Starmer names his nemesis

14 mins read

May 29, 2025 6:26 pm CET

Good afternoon. This is Annabelle Dickson for the last time this week. Fans of Emilio will be pleased to hear the Playbook PM don is back in the saddle tomorrow.

THURSDAY CHEAT SHEET

— Keir Starmer admitted his biggest rival is Nigel Farage.

— The PM said he would look at “all options” to drive down child poverty when asked about the two-child benefit cap.

— Robert Jenrick has been confronting fare-dodgers.

— Farage is in Sin City tonight.

— Two ex-PMs have been enjoying the cricket.

**A message from Lloyds Banking Group: The UK urgently needs more social rent homes. Our new prospectus for action outlines proposals to help deliver them – including two new investment mechanisms that could unlock up to 200,000 homes over the next decade, plus wider reforms to strengthen the sector. Find out more.**

TOP OF THE NEWSLIST

FIGHTING FARAGE: Keir Starmer named his enemy today. The current political fight is all about Labour vs. Reform, he admitted during a visit to the north-west of England.

Liz Truss 2.0: The PM deployed his new favorite attack line, branding Nigel Farage “Liz Truss 2.0.” Speaking at a glass company, Starmer said the Reform leader was making the “same bet” as the ex-Tory PM “that you can spend tens of billions on tax cuts without a proper way of paying for it.” Hard to believe we are still over four years away from a general election, and Starmer is sitting on a humongous majority.

Could there be a subtweet? The PM’s deployment of the Truss lesson, and warning “there is not and never will be a magic wand that can wave away the need to manage the public finances properly” also fires a warning shot at some of his more rebellious Cabinet ministers fighting cuts to their departmental budgets.

Project Fear 2.0: Farage hit back hard at Starmer, telling the Sun this is actually “Project Fear 2.0” and that all the “political attacks” on Reform over the last 24 hours were because he is winning. “Project Fear” was, of course, the favored retort of Brexit campaigners as the Remain side tried to fend off their 2016 insurgency.

Busy old recess: It was only Tuesday when Farage declared Reform to be the “party of the workers,” as he set out tax cuts, public sector cuts and benefit increases — including scrapping the two-child benefit cap.

Dropping the T-bomb: Starmer waded into that class war today, saying he does not need lectures from Farage on working people. “I know what it means to work ten hours a day in a factory, five days a week, and I know that because that is what my dad did every single working day of his life. And that’s what I grew up with,” he added. Did you know the PM was the son of a toolmaker?

But do people care? Luke Tryl, director of polling outfit More in Common, reckons Starmer should stick to the risk of Reform line as, for voters, it is “less about class and more about authenticity.” He told Playbook PM that Starmer’s senior lawyer background and knighthood mean people see him as a “member of the establishment upper class as much as they would a stockbroker like Farage.”

How about a straight answer on this? Starmer ignored the first two questions from hacks about whether he wants to ax the two-child benefit cap. At the third time of asking he said he would “look at all options” to drive down child poverty, something he is “determined” to do.

Lovin’ it, lovin’ it, lovin’ it: Reform staffers had a wild afternoon packaging up clips of some of the most brutal journo questions, including GB News’ Chris Hope asking if Farage is living rent-free in Starmer’s brain, and the Guardian’s Peter Walker asking if the PM’s problem is that Farage can approximate talking like a human being while he resorts to talking points and dodging questions. Ouch. A gleeful Reform official told Playbook PM they thought the press conference had been a “disaster for No. 10.”

Hardship posting: It was touch-and-go if hacks would even make it. As is the tradition with these out-of-town field trips there was a story to tell. The train (which journos paid a fortune to travel on) got stuck, and they then had to pile into taxis to get there.

Not dead yet: The Tories, who Starmer declared to have “run out of road,” have a new ad out morphing Jeremy Corbyn and Farage. Click if you dare.

