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POLITICS VACATES THE FIELD — AND HEADS TO THE PUB

By Dan Bloom
August 18, 2023 8:00 am CET
>10 minutes read
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By DAN BLOOM



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Send tips here | Subscribe for free | Listen to Playbook and view in your
browser

Good Friday morning from Milford Haven. This is Dan Bloom.


DRIVING THE DAY

IT’S RECESS! The midweek inflation and A-levels news flurry has given way to a
meandering Friday lull, with tributes to Parky and a mishmash of other stories
leading the papers. Rishi Sunak is already back in his North Yorkshire
constituency, where the PM will watch the Lionesses on Sunday. Is there a TV
within sight of that swimming pool?

IT’S STAYING HOME: Speaking of the Women’s World Cup, the dawning realization
that many pubs won’t be allowed to serve booze in the buildup to the 11 a.m.
kick-off — under licenses that vary venue by venue — has prompted a
back-and-forth worthy of a political recess drinking game.

First: The British Beer and Pub Association called for a temporary 10 a.m. start
to back our “great British pubs” during the final. Drink!

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But then: Officials confirmed they needed an “affirmative” statutory instrument
(approved by MPs in a vote) to make a blanket change to all licenses. Red tape
spoiling fun? Drink!

Full house: The Lib Dems then of course called for parliament to be recalled —
the only way to change the law. Drink! Drink! Drink! 

Passing the buck: Downing Street ruled out recalling parliament (drink!), and
Leveling-Up Secretary Michael Gove instead wrote to councils telling them to,
er, “continue doing everything they can” to approve pub-by-pub applications in
time. Which is sort of what they’re supposed to do anyway. Drink!

And of course: This is unlikely to make any difference to pubs that haven’t
already applied for a change of hours. That’s because a “Temporary Event Notice”
(or TEN) has to be requested at least five days in advance, according to …
gov.uk. Drink!

Faint hope: The Home Office is also writing to police chiefs, asking them to
work with councils “to ensure as many venues as possible can participate.” This
hints at some flexibility. But the government hasn’t said the five-day TEN
period should be shortened. That’s unsurprising — it’s a legal requirement under
the Licensing Act.

HOW MPS WILL BE WATCHING IT: Deputy PM Oliver Dowden will be putting on 5Live on
a drive to the Lake District … Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting will be at
the Wetherspoons at Stansted Airport before flying on holiday … Chancellor
Jeremy Hunt might give it a miss, given he’s on a family holiday on the U.S.
west coast and it’ll be the middle of the night … Shadow Attorney General Emily
Thornberry will be watching from hols on the Swedish island of Gotland …. and
former Sport Minister Tracey Crouch will be watching at home on TV, “like normal
people.”

He’s at the boozer: APPG on beer Chair Alun Cairns will be cheering on the
Lionesses “in a pub in Sandwich” after a wedding, despite being Welsh. He tells
Playbook the pubs situation is not too terrible as 76 percent of them “either
planned ahead, or can open at a time that suits them.”

IT’S NOT TOO LATE: Both the Sun and Mail have a pop at Sunak (and Prince
William) for “snubbing” the Lionesses’ final — with AN Wilson arguing senior
ministers “would have traveled any distance” to watch the men.

NO REST: Downing Street is digging in hard against Labour’s calls for a bank
holiday if the Lionesses win — with an official pointing to a 2010 briefing that
put the cost in the low billions. A YouGov poll says only 38 percent want a bank
holiday, with 50 percent against (but young people want it a lot more).

YET ANOTHER LABOUR U-TURN: Meanwhile, there is some news about. The FT splash
says Labour’s National Policy Forum watered down plans to strengthen workers’
rights — including a 2021 pledge to create a single “worker” status for all but
the genuinely self-employed. Add that to the £28 billion climate spending
U-turn, tuition fees and the rest. A Labour official didn’t deny the story to
Playbook, saying “businesses are no longer running scared of us, but running
towards us — whether that’s donating money or sitting down with us to write our
plans for growth.”

