.49 percent, the highest since 1998 … and economists believe rates will have to climb another whole point to 6 percent by the end of the year. And that’s before you get to renters.
BLAME THE BANK: There may be a shortage of cheap credit but Tory criticism of the central bank — and its Governor Andrew Bailey — is voluminous. Government officials were defending him overnight but No. 10’s support at Thursday’s lobby briefing was not quite full-throated.
Rumpus of the Bailey: Jacob Rees-Mogg tells the Mail Bailey is the “chief ostrich” with his head in the sand … a front-page trailed Richard Littlejohn column says “I wouldn’t trust this governor to look after my push bike” … Tory MP Christopher Chope tells PoliticsHome “the blame lies with the governor” and “what credibility has he got?” … An anonymous MP tells the i Bailey “looks completely deflated all the time” and should be replaced with “a nice safe pair of hands” … John Baron told Channel 4 News the Bank had been “asleep at the wheel.”
Defense case: Baron also told LBC removing Bailey is “not going to do markets any good,” while Tory moderate Damian Green told PoliticsHome that the lesson of Liz Truss is that “if the government starts attacking independent institutions, then the markets take fright.”
WHAT TO DO? Government officials are continuing to rebuff calls from some Tory MPs for a mortgage relief scheme, saying it would fuel inflation — but one predicts a U-turn, telling the i: “If they are saying that’s going to cause inflation I think they need to go to the toilet, put their head down and flush the chain.”
Why not try these? Tory peer David Frost has written in the Telegraph with his “10 policies to save Sunak from oblivion,” including delaying the 2050 net zero target, getting tax and spending “down to Blair-era levels” over a decade and pledging to get net migration down to 100,000. Have we heard that last one before?
ONE PROBLEM: By making halving inflation one of his five pledges, Rishi Sunak has made himself personally responsible — even if he is right to leave authority over interest rates to the Bank. The Mirror’s spread opens with the words “Rishi Sunak tried to dodge the blame.” Expect more of that kind of thing.
Speaking of which: Grimace-inducing YouGov polling out on Thursday evening suggests the public is, er, not yet convinced by Sunak’s five pledges. Some 82 percent say the vow to reduce inflation is going badly; 84 percent say the same of the pledge to cut NHS waiting lists.
From the opposition: Labour analysis of ONS figures claims 300,000 firms have cut staff hours due to price rises … while the Lib Dems urge Hunt to “reverse the £3 billion of tax cuts being given to banks.”
But here’s a problem for Labour: Ben Zaranko of the IFS think tank tells the i’s Hugo Gye that next year’s spending review will be “extremely difficult” — for whichever flavor of government is in power. That is because current figures already “imply cuts for most services that are not the NHS,” and more spending now “would probably be inflationary.” Happy Friday everybody.
LABOUR LAND
STARMER RESPONDS: Labour’s soft scoop black marketeer — sorry, party leader — is also visiting troops ahead of Armed Forces Day with shadow defense sec John Healey. He is expected to record a pool clip at RAF Brize Norton by 11.15 a.m.
GRAY DAY SCOOPLET: Former Whitehall ethics chief Sue Gray should learn very soon when she can become Starmer’s chief of staff — as the all-important advice letter on her appointment was handed to the government this week, two people with knowledge of the process tell Playbook. A decision could come as soon as next week.
Reminder: The Times has already reported that the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments wants only a six-month gap to this fall — far less than furious Conservatives wanted. But Playbook hears ministers have not yet decided whether they want to overrule ACOBA, and push for a longer gap.
GLASTO SPAT: Ed Miliband’s camp has denied Just Stop Oil’s claim that the “cowardly” shadow climate secretary was “banned from speaking at Glastonbury” by the Labour leadership — to avoid him sharing a stage with the traffic-halting campaign group. Team Miliband insists his noon Saturday spot on the Leftfield stage is going ahead, and JSO’s Indigo Rumbelow is on a different stage.
Labour vs. left Pt 2: Shadow health sec Wes Streeting also disputed left-wing singer Billy Bragg’s claim that “we replaced him” at Glasto with fellow Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan, tweeting: “I had to pull out because I have a relative who is desperately ill.”