Take that: Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride went for the “plague on both their houses” approach. “Seeing Nigel Farage and Keir Starmer’s cavalier attitude to public finances in action has confirmed the Conservatives are the only party of fiscal responsibility, hardworking families and businesses,” he said.

Speaking of which: Ex-PM Liz Truss is not happy about being caught in the crossfire and has been defending her record again … obvs.

More Farage: As Playbook reported this morning, the Reform UK leader is due to pop up at a bitcoin conference in Las Vegas for a “fireside chat” at 10 p.m. where he will announce his plan to make Britain a “crypto powerhouse.”

Starmer took note: The PM quipped during his speech that “in keeping with my point” (there had been earlier references to treating mortgages as gambling chips) “apparently he’s in Las Vegas today at a casino.”

What he’s up to: Farage will unveil plans to put a new “crypto bill” before parliament if his party wins the next election with the aim of turning the U.K. into a “crypto powerhouse,” Bloomberg reports.

On the ground: The FT’s Alex Rogers has a fun piece from the crypto gathering where Eric Trump claimed he would like to see some of the big banks go extinct. “It was an eye-popping comment matched only by the colour of the bitcoin faithful — orange,” Rogers writes.

DRIVETIME DEBRIEF

COMING SHORTLY: Merseyside Police are about to hold a press conference with an update after a car drove into the Liverpool fans’ victory parade on Monday evening.

TALKING TRADE: Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will head to Paris next week to meet his U.S. counterpart Jamieson Greer and hash out a timeline for lifting the 25 percent tariffs on British steel, aluminium, and cars. POLITICO’s Graham Lanktree has more.

WELL, NOW WHAT? The world is still working out what a big court blow for Donald Trump on tariffs means in practice. “A lot of what the U.K. was negotiating was on the 25 percent steel and car tariffs — that’s untouched,” Lorand Bartels, Professor of International Law at Cambridge tells my colleague Caroline Hug. “It’s like a gift to the U.K., because now the 10 percent may go as well as everything else.”

Call him in: Never knowingly understated, the Lib Dems want ministers to summon the U.S. ambassador to explain what the hell is going on. Sadly no demand for a parliamentary recall … but there’s always tomorrow.

PENSIONS FIGHT: The pensions sector is bracing for a fight with the Treasury after the government’s big plan to supersize the sector included the threat of an investment mandate, POLITICO finance reporter James Fitzgerald texts in to say.

What you need to know: Thursday’s pension announcement confirmed a “reserve power” which would enable ministers to tell funds where to invest their cash. If pension schemes don’t invest enough in the U.K., the government reserves the right to force them to do so. Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said Labour is “crossing the Rubicon into directing the public’s savings,” adding: “Pension pots are there to secure retirements, not to bankroll a government that’s run out of ideas and credibility.”

Money in your pocket: The government reckons the changes to pension “megafunds” will mean an extra £6,000 in retirees’ pockets, but the next phase of the pensions review – which looks at how much employees save each month from their pay packet – is yet to be announced.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT ALSO WANTED TO TALK ABOUT: Cutting red tape for those putting in electric vehicle charge points and going after employers who have not been paying the minimum wage.

WATER WARNING: Minister Emma Hardy warned on the morning round that Britain would run out of drinking water by the mid-2030s without new reservoirs. The government announced it is taking over two reservoir projects in East Anglia and Lincolnshire.

LAW ONTO HIMSELF: Attorney General Richard Hermer warned that the U.K. will become “less prosperous and secure” if it takes a pick and mix approach to international law. The Guardian has more deets.

BLUNT DECISION: Surrey Police dropped an investigation into allegations of rape against former Tory MP Crispin Blunt due to “insufficient evidence,” the force confirmed to the Spectator’s James Heale. Blunt was arrested in October 2023 and stood down from the Commons last year. The police statement said he remains under investigation “on suspicion of possession of controlled substances.”

