Roman holiday

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: `Fifty-eight-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was identified by multiple media outlets as the suspect implicated in a second attempted assassination of Donald Trump. The FBI said Secret Service agents “opened fire on a gunman” just outside Trump’s golf club in Florida on Sunday and later detained him after he fled the scene. It’s just another shocking, extraordinary day on the U.S. campaign trail.
What happened? Authorities say an “AK-47 style rifle” with a scope was poking through the golf club fence and that Trump was 300-500 yards away from the gunman’s location. The presidential candidate was whisked away to a safe space and escaped unharmed, according to a campaign spokesperson.
Calls for calm: President Joe Biden denounced the attempt on Trump’s life and promised the Secret Service has “every resource” to protect the Republican candidate. Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris said she was “deeply disturbed” by the attempted shooting and that “we all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.” Read more from our U.S. colleagues here.
Now hear this: ICYMI, last week’s Westminster Insider podcast from POLITICO features interviews with veteran political journos on both sides of the Atlantic about what it’s really like to cover a U.S. election. Host Jack Blanchard interviews Jon Sopel, Henry Zeffman, Rosa Prince, Jonathan Martin and more.
Good Monday morning. This is Stefan Boscia.
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BUONGIORNO, SIGNOR STARMER: Keir Starmer’s world tour continues this morning as the PM wakes up in yet another global capital. He’s in Rome today for a meeting with Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and he has a shiny new appointment to show off — new chief border cop Martin Hewitt. Starmer and Hewitt will inspect Italy’s border operations control room, before the PM goes on to have a tête-à-tête (and press conference) with Meloni focused largely on irregular migration. Let’s hope her former bestie Rishi Sunak isn’t too jealous.
New hire: Downing Street’s big announcement into today was the appointment of Hewitt, a senior police officer for more than three decades, as Starmer’s new border security commander. The ex-chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) will work with the U.K.’s police agencies, intelligence chiefs and border force to crack down on people smugglers operating overseas. The PM said “Hewitt’s unique expertise will lead a new era of international enforcement to dismantle” criminal gangs running small boats across the Channel. 
Listen all y’all, it’s a sabotage: The Telegraph’s Charles Hymas, Martin Evans and Amy Gibbons report that Hewitt wants to use more undercover tactics and covert surveillance to arrest people-smugglers. They write that he was hired due to his expertise on how to break up organized crime networks, his experience in overseeing complex operations and understanding of how the government interacts with police agencies.
Along for the ride: Hewitt, who will not officially start in the role for a couple weeks, joins Starmer in Rome to step up cooperation with Britain’s European allies on border security — a key part of Starmer’s plan to “smash the gangs.” Hewitt last night said he wanted to “forge deeper relationships with all of the organizations within Border Security Command, as well as our friends and partners across the world.”
Taking notes: Starmer is also in Italy to try to learn from Meloni’s tough immigration policies, which led to a 64 percent year-on-year drop in small boat arrivals in the first half of 2024. This has included sending asylum seekers to Albania while their claims are processed. Starmer hinted on Sunday that he would be interested in also sending asylum seekers to Albania or another third country in a similar arrangement — after canceling the (far more hardline) Rwanda scheme inherited from the Tories.
That’s not a no: “It’s in [the] early days, I’m interested in how that works, I think everybody else is — it’s very, very early days,” Starmer said in a pool clip. He added that Meloni “has of course got some strong ideas and I hope to discuss those with her.”
Real human cost: The trip comes just after eight people died trying to cross the Channel over the weekend. The rubber dinghy carrying 60 people crashed into rocks and tore apart early Sunday morning, according to rescue services. A further 801 people arrived in the U.K. on small boats on Saturday (via Sky News).
TODAY’S AGENDA: Starmer will start his day by meeting Italian business leaders over breakfast, before taking a tour of Italy’s National Coordination Center and its central operations room for illegal migration. He will then meet with Meloni for a couple of hours, which will include a working lunch, and wrap up the flying visit with a joint press conference at 2 p.m. U.K. time.
A spritz and a fag: Playbook is told by a senior figure in Sunak’s No. 10 that Meloni would drink Aperol spritzes and smoke cigarettes in meetings with the ex-PM. Will Starmer follow suit? When in Rome, and all that.
THE LEFT WON’T LIKE THIS: Downing Street was full of praise for Meloni and her immigration policies on Sunday night in comments which won’t sit well with certain sections of the Labour Party. A No. 10 press release credited the Italian PM — who won the 2022 election on a populist right-wing platform — with having “success with irregular migration” thanks to “tough enforcement and international cooperation.”
