Recess goes up in smoke

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: Kamala Harris defended shifting policy positions in her first unscripted interview as the Democratic nominee for U.S. president. The 27-minute sit-down with CNN — shared with running mate Tim Walz — came just two days before her deadline to finally face the press and was derided by Republicans as too short.
Harris said: “My values have not changed” on climate … yet she will not ban fracking, a U-turn on 2019 … she said she is committed to Israel’s defense when asked if she could withhold weapons … she hardened her stance on immigration to “build consensus” … and she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet. She also dismissed her rival Donald Trump’s claim that she “happened to turn Black” as the “same old, tired playbook — next question please.” It was not the flame-grilling Trump wanted. He posted: “BORING!!!”
Bezzies: Keir Starmer is doing his best to avoid endorsing either candidate … but maybe he could try a *bit* harder. The prime minister couldn’t help mentioning his C-word when asked by reporters in Germany this week if he was impressed by Harris’ energy. “There’s obviously been a profound change in the last few weeks,” he replied. “I think everyone can see that.” No word yet on what he thinks of her plans to tax unrealized capital gains of the wealthy.
Good Friday morning. This is Dan Bloom.
FAG END: The shortest summer recess in at least four decades is nearly over, and Westminster is (reluctantly) bracing for a frantic two weeks before conference season. So your Playbook author has a back-to-school special on some of the stuff hitting the fan next week. Until then the diary is, whisper it, pretty empty today, save for a Tory leadership launch and the SNP conference (both below). Enjoy it while you can.
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Butt butt butt … First the very live political story continues over the leaked plan to ban smoking in outdoor areas like playgrounds, shisha bars and *checks notes* smoking areas — which is apparently a tad like the Holocaust, if you’re former “minister for common sense” Esther McVey. Industry backlash splashes the Independent and Guardian while the British Beer and Pub Association has analysis in the Sun (which broke the story), claiming 800 extra venues would shut over five years.
No filter: McVey’s crass use of a poem about indifference to the creep of Nazism might overshadow her fellow travelers’ objections a bit. The Board of Deputies called it “repugnant” and Labour’s Ellie Reeves demanded Tory leader Rishi Sunak condemn it. McVey posted at 10.37 p.m. saying the “metropolitan politically correct bullies” won’t make her back down and she wasn’t saying the ban is actually like Jews under the Nazis, “it is called an analogy.” A gift to Labour, which can now merrily watch talk of cronyism and EU mobility schemes get stubbed out for a little longer.
Burning objections: Liberals and right-wingers less prone to Godwin’s law have continued their objections (amply covered by Playbook PM) in today’s papers. CCHQ analysis in the Mail suggests `1 in 8 pubs could shut. And Nigel Farage lit up outside the Westminster Arms last night, obvs. Ex-health minister Jim Bethell isn’t happy at all this, pointing out this policy was recommended by the Khan review under the last government. TBF, Rishi Sunak didn’t take up the outdoor bit. Just the banning smoking forever bit.
Dragging on: All eyes next week will be on whether the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is mentioned in Thursday’s business statement. There’s no suggestion yet that it will. If it’s not there, MPs are unlikely to get a vote until mid-October at the earliest — not that it matters, of course. Starmer’s groaning bench of 404 MPs is showing little dissent.
Rolling with it: Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty pushed for the ban personally, according to the Times … Scottish First Minister John Swinney told Sky he’ll “engage” with it … and there’s not yet any suggestion of a matching law on vapes, but Labour MP Rachael Maskell told Times Radio an indoor vape ban would be a next “obvious step.”
BACK TO SCHOOL: Other policy crunches in the new term will begin over the weekend as the Tory expansion of 15 hours’ childcare to 9-month-olds — which Labour matched after some pressure — kicks in. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said “for some parents it will not be plain sailing” in an overnight release that admits some won’t get their first choice of nursery next year (and indeed, Playbook is told, this year). Skills Minister Jacqui Smith has the morning round. She can look forward to being asked non-stop about … oh, let’s face it, cigarettes.
Watching the board: A newspaper op-ed is also in the works from Phillipson about grim recent school attendance data that shows 150,000 children miss every other day of class. An update on the number of kids having education disrupted by crumbling RAAC and asbestos is due too, though probably only in the second week back. Gotta blame that inheritance while you can.
