Here comes the sun (honest!)

Good Monday morning. This is Dan Bloom at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, even more red-eyed than usual and gratefully aided by the fab Playbook team.
HERE COMES THE SUN(?): Gloomster-in-chief Rachel Reeves today reinvents herself as a boosterish saleswoman for the sunlit uplands. Well, sort of. After weeks of grumbling from Labour aides and MPs that everyone in government is sounding way too miserable, the chancellor will use her conference speech to insist there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Except … the tunnel contains next month’s cost-cutting budget, a difficult spring spending review, awkward rows over freebies and staff, and a clash with the trade unions over her winter fuel payments cut. Let’s go through it.
There she goes: Reeves speaks at noon after a chunky morning broadcast round which is getting underway right now and includes the 8.10 a.m. Today program slot. Playbook hears her 20-minute speech, rehearsed on Sunday over Earl Grey and Strepsils, will be introduced not by a big-name politician but by businesswoman Alex Depledge, the tech entrepreneur and founder of online architecture firm Resi.
Can buy me love: Reeves, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his deputy Angela Rayner will then pop into Labour’s business day to address 500 industry figures who’ve paid £3,000 a head (h/t the FT). The sessions will give industry figures a chance to grumble about Labour’s workers’ rights reforms (more below).
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Reeves’ word of the day: The “prize” on offer if everyone pushes through the pain. No, not a New Year’s getaway in NYC or a personal shopper, but cutting hospital waiting lists, improving the economy, etc. She’ll promise a “budget to rebuild Britain” and “no return to austerity,” writing in a Times op-ed: “I have never been more optimistic about our country’s fortunes.”
Help! One wonders if Reeves (and Starmer, who’ll push the “change begins” slogan some more in his own big speech on Tuesday) have taken the hint from Labour figures who’ve longed for a more upbeat approach to unite the party — already looking knackered by the relentlessness of government — around a common cause. “We’ve had too much of the gloom. We need to get to the delivery bit,” one minister told Playbook.
You never give me your money: But a tough budget is getting closer, as Reeves will remind us with her pledge not to raise national insurance, VAT, corporation tax or “the basic, higher or additional rate of income tax.” The Sunday Times’ Caroline Wheeler got a steer that she isn’t planning to touch the single-person council tax discount or a new wealth tax, but she’s silent on much else, as per.
As such … The Telegraph isn’t buying it, with the headline “Reeves: UK must accept hard times or risk ruin.” Though Reeves’ sunnier message does splash the Independent, along with the Times (whose top editors were hanging out with a good number of the Cabinet last night at the News UK party).
More cronyism news! The Guardian’s Kiran Stacey and Peter Walker splash on an advance line from Labour, that Reeves will announce she’s reversed the last government’s decision to “waive” £674 million worth of Covid contracts. They’ll instead be “assessed” by a promised corruption commissioner who will be appointed next month. Expect Shadow Treasury Minister Gareth Davies to respond for the Tories on his own morning broadcast round.
Other trails: The FT and Times are told Reeves will pledge to publish a new industrial strategy in the spring … And the Mirror splashes on 200 job offers for HMRC compliance officers from November (part of a 5,000 target over the parliament). Insert your own Beatles/”Taxman” gag here.
Lobbying in public? Rayner told a Sunday fringe that “hopefully at the spending review, you’ll see that this government is really serious” about social housing, via the Guardian and Mirror. And West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin tells the i: “Austerity does not grow the economy. Rachel is incredibly smart, she will understand that.” Hint, hint.
Right on cue: My colleague Esther Webber has a great feature on how Reeves is the real PM now (y’know, along with No. 10 chief of staff Sue Gray and Cabinet Office enforcer Pat McFadden). Insiders tell her No. 10 has taken a back seat to the Treasury in deciding the economic program, with one former aide calling Downing Street “totally absent.” (A senior government official insists “Keir and Rachel are working in lockstep.”)