Case in point: Left-wing Labour MP Kim Johnson told the Guardian’s Aletha Adu and Rajeev Syal that Starmer’s attempts to learn from Italy’s immigration policies are “disturbing.” She said that “higher security and draconian deportation measures fail to dissuade desperate people from seeking asylum.”
Not just backbenchers: One Labour minister told the Times’ Matt Dathan and colleagues that “it’s good to see we’re taking enforcement much more seriously,” while also casting doubt on whether Starmer’s plans will actually stop Channel crossings. “At the end of the day, as long as there’s demand to come to the U.K. there will always be smugglers who provide it,” they said.
Ouch: The Times also reports that some senior police officers were questioning the appointment of Hewitt on Sunday night. A former colleague of his said the new border security commander is a “consummate politician and he will promise the world,” but that “he doesn’t always deliver.” “I’m just not sure whether he’s the right choice, it’s a mammoth job,” they added. With friends like these, eh.
ALSO ON THE AGENDA IN ROME … will be talks on how to maintain Western support for Ukraine. Meloni has been a solid defender of Kyiv, playing a key role in getting Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán to agree to recent EU aid packages for Ukraine. Bloomberg’s Alex Wickham reckons Starmer will try to win her support on allowing Ukraine to fire British-made Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia.
Starmer won’t be who decides: The Times’ Steven Swinford reports the U.K. will not unilaterally allow Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia with Storm Shadow missiles — despite the urging of Boris Johnson and a group of ex-defense secretaries. While the missiles are made in Britain, they require U.S. guidance systems to actually hit their targets inside Russia. Ultimately, this one is going to be decided by Joe Biden.
SUE IN THE SKY: POLITICO’s Andrew McDonald, who is with the traveling press pack in Rome, said Starmer’s all-powerful chief of staff Sue Gray joined the PM and Hewitt on the plane to Rome last night. Gray is becoming a fixture at these big summits — she joined Starmer’s bilat with Biden in the White House last week too.
Maybe she was a spy after all: Gray has been appointed to a permanent seat on Britain’s National Security Council, the Sun’s Harry Cole reports. The council also consists of Starmer, several top Cabinet ministers, heads of intelligence agencies and military chiefs. Her appointment is yet another example of just how powerful Gray is becoming and how wide her remit runs.
Not helping: Starmer addressed the many stories and rumors swirling around Gray (such as her reported power struggle with Labour election guru Morgan McSweeney) over the weekend, telling journalists on the trip to Washington that “all I can say about the stories is most of them are wildly wrong.” Which means some of them are true, right?
ED RUSH: Ed Davey is kicking off a media blitz this morning as he enters the business end of his party conference, Playbook’s Dan Bloom writes in from Brighton. The Lib Dem leader will celebrate his election success (all 72 of his MPs are due at his big closing speech on Tuesday) with a full morning broadcast round today, followed by sit-downs with broadcast political editors to appear at 5 p.m. … and a rollercoaster interview (literally) with BBC Radio 5 Live’s Matt Chorley at 3 p.m.
Scoop 1 — Ed-hunting: Davey plans to finally hold a post-election reshuffle in the coming weeks, three party figures tell Dan. The clock is ticking because Alistair Carmichael (home affairs and Northern Ireland) and Layla Moran (foreign affairs and science) will both leave to chair select committees in October — but Davey is expected to make wider changes, with some of the brightest new MPs being promoted. Partly to ensure frontbenchers no longer mark two Cabinet ministers at the same time.
Scoop 2 — Edspace: The party is lobbying Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to get an extra question at PMQs — and nick one off the Tories, ex-leader Tim Farron told POLITICO’s energy reporter Nick Earl. Farron says it’s only fair given there’s now only a 49-MP gap between the two parties. “It shouldn’t be 6-2, it should be 5-3,” Farron said. “We are making that case to Lindsay, and I am sure he’ll consider … Obviously, we don’t want to lobby him publicly.” Good job, Tim!
Ed Balls: The conference has of course been going all weekend, with Davey doing beach volleyball on Sunday at a center called Yellowave. Top Gun it wasn’t — clip here. Other stunts have included kayaking, mini golf, jet skiing, biscuits topped with an edible photo of Davey, and blue knock-em-down dominos for the hacks (geddit?).
Ed of steam: The recurring question is whether the Lib Dems will pivot from opposing the opposition to bringing the fight to Labour, beyond specific issues like winter fuel. The answer, it seems, is not yet — “constructive opposition” is an oft-used catchphrase and almost all the Lib Dems’ remaining target seats are Tory-held. No wonder Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper told hacks of the Tory leadership candidates: “Their politics is weird. Their choice of issues is weird.” Playbook reckons she’s been watching too much MSNBC.