BREXIT TURNS SEVEN
HAPPY BREXIT! Exactly seven years since the U.K. voted to leave the EU, the issue has lost much of its past froth — but still generates plenty of speculation over what our relationship with Brussels will look like in future.
OLD WOUNDS: Boris Johnson was confronted by fishing industry big hitters in August 2021 over the terms of the Brexit agreement with the EU — only to retort: “Frosty said it was a good deal!” according to two people present. (That’s U.K. negotiator David Frost to you and me.) It’s part of a meticulously reported long read on how Brexit “betrayed” the U.K. fishing industry by my appropriately named colleague Sebastian Whale, in which one fisherman says it was a “total con” and another sighs: “They told us everything that we wanted to hear.” Read it here.
REMAINERS SEIZE CHANCE: The Independent has op-eds from former EU negotiator Michel Barnier — who says Brussels will be willing to thrash out new treaties in areas like security, defense or development where Boris Johnson “refused to negotiate” — and anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, who says it’s “time to start the process” of rejoining the EU.
Speaking of a closer relationship: Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy has used an LBC interview to urge a “special partnership” with the EU and say Labour’s stance is “a floor, not a ceiling.” Which begs the ever-vexed question … where precisely is Labour’s ceiling?
Poll positions: A Deltapoll survey for the Tony Blair Institute (also via the Indy) says 18 percent of Leave voters in 2016 now think the U.K. was wrong to leave the bloc — and 78 percent of all voters would back a closer relationship in future. The U.K. in a Changing Europe think tank, whose widely covered poll on Thursday said 18 percent of Leavers think Brexit has gone well (but 72 percent want to stop talking about it), is holding a Twitter Space at 1 p.m.
(SOME OF) THE NATION SPEAKS: Question Time’s solely Brexit-voting audience was the most interesting part of Thursday night’s show in Clacton (live-blogged by the BBC) as the panellists mostly rehearsed their long-held views, writes Playbook reporter Noah Keate.
Mega vox pop: One defiant Brexiteer said it made her “blood boil” to hear the claim voters were lied to, while a man insisted his vote “wasn’t because of a political slogan on the side of a bus.” But another member accused politicians of boasting Brexit would be a success, if only “it went to a different school.”
What Remainers want to tweet about: The audience member who said she voted Leave because France let people on roofs without safety guards. SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn shared the clip archly.
No minister: An official tells your author the government did offer up Treasury PPS Anthony Mangnall — but QT organizers then went with veteran backbencher John Redwood instead (as reported by Guido).
DAWN CALL: Why not greet the day like John Redwood? Despite being on Question Time last night, the veteran Tory tweeted at 5.20 a.m.: “Happy Brexit day. I am so pleased people voted to take back control. Now more political leaders and senior officials need to use our freedoms instead of running down our country.”
SADIQ <3 THE EU: Sadiq Khan’s Greater London Authority wanted to fly the EU flag from its new City Hall today — but is “banned” under laws that took effect in 2021, a disgruntled official tells both Playbook and the Guardian. After Brexit, the EU emblem was taken off the government’s list of flags that can be flown without getting planning permission first.
Pressure on Starmer: It’s not just the government Khan is leaning on … he has also written an open letter highlighting his support for giving EU citizens the vote. Starmer has merely said he’s looking at the idea and there’s no settled policy.
Growing pattern: The i’s Paul Waugh says there is a battle in Labour about whether to disown Khan’s plan to expand the ULEZ emission charging zone in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election. Waugh says it highlights how Starmer’s vision is diverging from Khan’s — with London’s mayor still sounding more like the leftier version of Starmer we used to see back in 2020.
**POLITICO Pro Energy & Climate UK provides fresh policy news on Westminster’s pathway to net-zero. With newsletters, alerts and round-the-clock policy coverage, you’ll stay ahead of the curve of the next climate policy decision. Get started here.**
TODAY IN WESTMINSTER
STAND BY YOUR BEDS: The Royal College of Nursing’s fresh strike ballot closes today, but Playbook hears the result may only be announced next Tuesday.