ALSO BACK TO SCHOOL: Some Sunday interview shows are creeping back (though Laura Kuenssberg will wait another week). But No. 10 aides say there’s currently no plan for Keir Starmer to do a big back-to-school interview this weekend or address the Parliamentary Labour Party meeting on Monday night. In fairness, the prime minister is very busy hiding paintings of Margaret Thatcher, the “outrage” over which makes the front of the Mail and Telegraph. Starmer’s favorite biographer Tom Baldwin reckons the offending portrait was going to hang somewhere else in the building. No. 10 wouldn’t confirm where it’s gone last night.
Join the queue: MPs returning on Monday afternoon face being subjected to a flood of statements and urgent questions. A statement on the infected blood scandal looks pretty certain after a big law on compensation, while the opposition could attempt to UQ Starmer over the summer riots if he chooses not to give a statement. Tory Leader Rishi Sunak has been back from California since mid-August, after all, and has sent one whole tweet. Israel/Gaza seems a likely feature, too.
Not to mention … Might some canny opposition MP push for a UQ on stories of cronyism and hostile briefings around Chief of Staff Sue Gray? It’s not just worrying the oppo; Playbook has also picked up serious angst about the latter among the red team. One senior Labour MP warns: “The juvenile briefing in No. 10 is becoming a topic of exasperation in the PLP.”
Right on cue: David Parsley has more eye-popping briefing against Gray in the i. A “Labour insider” tells him MPs “think she’s a political moron.” Yikes.
More jobs for pals: Readers can look forward to the sight of long-serving MPs slapping on the ermine as they’re introduced to the Lords next week, including Margaret Hodge, Margaret Beckett, John Spellar, Rosie Winterton and Barbara Keeley on the Labour side, and keeper of the no-confidence letters Graham Brady for the Tories.
Down in the chamber: Two flagship bills — nationalizing railways and forcing chancellors to consult the OBR — have their final Commons stages next week, while the first debates are due on bills giving the Crown Estate more green investment powers, setting up Ed Miliband’s baby GB Energy and building a long-planned Holocaust memorial beside the Lords. The private members’ bills ballot is due in the coming weeks and Playbook is told the obscure Product Safety and Metrology Bill — which paves the way for alignment on some matters with the EU — is due to be introduced in the next fortnight.
Behind closed doors: Negotiations with unions and industry over workers’ rights reforms will trudge on ahead of a promised Oct. 13 deadline to introduce legislation. The party has long suggested it’d make it harder for firms to reject workers’ flexible working requests — requests like “compressed hours,” a.k.a. a four-day week. Ben Riley-Smith picks up on this in the Telegraph splash with Tory condemnation. It’s worth mentioning that the existing law already lets workers request compressed hours. It seems the difference will be the threshold at which they’re granted.
ANOTHER COUNTDOWN: It’s “only” (sigh) two months today to the budget, and Tuesday’s Treasury questions will give Chancellor Rachel Reeves another chance to roll the pitch for tax rises based on the “black hole” she inherited. A verdict on red- and amber-rated MOD schemes by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority is also due soon, though possibly in the second week back. 
Not buying it: Some 52 percent of people told YouGov for the Times that Labour’s claims about the public finances being worse than they thought are “probably not true.” One Tory operator tells Playbook there is a suspicion that this is all expectation management to make the budget look relatively nice when it eventually happens. Well, they would know …
Reeves’ reading material: Those on the left were sharing a new OBR report that shows raising public investment by 1 percent of GDP could boost output by 0.4 percent after five years … but 2.4 percent after 50 years. Bloomberg writes it up — while the Mail writes up the Labour-friendly IPPR calling for £18 billion in wealth taxes, including equalizing capital gains and income tax.
Reeves’ sh*t list: Playbook is told whips will meet next week to discuss whether to grant the Tories and Lib Dems a vote on scrapping most pensioners’ winter fuel payments (which by default will sail through without scrutiny). Despite some irritation that the two oppo parties have separate motions, one Tory official tells Playbook “it’s quite helpful to us” that the Libs have joined in because it builds the case for a debate. But it’s still up to the Labour whips whether to make time for a vote. Will they want to risk a rebellion on their side?
THE REAL FIGHT … Will be for committee chair jobs. MPs are girding themselves for furious lobbying by their colleagues next week, as nominations close at 4 p.m. on Sept. 9. MPs tell Playbook Dan Carden is going up against Emily Thornberry to chair foreign affairs … Kate Osborne, who had a memorable run-in with Kemi Badenoch, for women and equalities … and Dawn Butler for science and technology. Matt Western also tells LabourList he’d like business and trade. We named more candidates here in July.