CHEAP DATE: Tech Secretary Peter Kyle accepted a meal worth just £30 from OpenAI supremo Sam Altman (net worth: $1.7 billion) in April, eagle-eyed POLITICO tech reporter Joe Bambridge spotted in Transparency data published this afternoon.

PUTTING HIS FOOT DOWN: Elon Musk’s Tesla is pushing the British government to overhaul a £2 billion green energy scheme that would give his electric car company access to the carbon credit market, the i paper’s Ben Gartside reports.

SWITCHING SIDES: Brian Mathew became the second Lib Dem MP to change their mind on the assisted dying bill and will vote against the legislation next time. The Guardian has a writeup.

SOCIAL (MEDIA) AFFAIRS

BOBBY ON THE BEAT: Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick lit up political social media after posting an eye-catching vid of himself challenging fare dodgers on the London Underground. His lunch bud Rupert Lowe — along with plenty of other Westminster watchers — seemed impressed.

Rule-breaker: Jenrick appears to have flouted Transport for London rules as he didn’t have permission to film, LBC’s Henry Riley reported. The Tory frontbencher is undeterred. He told the BBC’s Matt Chorley he didn’t know the rule and remains “unapologetic because they should be going after the people who are breaking the law, and not the people that are exposing it.” The shadow justice sec is on LBC later tonight, presumably after rugby tackling some crims.

BEYOND THE M25

FEELING GLOOMY: The Local Government Chronicle surveyed senior council figures and founds optimism about the Labour government has plunged dramatically in the past year.

NORTH OF THE BORDER: Douglas Ross was ejected from the Holyrood chamber by Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone for heckling John Swinney during First Minister’s Questions. The Herald has more.

MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Israel confirmed it would establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank including legalizing outposts already built without government authorization following a security cabinet vote. Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer condemned the decision as a “deliberate obstacle to Palestinian statehood” and warned it would not protect Israel. The Guardian has a writeup.

CHINESE WHISPERS: The Chinese government welcomed the U.K. and Mauritius’ agreement on the Chagos Islands as a “massive achievement.” Beijing’s Ambassador to Mauritius Huang Shifang told guests at the Chinese embassy that the country “fully supports” Mauritius’ attempt to “safeguard national sovereignty.” The Telegraph carries her comments.

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TONIGHT’S MEDIA ROUND

LEADING THE NEWS BULLETINS: Channel 5 News (5 p.m.) focuses on the trial into Anita Rose’s death last year at Ipswich Crown Court … ITV Evening News (6.30 p.m.) has a report about substandard housing … Channel 4 News (7 p.m.) looks at X owner Elon Musk departing the White House.

Ben Kentish at Drive (LBC, until 7 p.m.): Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones (5.35 p.m.) … British-Palestinian writer Ahmed Najar (5.50 p.m.) … Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick (6.35 p.m.).

Drive with John Pienaar (Times Radio, until 7 p.m.): Former GCHQ Deputy Director of Intelligence and Cyber Operations Brian Lord … Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Irwin Stelzer … HuffPost’s Kevin Schofield and APCO Worldwide’s Jo Tanner (both 6 p.m.).

BBC PM (Radio 4, 5 p.m.): Darren Jones (5.05 p.m.) … former Tony Blair and Keir Starmer adviser Peter Hyman (5.30 p.m.).

News Hour (Sky News, 5 p.m.): Chatham House Associate Fellow Heather Hurlburt (5.30 p.m.) … Brookings Institution Vice President Ben Harris (6.30 p.m.).

Dewbs and Co (GB News, 6 p.m.): Former Labour MP Bill Rammell.

GBN Tonight (GB News, 7 p.m.): Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng … former U.S. Treasury Acting Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy Diana Furchtgott-Roth … former Tory PPC Aman Bhogal.

The Politics Hub (Sky News, 7 p.m.): Darren Jones … Robert Jenrick … Labour MP Natalie Fleet … Green Party Deputy Leader and leadership contender Zack Polanski … former Reform UK Director of Communications Gawain Towler.