Party’s over? If it’s a “yes” it could mean a country-wide mandate to walk out (not just individual trusts). But NHS insiders tell the Times’ Chris Smyth they expect this to be the end of the road — with the number of nurses voting set to fall short of the 50 percent turnout threshold. The vote is about pay deals which are already accepted by the NHS Staff Council.
Off the rails: There’s plenty of backlash to the RMT’s three days of rail strikes around the start of the school holidays, with “industry sources” telling the Mail the year-long dispute could drag to summer 2024 (!). The Department for Transport’s civil service press office issued a statement saying people are “growing tired of union bosses playing politics with their lives.”
DIPLOMATIC ROW: The Telegraph splashes on “government sources” putting the boot into Joe Biden for blocking Ben Wallace’s run for NATO secretary-general. One says: “We’re supposed to be their closest ally. And this is what we get.”
VOTES DENIED: The Mirror and Guardian are among outlets running the first official figures on the requirement to show ID to vote in May’s local elections. The Electoral Commission estimates 14,000 people couldn’t vote as a result.
The government line: “99.75 percent were able to cast their vote successfully.” This is based on people who turned up to the polling station, but the watchdog claims “significantly more” did not even try to attend.
TORY TV: What better way to spend Friday night than tuning in at 7 p.m. to Lee Anderson’s first show on GB News. The red wall MP turned TV host — paid the £100,000-a-year he opposed for MPs’ second jobs — pre-recorded on Thursday.
Ofcom will love this: Playbook hears Anderson interviewed Nigel Farage, ex-Labour MP Simon Danczuk, and … his red wall Tory colleague Brendan Clarke-Smith. Ofcom rules currently say serving politicians can be TV interviewers, even of serving MPs from their own party, as long as it’s not part of a news program or during an election — but is now conducting new research that could lead the question to be reopened.
ONE HOUR LATER: Nadine Dorries’ TalkTV show runs at 8 p.m. including an interview with Rachel Johnson — two weeks after the Conservative MP said she was quitting “with immediate effect” after being left off Boris Johnson’s honors list. She has since said she won’t quit until she has answers from No. 10.
Don’t let her read this: The Guardian’s Peter Walker has a waspish piece suggesting Dorries’ last known constituency office may have been “closed down and is now a dance studio,” and quoting a “TV source” who says she appeared on camera from a Cotswolds home but asked to be cited as being in London.
MINISTERIAL CREEP: Retired judge Crossbench peer Elizabeth Butler-Sloss has warned of a “distinct creep” toward executive powers and away from parliamentary scrutiny, in an interview with the Lord Speaker’s Corner podcast.
COMPUTER SAYS NO: The backlog in the audit system for councils is “close to breaking point” and may get worse before improving, according to a public accounts committee report.
TOO MANY COOKS? Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has urged Ofsted to urgently inspect a school at the centre of a gender identity row, writes the Mail’s Martin Beckford. She has written to the regulator … despite, er, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan already asking a regional director to “look into the matter” at Rye College.
Contested facts: This began with a viral TikTok of a teacher apparently defending a pupil’s right to identify as a cat. But the school has issued a statement (carried by the Mail) saying “no children at Rye College identify as a cat.” Otto English in Byline says he hears similar from someone who was in the room, and claims the original conversation has been over-interpreted. The Mail has a spread saying “several parents” say “furries” are “in classrooms right now.”
TANGLED WEB: The Guardian has an investigation on U.S. billionaire Kenneth Griffin’s investment in a firm set up by Tory veteran Greville Howard … whose Westminster mansion hosted Boris Johnson’s leadership bid. There is also said to be a link to elections guru Lynton Crosby.
ROBOTS MARCH ON: The government has announced a £21 million fund to use “AI imaging and decision support tools” for diagnosing cancers, strokes and heart conditions in the NHS.
RUBBISH STORY: At least one in five councils issued no littering fines in a year, according to FOI research by the Clean Up Britain campaign (via the Times).
NEXT LEGAL FIGHT: The Law Society has been granted permission to challenge criminal legal aid levels in the High Court.
PARLIAMENT: Not sitting.