TESTING TIMES: Fallout from Thursday’s A-level results makes a couple of the
front pages, with the i splash looking at a gulf between regions and the Times
focusing on a rise in those entering clearing. Labour says students in London
and the south east were “almost 40 percent more likely” to get A or A* compared
to the north east. 

Scrap of the day: Education Secretary Gillian Keegan trended on the husk that’s
left of Twitter all evening after assuring pupils “in ten years’ time, no one
will be looking at your A-level results.” Her Labour shadow Bridget Phillipson
called it “downright rude.”

FRENCH BLAME: The Telegraph splashes on data from French authorities showing the
“interception rate” of Channel migrants has dropped from 45.8 to 45.2 percent.
The raw numbers are more stark (from 17,032 interceptions to 13,759) because
there have been fewer crossings this year. 

BONK FOR BRITAIN … OR DON’T: News that the U.K. birth rate has slumped to a
20-year low prompts warnings in the Mail that the state pension will become
(more) unaffordable. But demographics expert Sarah Harper tells the Telegraph
it’s a “good thing” for reducing our carbon footprint.


POSTCARD FROM PEMBROKESHIRE

WILD WEST WALES: “That place, that place and the Port Talbot steelworks,” says
Tom Sawyer, pointing across the sweeping channel, are three of the biggest
greenhouse gas emitters in the country. The wind is flapping my notebook while I
try to write. The air is salty. A cormorant is sitting on a nearby CCTV camera.

XR, look away now: I’m standing on the harbor arm at Milford Haven, my final
stop on a two-week tour. On the hilly shore opposite I can see the Valero oil
refinery — tanker ships at its 1.4-mile jetty, and three towers that flare at
night — beside the five turbines of the RWE gas-fired power station. Those two
and Tata Steel produce about 90 percent of the industrial or power carbon
emissions in south Wales. 

But wait, there’s more: The oil distribution terminal for Puma Energy, owned by
(controversial) firm Trafigura, is also here. Then there’s one gas storage
terminal to my left, and another — the largest in Europe — to my right. It is a
strangely awe-inspiring panorama of heavy industry.

Not going away: “We’re going to be moving hydrocarbons up and down this waterway
for the next 25 or 30 years,” says Sawyer, the 57-year-old chief executive of
the Port of Milford Haven. He is walking me round wearing glossy shades and a
dark blazer. Firms are making their processes greener, he insists, but “you
can’t just turn it off.”

Part of his job … is to make sure it all gets in and out, through a safe channel
only a few times wider than the biggest ships. Safety is a serious job round
these parts, where a refinery explosion killed four in 2011, and a tanker
spilled 72,000 tons of oil in 1996.

THE FUTURE BECKONS: Fortunately for him, fossil fuels are not the whole story.
The port has a new project: floating offshore wind turbines. At 300 meters (more
than twice the height of the London Eye), these behemoths used to be raved over
by Boris Johnson. The port is lobbying for the Celtic Sea to have
1,250 turbines by 2050 — it is a logical next step for Milford, where a
fortunate location helped the town ride the trends of whaling, fishing and
petroleum. But floating wind barely yet exists off the coast of the U.K.

Getting ready: Across the Haven, Pembroke Dock’s wartime hangars once housed
Sunderland flying boats and Star Wars’ Millennium Falcon. Now I watch workmen
smoothing a three-acre “super-slipway” to handle as-yet-unknown green tech, and
flattening land to maintain components like anchor cables. Port Talbot, 70 miles
away, could manufacture turbines, while Pembroke handled operations. 

Well, not that ready: The technology still needs years of testing, says Sawyer,
and a £160 million fund to develop port infrastructure is “not enough.” It
was announced by Johnson 22 months ago, but the closing date for applications is
still nine days away. He is frustrated that, in his view, the government lacks
urgency. He wants another 10GW of grid capacity designated in south Wales by
2030.