All pals: Two people say Reeves — being whispered about by some as a potential future leader — has been maintaining links with Labour’s newest MPs by holding regional drinks receptions in the Treasury. “She’s not stupid,” one tells Playbook. “She will know how critical it is that you’ve got to give people something they want if you want them to like you.” 
YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYONE: A conference row is brewing fast over a motion from left-wing union Unite that demanded the forthcoming budget “revers[e] all cuts to the winter fuel allowance.” One senior Starmer loyalist tells Playbook the union’s wording survived pretty much unscathed in a “compositing” meeting last night and “it’s bad news for us.”
But but but … Playbook has been assured by multiple people that the vote won’t happen today. The latest your author hears is that it may be pushed as far as Wednesday, avoiding both Reeves’ and Starmer’s speeches and coming up with a result just as everyone heads home. Let’s see what the delegates have to say about that — they may be able to raise the issue in debates on the economy today.
All should become clearer … when daily conference papers are published in the next couple of hours. The Guardian team reckons No. 10 is braced for defeat, it splashes the Express and Unite is organizing a protest of pensioners by the Wheel of Liverpool at 1 p.m. — details here. But the vote is non-binding and defeat for Reeves and co. would only be symbolic. A waspish Labour source tells the Mail’s Jason Groves: “We’ll note it and move on. It’s time for people to start understanding these tough choices are real.”
On that note … One might argue that stories about taking on the unions and refusing to compromise on a controversial spending issue are … kind of the headlines Reeves wants.
THE OTHER STORY: The sagas of freebie clothes and complaints about No. 10 chief of staff Sue Gray still occupy plenty of bar chat among the Labour faithful who wanted a victory lap. Plenty are jubilant, together at the first conference in government for 15 years. But others have a weary eye on goings-on back in Whitehall. It was so much simpler in opposition.
It never Rayns but it pours: On Sunday, the Tories reported Angela Rayner to the standards commissioner over the way she declared her stay in donor Waheed Alli’s New York apartment. Now the Mail splashes on the deputy PM’s department hiring a taxpayer-funded photographer on up to £66,000-a-year (ish). Officials are pushing back hard on the Mail’s suggestion that it’s her personal photographer, insisting the civil servant will cover the whole department and that Rayner had no part in the decision to make the hire.
Well, this is unfortunate: It’s a good thing Rayner has never criticized this sort of thing … oh wait. Your Playbook author covered the hiring of a similar staffer to No. 10 in 2021, back when Boris Johnson was in power, and was told by Labour that a “coterie of vanity photographers” was the wrong use of money during a cost-of-living crisis. Full angry quote from one Angela Rayner here.
Chef’s kiss: As it happens, that very same “vanity photographer” from 2021 took the new photo of Keir Starmer’s kitten, which the Labour government was so happy about this weekend. Funny how things turn out.
SO SUE ME: Health Secretary Wes Streeting made light of the varying complaints about the No. 10 chief of staff last night, joking at the New Statesman party: “Sue Gray has been hiding Lord Lucan. She shot JFK. And I’m not even going to tell you what happened to Shergar.” PA wrote up fuller quotes.
He’s not alone: Other ministers have likewise been privately rallying around Gray (who, as reported by Sky’s Sam Coates, is missing the conference to prep for the U.N. General Assembly) in the corridors of the conference center in Liverpool. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband goes on the record to tell the New Statesman’s George Eaton: “She’s playing an incredibly positive role in government.”
Not convinced: As some of the weekend long reads reported, Playbook hears from two people that there have been mutterings elsewhere in government that Gray should leave — because the adviser should never become the story. One party aide tells Playbook the problems are real: “People are annoyed and frustrated that it’s happening *and* annoyed and frustrated that it’s in the news … It does feel like a matter of when, not if.”
ONE TO WATCH: Spectacles donor Waheed Alli is at the conference, according to the Telegraph.
And in non-Alli freebies: Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s comment to broadcasters on Sunday that Taylor Swift freebie tickets were “hard to turn down” — because one of her kids wanted to go — make page 1 of the Sun.