Not just Ed: Cooper’s speech at 11.05 a.m. will include a personal opener about how the NHS “gave me my life back.” She’ll promise to hold Labour’s “feet to the fire” and told hacks Tory Andrew Lansley’s 2012 health reforms “were a mistake” — though the NHS only went “off a cliff” after the Lib Dems left government in 2015. (Although, she would say that.)
On Gaza: Lib Dem members will vote on a delicately worded motion this afternoon that has been thrashed out with the friends’ groups of both Israel and Palestine, and after Cooper met Israeli hostages’ families on the weekend. Don’t tell that to the lawyer who told a fringe event that Israel’s “decades-long belligerent occupation … led directly to the explosion of violence on Oct. 7.” via the Telegraph’s Dominic Penna.
Some things never change: The day kicks off with a frontbench motion calling for proportional representation — despite first-past-the-post handing the Lib Dems a stunning victory — and ends with the traditional Glee Club of sweary songs, including “B****cks-bloody-b***er-knackers-f***ing-c**t to Brexit” (h/t Dom Penna).
TODAY IN BRIGHTON: Voting reform motion (9 a.m.) … General election review by Tim Farron (9.45 a.m.) … Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper speech (11.05 a.m.) … TBI fringe on new parliament (11.30 a.m.) … Deputy Chief Minister of Gibraltar Joseph Garcia at fringe on EU relations (11.30 a.m.) … Young Liberals fringe on whether party’s housing policy is enough (1 p.m.) … Israel-Gaza emergency motion (2.10 p.m.) … Welsh Leader Jane Dodds speech (3.40 p.m.) … Bereavement support motion (5.20 p.m.) … Humanists UK drinks (6 p.m.) … Drinks with EU ambassador, invite only (6.15 p.m.) … press drinks with Lib Dem MPs, invite only (8 p.m.) … Glee Club (10 p.m.).
SCHOOLYARD SNOBBERY: The Telegraph has more excerpts from Graham Brady’s upcoming memoir this morning, including anecdotes that paint ex-PM David Cameron and ex-Chancellor George Osborne in a less-than-flattering light. Brady claims he once overheard Osborne making fun of him in parliament’s tea rooms. Osborne reportedly said to David Miliband within earshot: “Oh, David, don’t bother about Graham. He’s a grammar-school boy, you know.”
Goodness: Meanwhile, Brady claims Cameron made “off color” remarks about Peter Mandelson, while also retelling how the ex-PM once told him “politics is just s**t.” “It’s choosing the least bad option … The fact is, life would be easier if colleagues paid their expenses on time [sic] and didn’t snort coke and sodomize each other!” Well, he’s probably not wrong. 
COMING ATTRACTION: Meanwhile, POLITICO’s Tim Ross and the i paper’s Rachel Wearmouth have been hard at work over the summer writing the definitive story of the election campaign that swept the Tories out and Starmer in. Their book: “Landslide: The Inside Story of the 2024 Election,” will be out from Biteback later this year. Here’s a taster … 
Blair’s bragging rights: On their way into the Tate Modern victory party on election night, Keir Starmer gave Morgan McSweeney a big hug. Though they were obviously delighted with their win, the two men confessed to being a bit annoyed that their landslide wasn’t quite as big as Tony Blair’s in 1997. They carried on grumbling about winning a majority of only 174 as they got into the lift inside the gallery to head to the party. Eventually, Starmer’s wife Vic had to tell them to cut it out. 
Who are ya? Labour bosses knew they needed to reassure the public they could be trusted with the economy. But Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves was still unknown with voters, a major weak point. During one Labour-run focus group, participants were shown a picture of Reeves on a joint visit to a construction site with Starmer. One member of the group asked: “Why has he taken his wife with him?” It prompted a big operation to boost Reeves’ profile. Aides consciously channeled “Iron Chancellor” Gordon Brown and even the “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher. 
Labour never fought Reform … Because they knew Nigel Farage would hurt the Tories the most. Morgan McSweeney and Pat McFadden, who ran Labour’s election campaign, both believe Reform is a toxic influence in British politics, but they were happy to let Farage damage Sunak in the campaign. When the godfather of Brexit announced he had changed his mind and was standing as a candidate in Clacton, Labour aides huddled around the TV in HQ to watch and fist bumped each other in delight. McSweeney was pleased too, and wore a broad smile. Read more on POLITICO here.