Question Time (BBC Sounds and iPlayer 9 p.m. and BBC One, 10.40 p.m.): Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander … Shadow Housing Minister David Simmonds … Lib Dem MP Jess Brown-Fuller … PoliticsJOE’s Ava-Santina Evans … commentator Tim Montgomerie.

Patrick Christys Tonight (GB News, 9 p.m.): Tory peer Shaun Bailey … former Tory MP Jane Stevenson … former Labour adviser Matthew Laza.

Newsnight (BBC Two, 10.30 p.m.): Former CIA Director David Petraeus.

TWEETING TOMORROW’S PAPERS TONIGHT: George Mann.

REVIEWING THE PAPERS TONIGHT: Times Radio (10.30 p.m.): Former Lib Dem adviser Jo Phillips and the Mail on Sunday’s Anna Mikhailova … Sky News (10.30 p.m. and 11.30 p.m.): Total Politics Group’s Mark Wallace and former Scottish Labour Leader Kezia Dugdale.

TOMORROW’S WORLD

CUTTING THE BLOB: Policy Exchange has a report out tomorrow suggesting how ministers could cut civil service headcount.

MACRON’S MOMENT: French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO TALK ABOUT: Crumbling schools and hospitals.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

PACKED LUNCH OR PALACE LUNCH: It’s recess! Make the most of a quiet parliament with a wander round to check out the menus.

MEDIA NEWS: Business Insider — owned by POLITICO’s parent company Axel Springer — will lay off 21 percent of its staff, CEO Barbara Peng told employees in a memo today. Axios media correspondent Sara Fisher got hold of the letter.

NEW GIGS: Ian Dunt has been appointed as chair of the newly-established editorial board for the New Humanist magazine … Faiza Shaheen has been appointed as executive director of Tax Justice UK.

SPOTTED: Ex-Tory PMs John Major and Rishi Sunak at the cricket living their best lives.

TITTLE TATTLE: More lines have dropped from Tatler’s interview with Spectator Editor Michael Gove (as previewed in morning Playbook). The former Cabinet minister described Donald Trump’s skin as “an orange that’s not like fake tan” and was “just absorbed” by his hair. Gove also commented on *that* Aberdeen nightclub dancing. “I remember the next morning waking up and thinking: ‘oops.'”

MEA CULPA: This morning’s Playbook got a bit too excited about Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride’s RSA speech and said it was today. It is actually next Thursday at 11 a.m. Only seven more sleeps.

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: The Speccie’s James Heale on frustrations about ministers’ inability to properly wield their power, attempts to rectify it — and why MPs are cheering on Deputy PM Angela Rayner.

ON THIS DAY IN POLITICS: On May 29, 1660 King Charles II returned to London on his 30th birthday after living abroad in exile. On the same day in 1868, the Capital Punishment Amendment Act received royal assent, ending public executions … Meanwhile in 1982, British forces triumphed over the Argentinian army in the Battle of Goose Green during the Falklands War. On the same date in 2021, then-Prime Minster Boris Johnson married former Conservative Communications Director Carrie Symonds.

WRITING PLAYBOOK TOMORROW MORNING: Stefan Boscia.

THANKS TO: My editor Matt Honeycombe-Foster, reporter Noah Keate and the POLITICO production team for making it look nice.

**A message from Lloyds Banking Group: The UK is facing a severe shortage of genuinely affordable homes, with growing demand for social rent housing. At Lloyds Banking Group, we believe the private sector has a critical role to play in addressing this challenge. That’s why we’ve published a new prospectus for action – a set of policy and investment proposals to help deliver the social homes the country needs. The paper includes two new investment mechanisms that could support the delivery of up to 200,000 social rent homes over the next decade. We’re also calling for wider reforms to strengthen the social housing sector, from unlocking land and accelerating planning, to boosting investor confidence and supporting housing associations to scale. This is a bold step forward – part of our wider commitment to champion social housing and help build a more resilient and inclusive housing system for the future. Find out more.**

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