BY-ELECTION RAMPS UP: After Lib Dem Somerton and Frome candidate Sarah Dyke’s car crash interview (do scroll to 19 minutes in if you haven’t already), Labour will be praying its candidate Neil Guild will fare better … as will the Tories with Faye Purbrick. Both were selected on Thursday night.
Tick tock: Eyes remain peeled for the long-awaited report into the conduct of Somerton and Frome’s departed MP David Warburton. Those who took part in the inquiry have been told it’s coming “soon,” my colleague Esther Webber emails to say … although they have been hearing that for six months now.
HIS BACK YARD: Tory candidate (and George Osborne protege) Rupert Harrison told his selection meeting that his approach to housing development is, er, “to slow things down,” according to a recording handed to the New Statesman. That’ll do it.
FRIDAY BOOZE: Chatham House hosts a drinks reception in celebration of Pride Month from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
BEYOND THE M25
SCOTS LAW: MSPs passed the controversial Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill by 66 votes to 44, making jail a last resort for suspected criminals. It aims to reduce prison numbers but victims’ groups urged MSPs to reject the law. The Herald has more.
SCHOOL’S OUT FOREVER: A landmark review has proposed scrapping exams for S4 pupils and creating a Scottish Diploma of Achievement — The Scotsman has a write-up.
SUBMERSIBLE TRAGEDY: All five people onboard the Titan submersible died in what the U.S. Coast Guard believes was a catastrophic implosion. The tragedy makes many front pages — POLITICO has the write-up.
GREEK BOAT TRAGEDY LATEST: The EU Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, will compile a “serious incident report” on the capsized boat off the coast of Greece in which potentially hundreds of migrants died. My POLITICO colleague Jacopo Barigazzi has more.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE: U.S. President Joe Biden said his remarks referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping as a dictator haven’t “had any real consequence” on relations. Bloomberg has the write-up.
**A message from Ørsted: Ensuring that the UK maximises the benefit of the expansion of offshore wind in the UK and around the world means making sure even more of our supply chain is globally competitive. Achieving this will require industry and Government to work together in partnership. There have been huge successes in the UK supply chain over the last decade. Ørsted has directly placed major contracts with over 215 UK companies, 60 of these suppliers have also supported our global portfolio. Creating even more UK-based suppliers who are internationally competitive will take investment in ports and skills, and an industrial strategy that supports investment in the UK. Find out more about our vision for the UK supply chain here.**
MEDIA ROUND
Shadow Business and Consumers Minister Seema Malhotra broadcast round: TalkTV (7.45 a.m.) … Sky News (8.05 a.m.) … Times Radio (8.35 a.m.) … LBC News (8.50 a.m.) … GB News (9.10 a.m.).
Also on Sky News Breakfast: Former Chief Economist of the British Bankers’ Association Rebecca Harding (7.30 a.m.) … President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Adrian Boyle (8.20 a.m.) … Royal College of GPs Chair Kamila Hawthorne (8.45 a.m.).
On the Today program: Harriett Baldwin, chair of the Treasury Committee (7.15 a.m.) … Former Asda boss Andy Clarke (8.10 a.m.).
Also on GB News Breakfast: Former Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Mellor (8.10 a.m.).
Also on Times Radio breakfast: Martin Weale, former member of Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (7.15 a.m.) … Co-Founder of OceanGate Expeditions Guillermo Söhnlein (8.05 a.m.).
Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: Former BoE adviser Roger Gewolb (7.05 a.m.) … Armed Forces Minister James Heappey (8.50 a.m.).
James O’Brien (LBC): Mayor of London Sadiq Khan phone-in (10 a.m. to 10.30 a.m.) … Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Igor Zhovkva (12.30 p.m.).
TODAY’S FRONT PAGES
POLITICO UK: Hook, line and sinker — How Brexit betrayed the UK fishing industry.
Daily Express: Titanic claims lives of five more victims.
Daily Mail: The Titanic claims five more lives.
Daily Mirror: Lost to the deep.
Daily Star: You big drip.
Financial Times: Bank of England takes interest rates to five percent in effort to put a lid on inflation.
i: Sunak rules out tax cuts after interest rate hits five percent.
Metro: Titan five died in implosion.