**Tune in to the finance policy chatter during party conference season. As the U.K.’s political parties gather to discuss their priorities, finance policy could be part of the conversation – and you shouldn’t be missing out. Get on-the-ground insights from our London newsroom in our exclusive POLITICO Pro Debrief on September 17. Sign up here.**
PARLIAMENT: Chillin’ out for conference season.
TIME TROUBLES: Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds are in a rift over an employment rights policy change, the Telegraph’s Lucy Burton reports. Reynolds is pushing for people to have full employment rights — which include the ability to take a company to court for unfair dismissal — after a nine-month probation period, while Rayner thinks it should be from Day One, as long promised by Labour.
WARNING SHOT: A former Cabinet secretary and former Treasury minister have written to Rachel Reeves to warn against cutting capital investment in next month’s budget. Gus O’Donnell, Jim O’Neill and six economists said a cut in investment spending would “damage the foundations of the economy.” The FT’s Sam Fleming has that one.
BIG DAY: The means-testing of the winter fuel allowance comes into force today, with less than a week remaining to claim pension credit to receive the allowance. The Express splashes on the changes, with the headline: “What a disgrace!”
CAR CHAT: Labour will allow some new hybrid cars to remain on the market until 2035, even as they bring forward a ban on new petrol or diesel-powered cars to 2030, the Telegraph’s Matt Oliver reports.
NEW PARTY ON THE BLOCK: Former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke at a meeting for a new left-wing party — named Collective — on Sunday, the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot reports. An organizer said the aim is for Collective to be a “meaningful counterweight to Reform and the rightwing drift of the Labour Party.”
RETURN TO OZ: Keir Starmer is drawing up plans to visit Australia next month as part of a push to keep the AUKUS submarine pact afloat. The prime minister is expected to speak to his counterpart Anthony Albanese in a multi-stop trip as he goes to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa. It’s also a handy chance to chum up to the leader of another Labor Party … which faces a battle to keep power in next year’s Aussie election.
Top of the bill … will be the U.S.-U.K. plan to help Australia get its first nuclear-powered submarine fleet, a bulwark against the rise of China. Starmer and Biden discussed AUKUS on Friday and ex-national security adviser Stephen Lovegrove is leading a review that’s handily due to report next month. Government officials insist they are four square behind AUKUS and minister Vernon Coaker claims it is making “significant progress,” despite wider complaints about U.K. defense spending under Starmer.
FLOOD DISASTER: At least eight people were confirmed dead in floods in Czechia, Poland and Romania, while authorities downstream on the Danube River ordered evacuations in anticipation of further flooding. Read more on POLITICO. 
NOT BOTHERED: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he’s treating Donald Trump’s vow to end the Russia-Ukraine war immediately as a campaign promise that is not necessarily based on anything specific. Speaking on CNN, Zelenskyy said: “Election messages are election messages. Sometimes they are not very real.”
ISRAEL LATEST: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Yemen’s Houthi rebels will pay a “heavy price” after a missile fired by the group landed in central Israel early Sunday.
TROUBLE IN CANADA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s hold on power is wobbling, constantly facing questions about why he won’t step down. When he met many of his 154 members of parliament to strategize for the fall legislative session, Quebec MP Alexandra Mendès said, “My constituents do not see Mr. Trudeau as the person who should lead the party into the next election.” My colleague Nick Taylor-Vaisey has taken a deep dive into Trudeau’s plan to cling on.
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Home Secretary Yvette Cooper broadcast round: 5 Live (7.15 a.m.) … BBC Breakfast (7.30 a.m.) … Sky (7.45 a.m.) … Today (8.15 a.m.) … GMB (8.35 a.m.) … LBC (8.50 a.m.).
Shadow Policing Minister Matt Vickers broadcast round: Sky (8.15 a.m.) … LBC News (8.50 a.m.) … GB News (9.05 a.m.) … Talk (9.15 a.m.).
Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey broadcast round: GMB (7.15 a.m.) … LBC (7.35 a.m.) … Today (7.50 a.m.) … 5 Live (8.20 a.m.) … BBC Breakfast (8.30 a.m.). 
Also on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: Human Right Watch U.K. Director Yasmine Ahmed (7.15 a.m.) … British Red Cross Chair David Bernstein (7.50 a.m.) … Conservative MP Gavin Williamson (8.05 a.m.) … former adviser to the minister of defense of Ukraine Alexander Khara (8.10 a.m.) … campaigner and broadcaster Esther Rantzen (8.35 a.m.). 