MEET THE CEO: Tom Sawyer “married into” the region and has run the port since
last year, after a 26-year RAF career including as a wing commander. He then
worked for Qatar’s defense ministry and security contractor QinetiQ before
moving here.

ON THE UP: He shows me the partly redeveloped marina, with a trendy glass hotel
and hipster burger restaurant. Yacht masts clang in the wind — the waiting list
is about 300 boats, more than the number of berths. Sawyer plans an arts center.
It’s a stark contrast to charity shops on the high street, just up on the hill.

ON THE DOWN: In the office, docks manager Mel Durney tells me fishing plummeted
“overnight” when a large Belgian fleet left — to avoid Brexit
paperwork. Around 3,000 tons of fish were landed in 2020, but in 2021 that
dropped to 327 tons. Welsh crews cannot simply fill the gap, as their boats are
different. They mostly catch whelks, lobsters and crab. 

WHAT’S NEXT: Milford Haven is being combined with Port Talbot to form a Celtic
Freeport — a zone that will let the council keep more business rates, and
developers claim tax relief. That will, says Sawyer, help develop wind turbines,
along with carbon capture and hydrogen technology. “You need a lot of steel, you
need a lot of engineering and you need a lot of space,” he says. “There’s no
single port that can do that.”

But it was a close shave: Freeports have always been a Tory scheme. Local MP
Stephen Crabb (more of him later) says it once “looked like we might not get
a freeport at all in Wales, because of disagreements between the U.K. and Welsh
governments.”

Political differences: Many on the left of Welsh
politics were originally convinced a freeport would be a “tax dodge,” admits
Sawyer. When the Labour-run Welsh government did agree to set it up, ministers
said it should focus on clean energy and have a voice for trade unions, rather
than being a gung-ho free-for-all. Sawyer admits: “There had to be a narrowing
of the doctrinal view of what a freeport was.”

GREAT MINDS: By a freak coincidence, Energy Secretary Grant Shapps is due here
today to visit the “energy cluster” of firms at the port. Playbook is now
officially a day ahead of the government.

SEAT RECAP: With all that industry, the coastal national park and Britain’s
smallest city St. Davids, Preseli Pembrokeshire (and its predecessor
Pembrokeshire) was Labour from 1992 then went blue in 2005. It has been held
since by Crabb but his majority was cut to just 314 in 2017, rising back to
5,062 in 2019.

CLASH OF THE TITANS: What happens when a chief whip and a former Welsh secretary
want the same seat? We may be about to find out. Crabb and Tory Chief Whip Simon
Hart have been pitched onto the same turf in the boundary review — and neither
of them have yet backed down.

Awks: Both MPs’ Pembrokeshire seats are being royally carved up because they’re
too small for the new rules on seat sizes. Boundary Commission data shows 70
percent of Crabb’s Preseli Pembrokeshire seat is going into a new seat, called
Mid and South Pembrokeshire. But 60 percent of Hart’s constituency is *also*
going into Mid and South Pembrokeshire. The remains of their patches are folding
into seats currently held by Plaid Cymru.

So how will it end? Crabb is, er, careful with his wording. Understandable — no
one wants to get on the wrong side of the chief. “There’s a bit of working out
to be done,” he admits. “He’s a friend as well as a colleague … He and I do talk
privately about these things. And, you know, the issue of who will be the
candidate in the new seat will be resolved, I’m hoping, sooner rather than
later.” CCHQ has not yet begun selections in the region because there are so
many changes across the board.

On the other hand: Labour has already selected a candidate for the new seat.
Union organizer and former barrister Henry Tufnell, 31, is an ex-athlete who
competed in international 800- and 1,500-meter competitions. Welsh media ran
criticism of the decision to select an Englishman.

MP’S VIEW: The “postcard, idyllic” tourist view of Pembrokeshire is not the
whole picture, says Crabb, on the phone from the county agricultural show. The
seat “still suffers” from young people heading east while retirees move in,
despite his attempts otherwise.

ON THE DOORS: Whoever gets the candidacy, “Pembrokeshire is always a place where
we’ve had to scrap really, really hard to get results,” the MP admits. “We’re
under no illusions about how tough the next election is going to be.” But he
insists the arrival of Sunak has “been helpful” after “drama and political soap
opera” from his party.

Did he talk to her? Vanessa Hackett, who runs a smart clothes shop on the
waterfront, tells me she will be backing whoever gets selected for the Tories.
Or in her words: “I’ve always voted Conservative, even though they’re a mess at
the moment.”

And as for Sawyer? “Genuinely I haven’t decided yet,” he replies. “I am going to
vote in the best interests of us as a port.” His work is cross-party — he
doesn’t want political squabbling to get in the way of a decades-long journey on
energy. Good luck, as they say, with that.

THANK YOU … for reading the Playbook tour for the last two weeks. After driving
781 miles, I’m off home soon to write Monday’s newsletter. Emilio returns on
Monday for Playbook PM, where he’ll be in Scotland for the final week of the
tour.




TODAY IN WESTMINSTER

PARLIAMENT: Zzz.

JVT’S REVOLVING DOOR: Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam has
taken a job advising COVID vaccine firm Moderna, the FT has spotted.

Handy timing: People could soon buy COVID boosters privately after the UKHSA
said it would welcome manufacturers putting them on sale. The Times’ Rhys
Blakely has the details.

SAUDI BACKLASH: No. 10 confirmed on Thursday that Sunak wants to meet Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “in person at the earliest opportunity,”
despite the Lib Dems accusing him of “rolling out the red carpet” to the man
“who authorised the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi.”

HEALTH WEEK REPRISE: All GP surgeries will have digital phone lines by March
2024, the government has pledged — with average funding of £60,000 per practice
that has old systems. Health Secretary Steve Barclay briefed the guts of it to
Thursday’s Telegraph.

Ding-dong: Labour responded by listing four previous times the government
promised to end the 8 a.m. scramble … and so a Tory official said the NHS in
Labour-run Wales was still buying fax machines last year. This sort of thing
will repeat forever between now and election time.

WHAT ELSE THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO TALK ABOUT: Banks face fines if they don’t
keep cash withdrawals free, the Treasury has announced. Ministers are also
telling the Financial Conduct Authority to ensure people are not more than 3
miles from a cash machine — “while recognizing that needs may differ by
location.” More detail via the Times.

LEAK CENTRAL: More than 100 sewage leaks took place in government departmental
buildings in the last year, according to parliamentary questions by the Lib Dems
and handed to the Times.

LOANS PAYDAY: Profits have more than doubled at a firm that was set up to help
the government chase unpaid fines, loans and council tax, says the Guardian’s
Anna Isaac.

AGING PROMISE: PoliticsHome’s Zoe Crowther has an interesting read on the
long-running delays to pensions dashboards — which have largely flown under the
radar in Westminster. Labour MP Nick Smith tells her he has asked the National
Audit Office to investigate.

While we’re here: PoliticsHome also runs a lively exchange with the DWP press
office over the site’s analysis suggesting the flagship “Restart” scheme cost
£40,000 per job it created. The DWP doesn’t agree, apparently.

ROW TO COME: Raising pensions in line with earnings, rather than inflation —
which looks likely — will mean they go up by more than working-age benefits next
year. The i’s Paul Waugh suggests there’s a “moral case” for applying the triple
lock to both.

THIS WILL GO VIRAL AT SOME POINT: The private member’s bill that would ban
trophy hunting has a “less than 10 percent” chance of getting on the statute
book because there are only two days set aside before the King’s Speech, Tory
peer Benjamin Mancroft told PA’s Richard Wheeler

WE’RE STILL HERE: Tory trio David Jones, Craig Mackinlay and Jonathan Gullis are
keeping up pressure on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to cut tax this fall in the
Express splash story — which says rising wages will generate “an extra £30
billion” through frozen NIC and income tax thresholds.

