Defense Secretary Grant Shapps will update the House of Commons Tuesday afternoon. Although he is not expected to directly name Beijing in his statement, Sky News, which first broke the story, reported that China is in the frame. Officials told POLITICO’s London Playbook newsletter their work had not cleared the high bar for public attribution. … Read more
“We shouldn’t make the mistake of declaring Trump a premature winner, or even subscribing to this idea,” German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said on Wednesday. But for others it’s already too late. Ex-Tory Minister Tim Loughton told the BBC that Biden “frankly needs to read the room — it’s time to go home to the … Read more
Look back on the party’s history. The leaders who put the nation’s interests first and governed from the center did so with distinction: Disraeli, Stanley Baldwin, Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan and, yes, Margaret Thatcher too. When they went populist, it didn’t work. Who remembers the first Tory populist Andrew Bonar Law, who went full protectionist, upending … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. LONDON — It was meant to be the year two quiet technocrats, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, brought calm to the fevered Westminster swamp. Unfortunately SW1 didn’t get the memo. Politics remained pretty much as wild in 2023 as it has been since David Cameron — back in action as U.K. foreign secretary … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. LONDON — Plots, bills and parties give way Monday to family — and ritual. The little traditions we make for ourselves on Christmas Day pause time and briefly silence the rattle of the outside world. POLITICO London Playbook sent out the call for Westminster’s … Read more