Times Radio Breakfast: Former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka (7.15 a.m.) … Adviser to Ukrainian defense ministry Yuriy Sak (8.15 a.m.).
Also on Sky News Breakfast: Former Conservative MP and defense analyst Tobias Ellwood (7.15 a.m.).
POLITICO UK: How UK Labour let Nigel Farage win.
Daily Express: What a disgrace! Starmer taking fuel help from the disabled.
Daily Mail: Why can’t millionaire Starmers buy their own clothes?
Daily Mirror: Royal peace gesture.
Daily Star: Med for it. 
Financial Times: Harris maintains post-debate lead over Trump on economy, says poll.
i: PM sets sights on Italy-style migration deal to tackle small boats crisis.
Metro: Many Harry returns? 
The Daily Telegraph: Trump ‘targeted by gunman’ on his golf course.
The Guardian: PM accused of seeking to copy far right on migration.
The Independent: Help us build a safe refuge for survivors of domestic abuse … brick by brick. 
The Times: Trump targeted again in attempted assassination.
WESTMINSTER WEATHER: The sun is shining, so take advantage of the last days of “summer.” High 21C, low 11C.
SCOOP — CONFERENCE CONCERTS: TikTok & UK Music will be hosting naughties icons at their Celebration of U.K. music events this conference season — with Will Young playing their Labour event and Peter Andre headlining at the Tories. 
QUIZ DEMS: Congrats to the ITV regional news team, who won the Lib Dem conference journalists’ quiz thanks to intricate knowledge of the locations of Ed Davey’s photo stunts. Second was Playbook’s Dan Bloom on his own, thanks to a technicality as the rest of his team was Lib Dem staff and hence disqualified. The winners won blue Jenga, a bungee jump and signed photos of Ed Davey, while the runner-up won Davey’s sandcastle buckets and eight cans of San Miguel.
GOLD STAR FOR EFFORT: The Lobby won 8-0 in the FA-sanctioned football match against the Lib Dems at Brighton and Hove Albion’s Performance Centre, with 10 percent of the parliamentary party turning out to try to hammer the hacks. On the yellow team were MPs Max Wilkinson, Tom Morrison, Bobby Dean, Paul Kohler, Luke Taylor, Cameron Thomas, Lee Dillon, and Lib Dem policy adviser Rebecca Grubb. The Daily Record’s Andrew Quinn scored a hat trick for the Lobby, co-founder of Lib Dem in-comms Alexis King and comms expert Oscar Tami bagged a double, and the Times’ Tahar Rajab scored one.
SUPER OVER REQUIRED: To sunny West Sussex for the annual Hacks vs. Flacks cricket match hosted by PR supremo Charles Lewington on Saturday. But it might as well have been Lord’s as Tory peers Liam Booth Smith and Natalie Evans — along with MP hubby James Wild — took to the field for the Flacks and Kulveer Ranger was drafted in for the Hacks. The game ended in a remarkable tie after both sides clocked 194 after 35 overs. Hacks skipper Harry Cole scored a season record … of 13 … just hours after landing from Starmer’s White House jaunt. While Nick King showed all his diplomatic skills captaining the Flacks, he could offer little when one of his own team gave former Treasury man Adam Smith out LBW for a diamond duck off the first ball of their innings. “It didn’t feel very plumb” sighed the Hunt SpAd turned columnist.
NEW GIG 1: Onward’s Adam Hawksbee is joining M&S as head of external affairs.
NEW GIG 2: Former Thangam Debbonaire adviser Peter Middlehurst has been hired as head of parliamentary engagement for the Premier League.
NOW LISTEN: The latest edition of “Politics at Jack and Sam’s Daily” will be dropping in your podcast feeds at 7.30 a.m. sharp this morning. POLITICO’s Jack Blanchard and Sky’s Sam Coates tee you up for the day ahead in British politics … in less than 20 minutes. Tune in here.
WRITING PLAYBOOK PM: Andrew McDonald.
WRITING PLAYBOOK TUESDAY MORNING: Stefan Boscia.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Economic Secretary to the Treasury Tulip Siddiq … Farnham and Bordon MP Gregory Stafford … Former Derby North MP Chris Williamson … Former Health Minister Norman Lamb … Conservative peer David Brownlow … Crossbench peer Mark Malloch-Brown … Unaffiliated peer Paul White … BBC Medical Editor Fergus Walsh.
PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editors Zoya Sheftalovich and Jack Blanchard, diary reporter Bethany Dawson and producer Catherine Bouris.
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