NO WONDER … Ed Miliband told a Labour Climate and Environment Forum drinks last night: “It’s a bit like Mario Kart, government. Things fly at you. You’ve just got to keep going. If you think you’re going to have an easy day in government, you’re not.”
Maybe he means this: Savanta has a new mega-poll of 3,000 Labour voters that says 28 percent would consider voting Green if there was an election tomorrow (details here) … while More in Common has an analysis saying Labour could lose its majority in 2029 without dropping a single vote if the right unites around a single party. PA writes it up.
Or this: Polling guru John Curtice told a fringe last night that the “principal architects” of Labour’s 412-seat landslide were … Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. That Starmer dude really can’t catch a break, can he?
THE NEXT STORY: The BBC’s Iain Watson has a great insider read on another bubbling topic: the exhausting number of meetings between Labour, unions and business groups over workers’ rights reforms that’ll be introduced to parliament by Oct. 12. One big debate is what “day one” rights actually mean when combined with probation periods. Another is how much will be kicked down the road into consultation.
HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN: Defence Secretary John Healey will kick off a string of Cabinet mini-speeches (times below) by telling gamers “your country needs you.” The BBC wrote up his recruitment drive plan on Sunday.
Warm-up act: Ed Miliband’s speech will argue Labour “won” the argument for the climate by winning the election. The energy secretary is also due to promise more detail on upgrades to cold homes and “solar panels on your local school and community center.” 
Sh*t job: Environment Secretary Steve Reed bagged an i trail of his speech, which is set to detail private sector investment into upgrading the sewer system.
Union news: Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens will use her speech to announce more “cross-border collaboration,” letting NHS patients travel to trusts on either side of the England-Wales border for treatment. CCHQ won’t know which way to look first. The Guardian and Independent got the brief.
LAST NIGHT ON THE FRINGE: Foreign Secretary David Lammy hinted at sanctions for two members of Israel’s government, saying: “I’m not announcing further sanctions today but that is kept under close review.” Via the Times’ George Grylls.
COOKING ON GAS: GMB union General Secretary Gary Smith accused Labour of wanting to impose a “Venezuelan tax regime” on North Sea oil and gas. Ouch. Via DeSmog.
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: LBC’s Lewis Goodall vs. the Sun’s Harry Cole, after Cole accused Goodall of failing to declare that he not only attended Bridget Phillipson’s Waheed Alli-funded 40th birthday party but asked for his wife to be invited, too. Goodall did declare an interest on his show … the former bit, at least. 
RUNAWAY TRAIN: Cole also reckons “government figures” were caught off guard by Transport Secretary Louise Haigh’s pay rise offer for train drivers. One tells him: “Lou went rogue.” Her allies deny it.
CHANGE BEGINS: Attorney General Richard Hermer told a fringe that “we need to be militant about our belief in the rule of law and human rights.” Via the Telegraph’s Charles Hymas.
ELSEWHERE IN UNION LAND: Results of a Royal College of Nursing consultation on the NHS staff’s 5.5 percent pay rise are due this afternoon.
NEWS FROM THE LEFT: Labour MP Nadia Whittome and the whipless Zarah Sultana will be among protesters at 1 p.m. by the big wheel demanding a wealth tax in the budget.
REPORTS OUT TODAY: The Joseph Rowntree Foundation says even if the economy grows, it will do “very little” to reduce child poverty without investment in housing, welfare and public services … and the Women’s Budget Group urges the government to raise statutory sick pay and extend it to self-employed workers. 
TODAY ON THE MAIN STAGE: Defence Secretary John Healey (9.30 a.m.) … Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds (11.50 a.m.) … Chancellor Rachel Reeves (12 p.m.) … Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle (1.45 p.m.) … Transport Secretary Louise Haigh (1.55 p.m.) … Scottish Secretary Ian Murray (2.50 p.m.) … Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar (2.55 p.m.) … Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens (3 p.m.) … