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By ANNABELLE DICKSON
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Happy Boxing Day: Open another bottle of fizz and stay where you are: Britain isn’t moving. Strike action has put a stop to train travel, and some tube lines are affected too. The Transport for London and Network Rail websites are essential reading for anyone hatching a great festive escape, or unlucky enough to have to travel today.
CHRISTMAS WITH BRITAIN’S POLITICAL FAMILIES
POLITICAL DYNASTIES DO CHRISTMAS: Don’t worry, there isn’t too much news today. More on that further down the email. Playbook thought she’d start your day by asking some of Britain’s political dynasties (can we call them nepo babies?) what they get up to over the festive period. Enjoy, and have a great Boxing Day. Eleni Courea will be back with you tomorrow morning.
Victoria Prentis and Tim Boswell: Britain’s Attorney General Victoria Prentis is the daughter of Tim Boswell, a member of the House of Lords and former Conservative MP for Daventry.
They say never work with children or animals, but Christmas Eve for their family involves a nativity play in the local church featuring a real baby (at least three were due to share the role this year) plus live animals including donkeys, sheep — and dogs dressed as sheep. King Herod is usually played by Prentis’ MP predecessor Tony Baldry.
Christmas Day is at the Boswell house, and Prentis was this year due to be joined by Ukrainian refugee Vika, with mum and dad also paying a visit. As a farming family, Prentis said it is “all about the food.” That doesn’t mean politics is off the menu — and Boswell’s 3-year-old granddaughter once returned from nursery surprised that none of the other kids wanted to have a political chat with her. “We recently realized just how much my dad talks politics to his granddaughters,” Prentis said.
Rachel and Ellie Reeves: Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and her sister Ellie, who serves as the opposition party’s shadow justice minister, are planning to celebrate Christmas together today. “Rachel’s a very good cook and will be making beef in a stilton and port gravy and Christmas cake,” Ellie revealed, although she admitted there is “absolutely no chance my kids will eat that as it’s not beige.”
And then comes the crucial stuff. “I will bring wine. Lots of it. It’s then party games for the kids – musical statues, pin the tail on the unicorn and anything else they insist on!” As for chat about the state of the nation? “I think we’re all agreed there will definitely be no talking about politics,” Ellie added. Rachel agreed: “One year we discussed Brexit on Boxing Day — we shan’t be doing that again!”
Fay and Gwilym Jones: Conservative whip Fay Jones is daughter of the former Wales Minister Gwilym Jones.
Christmas will be spent together, along with Fay’s brother — although it will, she said, be strange as the first without her mum who passed away earlier this year.
The Cardiff Blues versus Newport Dragons Rugby match is high on the Jones agenda for Boxing Day, something Fay said will be a “good laugh” even if it is “always chuffing cold.” On the 27th, the whole extended family will get together to watch the Welsh grand national, with her uncle running a sweepstake at which the kids in the family usually clean up.
“We never really stop chatting politics so I’m sure Christmas won’t be an exception,” Fay said. “My boyfriend and my brother will duck out and put the cricket on while my dad gives me ‘sage advice’ from his time in parliament. In return, I try to explain to dad that things are slightly different now — he didn’t have emails or social media back in his day.” Lucky man.
David and Oliver Mundell: Former Conservative Scottish Secretary David Mundell’s son Oliver became a member of the Scottish parliament in 2016.
They spent the festive season together last year so won’t spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day together this year. But David says he hopes to have started a new tradition after already making a Mary Berry Christmas pudding with Oliver’s young daughters.
Christmas traditions include a candlelit carol service on Christmas Eve at Wamphray Parish Church, in what David described as a “beautiful glen setting” and making a trifle to the exact recipe of David’s late aunt. “Key is plenty of sherry so [the] base is actually liquid,” David said.
As for political chat around the Christmas table? “My mother ran a small hotel for over 20 years. She had a rule in the bar of no politics, religion or four-letter words! We try our best to stick to that whenever we can all be round the dinner table together,” David said.
Tom and Bill Newton Dunn: TalkTV host and Executive Editor Tom Newton Dunn was spending Christmas at his ex-MEP dad Bill’s house in Richmond.
“Politics seldom comes up,” Tom said, although he added this is “not by decree” but because they are “all happy to have a bit of a break from it.”
Instead, Tom says that with three generations of fervent Gunners present, the debate usually “rages furiously between my father, me and my two sons over whether Arsenal need to buy another striker in the January transfer window.”