FEELING THE HEAT: British military equipment should be modified to cope with
rising global temperatures, says a defense committee report, via PA.

**Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and
politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new global podcast will host
conversations with the leaders shaping today’s and tomorrow’s ideas, moderated
by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of the
first episodes in September – click here.** 


BEYOND THE M25

NOT BEYOND BUT: Thousands of motorcyclists will ride around the M25 on Sunday
protesting the ULEZ expansion on August 29.

DAY IN COURT: Ashfield District Council leader Jason Zadrozny is due in
Nottingham Crown Court today after pleading not guilty to 22 allegations
including fraud, money laundering and tax evasion — NottinghamshireLive has
further details.

INDEPENDENT-MINDED: Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale’s stance on
independence has “moved” and she can’t “argue with the same strength for the
union” as in 2014, she told Edinburgh International Book Festival (via the
Scotsman). But she wouldn’t vote Yes yet.

NOT LONDON RULE, BUT: The U.K. government will direct a “series of public
consultations” on cash-raising plans for Northern Ireland after warning the
region’s finances are “not sustainable.” More via PA.

NIGER UPDATE: Most member countries of West African bloc ECOWAS are ready to
join a “standby force” which could intervene militarily in Niger following a
coup last month — Al Jazeera has more.

**A message from Google: Since 2015, Google has provided free digital skills
training across more than 500 locations in the UK, from Manchester to Port
Talbot, Sunderland to Bristol – ensuring small businesses and individuals have
the skills they need to grow. Learn more about our free digital skills training
here.**


MEDIA ROUND

Health Minister Neil O’Brien broadcast round: Sky News (7.20 a.m.) … LBC (7.50
a.m.) … GMB (8.30 a.m.).

Shadow Schools Minister Stephen Morgan broadcast round: Times Radio (7.50 a.m.)
… Sky News (8.05 a.m.) … GB News (8.20 a.m.) … LBC News (8.50 a.m.).

Lib Dem Cabinet Office Spokesperson Christine Jardine broadcast round: LBC News
(7.20 a.m.) … Good Morning Scotland (7.35 a.m.) … TalkTV (8.20 a.m.) … GB News
(8.45 a.m.).

Also on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: Comedian and Labour Party activist Eddie
Izzard (9.30 a.m.).

Also on Times Radio: Tory MP Tobias Ellwood (8.35 a.m.).

Also on GB News Breakfast: Ofcom Chair Michael Grade (8.10 a.m.).


TODAY’S FRONT PAGES

POLITICO UK: Here’s Larry! Why Westminster’s political cats mean more than you
think.

Daily Express: Yes! Britain can afford tax cuts.

Daily Mail: Museum sacks top expert over its missing treasures.

Daily Mirror: Our greatest.

Daily Star: The king.

Financial Times: Labour waters down pledges to strengthen workers’ rights.

i: Generation of young people in poor areas left behind.

Metro: Goodbye to the best.

The Daily Telegraph: France stops fewer migrants despite £480 million aid.

The Guardian: Thousands miss top grades as A-level results plummet.

The Independent: Named — Curator sacked after British Museum treasures vanished.

The Sun: The greatest.

The Times: Rule change lets anyone buy a COVID booster jab.


TODAY’S NEWS MAGS

The Economist: Is Germany once again the sick man of Europe?


THANK POD IT’S FRIDAY

6 of the best political podcasts to listen to this weekend:

Holyrood Sources: Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf reflects on the
independence movement and relationships within the SNP.

Iain Dale All Talk: Dale interviews Commons leader Penny Mordaunt about her role
in the Coronation and how to argue well in the Commons.

Rock & Roll Politics with Steve Richards: Richards looks back at the 1992
general election and how it frames Labour’s approach today.

These Times: Tom McTague and Helen Thompson hear from historian Dominic
Sandbrook to discuss whether we are entering a neo-1970s.