Not happy: Grumbles do not cease about the newbie MPs standing for chair jobs. “Which bit of ‘majority of 15’ doesn’t he understand?” rages one Labour organizer about David Pinto-Duschinsky’s tilt at the Work and Pensions Committee. Watch out for a growing narrative of old vs. new (however unjustified). The same organizer argues the newbies have ended up being their own “unit” after spending so long bonding pre-election. 
But it cuts both ways: A new MP tells your author: “I’ve been surprised by the lack of personal outreach from some of the returning MPs going for committee chairs … Why send a mass email when you could pop by the tearoom?”
Speaking of the newbies: Labour “YIMBY” MPs are due to hold their first reception in parliament on Monday night.
AND NOW, THE LONGER VIEW … My boss Jack Blanchard has emerged from the highfalutin editing shadows to produce a must-listen podcast on Starmer’s biggest challenges between now and Christmas. Settle in for your back-to-school fix via POLITICO’s Westminster Insider here.
PRITI BUSY: Priti Patel is launching her Tory leadership campaign today, followed swiftly by rivals Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly on Monday and Tom Tugendhat on Tuesday. The ex-home secretary is due up from 11.30 a.m. with a policy-lite speech and Q&A focused on her unity pitch. She will say the nation is “now at the mercy of a self-serving Labour government — a reality that gets more frightening as each and every day passes.” Whether the public is listening to her remains to be seen.
Here’s looking at you, Jenrick: “Conservatism has not failed,” Patel will say, and values including “our commitment to the rule of law” remain as true as ever. Patel is one of those *not* promising to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights. Aides insist she’s not referring to any of her rivals — but she is saying that the party didn’t lose the election because it wasn’t Conservative enough. The infighting did them in.
The flurry is because … Two candidates will soon wave bye-bye. Playbook is told there will be a hustings in parliament for MPs at 4 p.m. on Tuesday … the last chance for candidates to withdraw is 11 a.m. Wednesday … the first MP ballot result (whittling to five candidates) is at 3.30 p.m. Wednesday … a second MP hustings is at 4 p.m. on Sept. 9 … and the results of a second ballot (whittling to four) are 5 p.m. on Sept. 10.
As for the rivals: Badenoch is set to get big backing from ex-Cabinet ministers Claire Coutinho and Laura Trott this weekend, according to Guido … Cleverly told GB News’ Christopher Hope he won’t apologize for legal migration rates as “I’m taking a short break from being the punchbag.” (In that vein, the Guardian’s Rajeev Syal has a story today reporting that Cleverly was accused of increasing the Home Office’s asylum backlog by “dithering” over key decisions) … and Mel Stride is on Sky News at 8.15 a.m.
One question for the candidates: How big will their front bench be? There is active discussion about whether to have slimmed-down top teams that avoid marking the Labour government person-to-person. There’s an obvious reason for this. The election defeat was so brutal that appointing a full-sized team would mean the Tory back benches have only a couple of dozen MPs left.
LET THE POST-MORTEM BEGIN: The three-day SNP conference begins this morning with an “internal review” of the party’s election performance — which saw the party lose 39 seats after its vote share fell from 45 to 30 percent. Membership is also down. Sadly, it’s in private for some reason. Can’t think why.
Happy man: In a round of preview interviews First Minister John Swinney, whose big speech is on Sunday, told Sky News it will be about earning trust and giving people in Scotland “some hope.” A contrast to the doom and gloom from Westminster, perhaps?
Just one hitch: Swinney also told STV he had “no choice” but to balance his government’s books by slashing services by at least £250 million.
Today’s schedule: Fairly light for SW1 types, with a speech by Deputy Leader Keith Brown at 2 p.m. and a policy discussion on the economy with Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes at 3.30 p.m. Net zero and wealth taxes feature heavily. Full agenda here.
And watch out for … how the row about Angus Robertson’s meeting with an Israeli diplomat plays out, and if members or protesters disrupt his only main stage appearance on Sunday, my Playbook colleague Andrew McDonald texts to say.
PARLIAMENT: Banking some sleep.
OVER TO YOU, KEIR: EU countries are working on a fresh offer of a youth mobility scheme that could be presented to the U.K., the Guardian’s Lisa O’Carroll reports. There’s little detail in the story, but it could put more pressure on Keir Starmer to engage with the issue — as could the grumpy EU officials who tell the FT Starmer should deal with them, not just cut bilateral deals, if he wants closer ties with the continent. One to watch closely.
RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSE: My colleague Mason Boycott-Owen has a great piece on how the U.K. government took its eye off the far right. One civil servant working on national security tells him officials were hit by a “lack of spend, low morale, and funding being diverted to priorities like Rwanda.” A second official argues the previous government successfully monitored Covid-related disinformation, but “particularly by the end, weren’t really as interested in the extreme right-wing or far right.”
WONDER WHY? Richard Tice received £200,000 back from a massive £1.4 million-pound loan to Reform U.K. just one week after Nigel Farage took his role as party leader, Byline Times reports. The party didn’t want to comment on this one. 
JUSTICE SERVED: Michael Donaldson, who threatened to stab and kill now-Energy Secretary Ed Miliband at a constituency visit, has been jailed for three years. The sentencing judge called it an attack on democracy.
STRIKES SUSPENDED: LNER train drivers represented by ASLEF will now not be striking every weekend until mid-November, the union told the BBC. These are the same strikes that were announced hours after a separate breakthrough between ministers and the union, which embarrassed the government.
TICK, TOCK: DWP minister Stephen Timms has told the Big Issue he expects an announcement on the future of the Household Support Fund — an oft-extended crisis pot for the poorest — in the Oct. 30 budget, and “I would be surprised if there was anything official before then.” It’s due to expire a month before the budget.
DAY 2: The rail minister who got an engineer sacked (ICYMI, my colleague Jon Stone’s story is here) now faces questions from the opposition. Shadow Transport Secretary Helen Whately has written to Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden asking about Peter Hendy’s appointment and saying Labour has “serious questions to answer.” Via the Independent.
NOT WESTMINSTER BUT: Europe Minister Stephen Doughty is at the GLOBSEC security forum in Prague to discuss disinformation, cyberattacks and the Ukraine war, followed by the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia to discuss illegal migration.
REPORTS OUT TODAY: Previous governments failed to prioritize housebuilding by not setting long-term objectives, says the IfG. It has 10 tips for Labour here.
ECONOMY WATCH: The Bank of England has monthly data at 9.30 a.m. on savings and mortgage interest rates and the number of mortgage approvals.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO TALK ABOUT: A less controversial nanny policy — NHS staff will weigh and measure 130,000 middle-aged workers in their offices over six months for mid-life MOTs. The press release splashes the Times.
EASY DOES IT: Drivers broke 20mph speed limits in Wales 11,000 times in July — almost double the total in June — with an average speed of under 29mph. The Welsh Conservatives jumped on the figures to blast “barmy” default 20 zones. Stats here.
ROUGH TIME: Glasgow City Council broke the law by failing to give emergency accommodation to homeless people, including two vulnerable women, says Channel 5 News.
LIGHT CHATS: EU foreign and defense ministers will gather in Brussels to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The discussion was meant to happen in Budapest but this was changed due to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s “peace missions” to Moscow and Beijing in July.
NEW RULES: Refugees arriving in Germany will be denied money and payment cards if they have already been in another European country, announced Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is facing pressure to crack down on migration following a deadly stabbing.  
HEADHUNTER: Republican Vice Presidential Candidate JD Vance has pleaded with Paypal and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel — who also happens to be his former boss — to “get off the sidelines” and fund Trump’s campaign. The FT splashes the story.
XI YOU LATER: U.S. President Joe Biden will speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming weeks after Xi had a surprise meeting with national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Beijing on Thursday. The tone was mostly warm but China’s defense ministry demanded the U.S. “stop arming Taiwan,” AP reports.
MIDDLE EAST PAUSE: Three separate pauses in fighting between Israel and Hamas will take place from 6 a.m. on Sunday to allow for polio vaccinations to be delivered to 640,000 children, according to the World Health Organization.
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Education Minister Jacqui Smith broadcast round: Times Radio (7.05 a.m.) … Sky News (7.15 a.m.) … GB News (7.30 a.m.) … LBC (7.50 a.m.) … Today (8.15 a.m.) … GMB (8.30 a.m.). 
Also on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: Deltapoll co-founder Joe Twyman (7.05 a.m.) … former Labour spokesperson James Matthewson (7.10 a.m.) … former Border Force Director General Tony Smith (7.20 a.m.) … National Care Association Executive Chair Nadra Ahmed (8.20 a.m.).  
Also on Times Radio Breakfast: Former Trump Advisor David Urban (7.20 a.m.) … Conservative peer Nicky Morgan and Labour peer Jack McConnell (9 a.m.).
Also on Sky News Breakfast: Tory leadership candidate Mel Stride (8.15 a.m.) … SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn (9.20 a.m.). 
Also on LBC News: Stephen Flynn (8.45 a.m.).  