Nick and Robbie Gibb: Long-serving Schools Minister Nick Gibb is the brother of former Downing Street comms chief-turned-BBC board member Robbie. The pair were due to gather for a meat-free Christmas dinner (Nick is a vegetarian and his husband Michael is vegan) — but only after Robbie’s family have tucked into turkey and all the trimmings for lunch earlier in the day.
Robbie says the latest Westminster shenanigans are unlikely to feature in the Christmas day discourse. “We don’t discuss politics in the family at the best of times, and rarely at Christmas.”
DRIVING THE DAY
BACK TO WORK: And for Rishi Sunak. Today could be the last day of his festive break, which was reportedly a “low-key” one spent in his North Yorkshire constituency. The Times reckons he indulged in brined turkey served with American side dishes such as mashed sweet potatoes and maple syrup-glazed carrots. He is expected back at his desk tomorrow or Wednesday with strike action showing no sign of easing anytime soon, and a long-term strategy urgently needed to turn around the Tories dire poll ratings, and a restless party to calm.
Strikes strikes strikes: There is plenty more strike action this week. RMT train and Eurostar security staff strikes continue until 6 a.m. tomorrow … Border Force staff are back out on strike on Wednesday until Saturday … National Highways workers will be out in the West Midlands and South West regions on Friday and Saturday.
What 2023 might bring: There have been various stories around over the weekend and this morning about what we might see from the U.K. government in the new year. The Times says it has seen Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s plans for bringing down U.K. immigration numbers, and reckons the Home Office will increase the minimum income threshold for British citizens applying for a family visa for a spouse or children. The Times also reports artificial intelligence will be used to predict when patients should be leaving hospital, with the government’s COVID-19 data man, Faculty Chief Executive Marc Warner, behind the plan.
Target culture: The i paper hears chatter that the government could abolish a majority of NHS targets next year. It is expecting the move to come after a report into NHS care by Patricia Hewitt, a former Labour health secretary, is published by March. The Speccie’s Katy Balls got first whiff of the thinking among ministers about targets earlier this month, and set it out in a fascinating Times column which is worth revisiting.
Over at Labour: HuffPost’s Kevin Schofiled hears Starmer’s festive message to his shadow cabinet hasn’t all been goodwill to men and women. He sent his senior team off with a Crimbo warning they need to up their game in the next 12 months, with the Labour hierarchy monitoring the media grid to see which members of his senior team are coming up with the most story ideas to pitch to humble lobby hacks like your Playbook author.
Case in point: The opposition gets some good airtime this morning (gold stars all round.) There is good pick up for its plan to close “loopholes” in the Hunting Act backed up with figures showing there have been less than 450 convictions in over a decade. The BBC has more on that. Not so glowing, the Telegraph has its own piece on the Hunting Act quoting the “man who wrote the law” Daniel Greenberg, who happens to be the incoming parliamentary standards commissioner, arguing it had been “driven more by a moral outrage angle than animal welfare.”
Parent promise: The Mirror and i paper both hear Labour is drawing up plans for a major £6 billion childcare giveaway, with more free hours for more age groups, and plans to use vacant school classrooms for early years care.
And more: Labour has also put out stats suggesting families face losing £76 million to online fraud and scams in the 12 days of Christmas alone and taking aim at the Tories over delays to its Online Safety Bill. The Mirror also has a write-up of that.
HACK ATTACK: It’s chaos on Education Secretary Gillian Keegan’s Twitter account today. It appears to have been hacked, with the profile picture changed to an image of Elon Musk. There are several posts promoting Musk’s cryptocurrency.
TODAY IN WESTMINSTER
PARLIAMENT: Don’t be silly. It’s Boxing Day. Parliament will be back on January 9.
NO CHRISTMAS TRUCE: The more positive reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to negotiations were tarnished by claims from Ukraine that Russia launched more than 40 rocket attacks on Christmas Day. Meanwhile Russian news agencies reported three Russian military personnel were killed early this morning by falling wreckage of a Ukrainian drone that was shot down. Reuters has the latest from the conflict.
DETAINED: More awful news from Iran. The Times reports that Britons with dual Iranian citizenship are among seven people arrested by the Revolutionary Guards. State media claimed protests there had been led “by elements in the UK.” “Seven main leaders of the recent protests related to the UK were detained by intelligence services, including dual nationals trying to leave the country,” the state media statement read. The FCDO is investigating. Sunak told MPs at last week’s liaison committee he was “increasingly concerned” about Iran and predicted Britain would be spending increasing time on tackling the nation.
KING CHARLES GETS POINTED? King Charles has bagged a few headlines for his maiden Christmas speech. Instead of sticking to the usual tributes to public servants he spoke of “this time of great anxiety and hardship” and his name check of ambulance and health workers amid a wave of strikes raised a few eyebrows. Sky News’ Rhiannon Mills asks if he is overstepping the mark?
While you are here: Given it is the time of year for a cuttings humble brag, Esther Webber and your Playbook author penned a piece earlier this year after Queen Elizabeth died looking at how it might be easier said than done for our new monarch to end a lifetime of private activism. At the time, our focus group quite liked the king’s punchy interventions.
Wannabe world king Christmas message: Old habits die hard — Boris Johnson did a pre-Christmas message too. The Express’ Sam Lister has been speaking to senior Tories who still believe, and reckon the ex-PM will be back in Downing Street by next Christmas if the Tories have a wipeout at the local elections in May. Nadine Dorries is of course among those who tell Sam there is only one person who is a proven winner that can “keep them in their seats.”
Saga for Forsyth: It’s no wonder Sunak is beefing up his Downing Street operation. In case you missed it in the pre-Christmas chaos: the PM has hired long-serving Speccie pol ed James Forsyth as his political secretary. An old friend of Sunak, Forsyth has reportedly been tasked with being his MP charmer-in-chief and policy unit link man.
Fear of Farage: Forsyth might want to start with former Tory Cabinet big-hitters Iain Duncan Smith, Dominic Raab and Theresa Villiers, who are among the MPs the Guardian reckons are at risk of losing their seats if Nigel Farage makes a comeback. Their already slim majorities would be destroyed by the Reform UK candidates attracting even relatively small numbers of voters their analysis of House of Commons Library data suggests. Politics professor Rob Ford tells them there is a “significant slice of seats” where the Tory majority over Labour or the Lib Dems would not be large enough if a “Brexit party-type candidate stands next time.”
NO STAT ATTACK: The UK Health Security Agency has said the U.K. is going to stop publishing COVID-19 modeling data in early January. Playbook is having flashbacks to the days when we all became experts in the R number.
FINE ‘EM: Chairman of Acoba Eric Pickles uses a Telegraph piece to call for his watchdog to be given the power to fine ex-ministers up to £30,000 for ignoring his guidelines. His full thundering piece about the current state of play, which has left his body essentially toothless, is worth read for any students of government ethics and revolving doors. Take heed, Matt Hancock. The former health secretary was rebuked by the watchdog after he failed to get clearance before heading off to the Aussie jungle.
THE PREM IS BACK: The Premier League football season is back after its World Cup break. If you can get there, the Mirror’s Dan Bloom has bad news for you. It’s all getting a lot more expensive. The cost of a meat pie soars by 21 percent, an official football shirt has also risen in price by 14 percent since last year and a pint is now 7 percent more than last year.
BOXING DAY READING: Grab a coffee and read this lovely piece from POLITICO’s Head of News Christian Oliver about why it is time to resurrect the story of Anna of Kyiv, the highly accomplished and undeservedly forgotten 11th-century queen of the Franks. He says Queen Anna’s story reveals how Kyiv has long shaped Europe.
TODAY’S FRONT PAGES
(Click on the publication’s name to see its front page):
Daily Express: King of caring
Daily Mail: King’s message of love and hope
Daily Mirror: Charles praises selfless NHS
Daily Star: Scare of the dog!
i: NHS targets to be swept away in reform plan
PoliticsHome: Westminster Map Of Madness: The Biggest Political Moments Of 2022
POLITICO UK: Pass the sherry, hold the politics: How Britain’s political families are spending Christmas
The Daily Telegraph: I feel for families who are struggling, says King
The Guardian: ‘Monumental’ cultural shift with a third more stay-at-home fathers
The Independent: Warning over generation of children held back
The Sun: King of Hearts
The Times: King’s speech is a gift for ‘tireless’ health workers
LONDON CALLING
Westminster weather: ☀️ ⛅ ⛅The sun will be out. Highs of 8C.
BIRTHDAYS: Eddisbury MP Edward Timpson … Scotland’s former Chief Medical Officer Catherine Calderwood … ex-MEP and broadcaster Alex Phillips … Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan … Former Lib Dem spinner Alex Marshall … POLITICO’s own Matt Honeycombe-Foster … and formerly detained Iranian-British dual citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editor Sanya Khetani-Shah and producer Ellen Boonen.
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