The News Agents: Jon Sopel talks to former head of the MI6 Russia desk
Christopher Steele about spying in the U.K. and the three arrested Bulgarian
nationals.

The Rundown: Former Labour MP Luciana Berger tells PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst
why democracy has been “diminished.”

And speaking of podcasts: POLITICO’s Westminster Insider returns for another
season next week, in a true sign that the summer is nearing an end. Listen to a
quick preview here.


LONDON CALLING

WESTMINSTER WEATHER: Light rain and a gentle breeze. Highs of 23C. A Met Office
yellow warning of thunderstorms lasts until noon.

HAPPY AS LARRY: My colleague Bethany Dawson has delved into the archives to
discover why Westminster’s cats are the true political animals with nine lives —
and not just Larry, who’s seen five PMs in No. 10. At first, rodent-ridden
buildings made felines a necessity around government offices, but they became
cherished colleagues too, with one Manx cat paid a £13 annual “diplomatic”
salary.

MEANWHILE IN COURT: Former Telegraph co-owner Frederick Barclay was found in
contempt of court in a long-running legal battle with his ex-wife, but will not
face punishment, a judge said. Via agencies and the Guardian.

AT THE FRINGE: Comedian Matt Forde interviews Deputy Labour Leader Angela Rayner
at 1.30 p.m. in the Underbelly, Bristo Square … and Scottish independence
supporter Lesley Riddoch takes part in an “In Conversation” event at The Stand’s
New Town Theatre on Saturday at noon.

FRIDAY FILM CLUB: The 2015 flick “Spooks: The Greater Good,” based on the hit TV
series, is on BBC One this Sunday at 11.30 p.m.

LISTEN TO: Former Labour MP Caroline Flint’s Archive on 4 episode about whether
the stigma of illegitimacy has died out is repeated at 9 p.m. on Radio 4.

AUDIO TREAT: U.K. In A Changing Europe Director Anand Menon joins Sarah
Montague to discuss Robert Birley’s 1949 Reith lecture series on Britain in
Europe in a repeated episode of Radio 4’s Reith Revisited at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

NOAH’S CULTURE FIX: Musical Aspects of Love by former Tory peer Andrew Lloyd
Webber at the Lyric Theatre, Patriots, which was reviewed by Playbook’s Emilio
Casalicchio back in June, at the Noël Coward Theatre, and Groundhog Day at the
Old Vic all close on Saturday at 7.30 p.m.

NOW READ: The Economist has an interactive piece arguing the public badly
misunderstands the green belt, which is hampering future development. Ipsos
polling for The Economist found six in 10 people wanted to keep the green belt
as it is.

JOB AD: DLUHC is hiring a senior press officer.

BIRTHDAYS: Former Brecon and Radnorshire MP Chris Davies … Former Governor of
Punjab and Glasgow MP Mohammad Sarwar … Journalist Huw Edwards … Policy
Exchange’s Sophia Gaston … Former MEP Stanley Johnson.

Celebrating over the weekend: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton … Commonwealth
Secretary-General Patricia Scotland … Lib Dem peer Olly Grender … Crossbench
peer Charles Wellesley … Daily Mail Editor Ted Verity … Former NHSX CEO Matthew
Gould … New Forest West MP Desmond Swayne … DUP peer Nigel Dodds … Labour peer
and former leader of the House of Lords Janet Royall … North Thanet MP Roger
Gale turns 80 … SNP MSP Annabelle Ewing … Daily Mirror Deputy Political Editor
Ben Glaze … Crossbench peer and former No. 10 Policy Unit head Camilla Cavendish
… South Down MP Chris Hazzard … Google exec and former Labour adviser Michaela
Neild … Former Chatham House Director Robin Niblett … POLITICO’s Sanya
Khetani-Shah.

PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editors Jack Lahart and Zoya Sheftalovich,
reporter Noah Keate and producer Seb Starcevic.

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