The Daily Telegraph: U.S. accused of turning against U.K. over NATO.
The Guardian: Recession fears as inflation forces Bank to raise rates to 15-year high.
The Independent: Sub search ends in tragedy as debris reveals ‘implosion.’
The Sun: They had no chance.
The Times: Mortgage misery for millions.
TODAY’S NEWS MAGS
The Economist: The trouble with sticky inflation.
THANK POD IT’S FRIDAY
EU Confidential: The team discuss how Ukraine can be rebuilt with European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis.
Westminster Insider: POLITICO’s Ailbhe Rea and Aggie Chambre begin a two-part profile of Labour leader Keir Starmer, including a visit to his childhood home.
Plus 6 of the other best political podcasts to listen to this weekend:
Chopper’s Politics: Christopher Hope speaks to Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith, Assistant Government Whip Joy Morrissey and former CPS policy chief Tim Knox.
Committee Corridor: Women and equalities committee Chair Caroline Nokes examines education after the pandemic with education committee Chair Robin Walker and PAC Chair Meg Hillier.
Encompass: Paul Adamson is in conversation with former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England Paul Tucker about his book Global Discord: Values and Power in a Fractured World Order.
Holyrood Sources: The team talk to former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale about Nicola Sturgeon, Labour’s energy strategy and whether the party’s surge in support is real.
Iain Dale All Talk: Dale interviews academic and Labour PPC Faiza Shaheen about social mobility and her book Know Your Place: How society sets us up to fail — and what we can do about it.
Pod Save the U.K.: Nish Kumar and Coco Khan hear from Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham about COVID-19, Hillsborough and whether he’ll go back to Westminster.
LONDON CALLING
WESTMINSTER WEATHER: Still sunny with a gentle breeze. Highs of 27C.
SPOTTED … at Rupert Murdoch’s summer party at 18th Century aristocratic palace Spencer House, where outside PA’s snapper clicked and inside guests enjoyed finger bowls including peas and chorizo … Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty … Keir Starmer (but not his wife) … Cabinet ministers Oliver Dowden, Suella Braverman, Simon Hart, Penny Mordaunt, Alex Chalk, Grant Shapps, James Cleverly, Chris Heaton-Harris, Gillian Keegan, Michael Gove, and Kemi Badenoch … Gove’s daughter Beatrice and ex-wife and columnist Sarah Vine … Badenoch’s SpAd and ex-Sun leader-writer Dylan Sharpe … Labour’s Rachel Reeves, Wes Streeting, Sadiq Khan and Anas Sarwar … Ex-Tory leaders Liz Truss, William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith … Ex-Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi … Treasury Minister Andrew Griffith … Tory MPs Alok Sharma and Jacob Rees-Mogg …
And breathe: … No. 10 Director of Communications Amber de Botton and Press Secretary Nerissa Chesterfield … MI6’s ‘C’ Richard Moore and MI5 Director General Ken McCallum … V&A Director Tristram Hunt … News U.K.’s David Dinsmore and Rebekah Brooks … TLS Editor Martin Ivens … Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.K. Vadym Prystaiko … Members of King Charles’s inner circle including his Private Secretary Clive Alderman and Communications Secretary Tobyn Andreae … Newspaper editors Tony Gallagher, Victoria Newton, Ben Taylor, Paul Dacre and John Witherow … News U.K. political eds Steve Swinford, Caroline Wheeler, Harry Cole, Kate Ferguson and Kate McCann … The Sunday Times’ Tim Shipman … Radio presenters Chris Evans, Mike Graham, Stig Abell, Julia Hartley-Brewer and Matt Chorley.
Also spotted … at Deputy PM’s spokesman Jamie Davies’ leaving do in the Old Shades pub in Whitehall: PM’s official spokesman Max Blain … Former Downing Street Directors of Communications James Slack and Jack Doyle … No. 10 officials Georgia Sale, Georgie Barker and Camilla Marshall … Cabinet Office comms’ Tom Whitehead, Dan Hatton and Shaun Jepson … Home Office Head of News Craig Saunders … The FCDO’s Owen Bassett … MoD Head of News Matt Jackson … DLUHC’s Ray Tang … The Sun’s Ryan Sabey and Jack Elsom … Strand Partners’ Jess Seldon … Palantir Technologies’ Ben Mascall … and the Tony Blair Institute’s Rachel Yeomans.
ORWELL THAT ENDS WELL: The Orwell Prizes were awarded at a ceremony at Conway Hall on Thursday night — Peter Apps, author of “Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen,” won for political writing … Tom Crowe, author of “The New Life,” which explores sexual identities in 1890s London, won for political fiction … The Observer’s Shanti Das and Mark Townsend jointly won for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils reporting on modern slavery in the care sector and the kidnapping of children from Home Office care respectively … Journalists Daniel Lavelle and Freya Marshall Payne jointly won for reporting homelessness … and Gary Younge won for journalism.
DON’T MENTION BREXIT: Channel 4’s Celebrity Gogglebox features one Alastair Campbell and his daughter, comedian Grace Campbell, tonight at 9 p.m.
LISTEN TO: As the NHS turns 75, Martha Kearney’s episode of UK Confidential exploring the secret government papers behind its creation — originally broadcast in 2018 — is on Radio 4 at 9 p.m.
PODCAST MATTERS: The New European is launching the paper’s first weekly podcast — The Two Matts — hosted by the New European’s Editor Matt Kelly and Editor-at-Large Matthew d’Ancona.
WORTHY OF ATTENTION: Glastonbury gets into full swing from today, with widespread coverage across the BBC. While political speakers include Ed Miliband, Darren Jones and Rosena Allin-Khan, the real question is — who will do a Tom Watson? Labour Deputy Chief Whip Mark Tami is among MPs attending.
FRIDAY FILM CLUB: The 2020 film Misbehaviour about the disruption to the 1970 Miss World competition is on BBC One on Saturday at 10.20 p.m. … and the 2017 film Dunkirk, about the 1940 evacuation, is on BBC Two on Sunday at 9 p.m.
DON’T MISS: DSIT Minister George Freeman is interviewed on Political Thinking with Nick Robinson about “the challenge of dealing with buccaneering tech billionaires” at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday on Radio 4.
OVER ON INSTA: Former Justice Secretary Robert Buckland joined the influencer club of MPs (aka Matt Hancock) with a “week in my life” video.
NOAH’S CULTURE FIX: Tate Modern’s exhibition of sculptures by the Prague-born Slovak artist Maria Bartuszová closes on Sunday — a half-hour walk from Westminster.
NOW READ: PressGazette interviews Camilla Wright, boss of Popbitch — who declares her favorite newsletter POLITICO’s Playbook or the Daily Beast’s Confider. We aim to please.
BIRTHDAYS: Social Care Minister Helen Whately … Transport Minister Jesse Norman … South Holland and The Deepings MP John Hayes … SNP DCMS Spokesperson at Westminster John Nicolson … Former High Peak MP Andrew Bingham … Former Deputy Mayor of London Roger Evans … Tory peer Alan Haselhurst … Labour peer Derry Irvine … Centre for Policy Studies director Robert Colvile … Ministry of Justice SpAd Callum Price … Department for Energy Security and Net Zero SpAd Jessica Webb … POLITICO’s Etienne Bauvir turns 40 … POLITICO’s Ali Walker.
Not to mention … Kate Day, POLITICO Europe’s deputy editor-in-chief, turns 40 today, after a whirlwind year leading our U.K. expansion — including a move to a new office next week. Cheers boss!
Celebrating over the weekend: No. 10 Deputy Chief of Staff Will Tanner … Former North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson … Lord Commissioner of the Treasury Scott Mann … Commons justice committee Chair Bob Neill … Lib Dem peer Kate Parminter … Tory peer David Freud … Former Labour adviser John McTernan … Cabinet Office SpAd Lucy Noakes … The Spectator’s Kate Andrews … South Staffordshire MP Gavin Williamson … Birmingham Northfield MP Gary Sambrook … Observer Science Editor Robin McKie … POLITICO’s Anne McElvoy and Camille Gijs.
PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editor Zoya Sheftalovich, reporter Noah Keate and producer Dato Parulava.
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