POLITICO UK: How Britain took its eye off the far right.
Daily Express: Has Sir Keir sounded death knell of our pubs?
Daily Mail: Outrage as Starmer removes Maggie’s portrait.
Daily Mirror: Terror swoop saved thousands.
Daily Star: Free at last.
Financial Times: Vance presses billionaire Thiel to ‘get off the sidelines’ and bankroll Trump.
i: Tommy Robinson’s plan to use Sikhs, Jews and Hindus to turn people in UK against Islam.
Metro: Stub out this cigs ban plan.
The Daily Telegraph: Workers get right to demand four day week. 
The Guardian: Starmer risks clash with pub firms over plan for outdoor smoking ban.
The Independent: Starmer’s smoking ban plan has pubs and clubs fuming.
The Times: Workers to be weighed in office for health MOT.
The Economist: Sudan.
Westminster Insider: Jack Blanchard discusses Starmer’s challenges over the coming months with the IFS’ Ben Zaranko and geopolitical analyst Sophia Gaston.
EU Confidential: Pulitzer Prize-winner Anne Applebaum talks about her book “Autocracy Inc.,” on how authoritarian regimes are banding together against democracies in the EU.
Power Play: Anne McElvoy is joined by Brett O’Donnell, a debate coach for Republicans Mitt Romney, John McCain and George W. Bush, and Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson in Britain.
Plus 6 of the other best political podcasts to listen to this weekend:
Chopper’s Political Podcast: Tory leadership candidate James Cleverly talks to Christopher Hope about his record on immigration and why the U.K. shouldn’t apologize for the empire. 
The Rundown: New Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden speaks to Alain Tolhurst about winning South Devon and her mission in parliament.
Today: Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson are joined by Keir Starmer’s former policy chief Claire Ainsley — now at the Progressive Policy Institute — and talk about economic black holes.
Politics without the boring bits: Ed Vaizey speaks to Shadow Business Secretary Kevin Hollinrake and the FBU’s Matt Wrack about Starmer’s relationship with trade unions.
The Political Party: Live at the Edinburgh Festival, former Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg talks to Matt Forde about why the Tories lost and what’s next. 
Bloomberg U.K. Politics: National Farmers Union Deputy President David Exwood talks to Stephen Carroll and James Woolcock about farming after Brexit. 
WESTMINSTER WEATHER: Sunny and warm, a perfect final Friday before school returns. High 25C, low 15C.
PODCAST RESHUFFLE: Former Labour frontbencher Harriet Harman will be joining Sky’s Beth Rigby and Tory peer Ruth Davidson on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, with a space left open as a result of Home Office Minister Jess Phillips’ departure.
ONWARD AND UPWARDS: Former No. 10 SpAd Rory Geoghegan has joined Onward to lead its upcoming research on policing, and Shivani H Menon has been promoted to deputy head of research. 
WELCOME BACK: To West Lancashire MP Ashley Dalton, who has returned to work after surgery. 
UNHAND HIM: Some TikTokkers who are so obsessed with Larry the Cat that they printed their own themed jumpers staked out Downing Street for nine days without seeing the furry politico, until a police officer finally held him up for the camera. Evidently we all work in some kind of Disneyfied fantasy palace.
NOW READ: This harrowing investigation by the BBC’s Ruth Clegg and Jo Adnitt into the abuse faced by children and young people in private special educational needs schools across the country.
WRITING PLAYBOOK PM: Andrew McDonald.
WRITING PLAYBOOK MONDAY MORNING: Sam Blewett.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw … Tory peer and Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein … former Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith … former Calder Valley MP Craig Whittaker  … former Labour MP Karen Buck … former journalist and economist Frances Cairncross turns 80 … former Tory MP Jonathan Aitken … President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
And celebrating over the weekend: Former Labour and Change UK MP Ann Coffey … former Ipswich MP Tom Hunt … the Guardian’s Whitehall Editor Rowena Mason … the TBI’s Emma McNicholas … former No. 10 spinner Paul Harrison … former independent MP and BBC reporter Martin Bell … Sunday Express Political Editor David Williamson … FT Political Correspondent Anna Gross … former FCDO overseas visitor liaison officer Claudia Whitehouse … Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman … Sussex Weald MP Nus Ghani … former Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman … former Welsh Counsel General Mick Antoniw … FCDO official Aine Collins … Tory peer Daniel Hannan.
PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editors Zoya Sheftalovich, Jack Blanchard and Alex Spence, diary reporter Bethany Dawson and producer Dean Southwell.
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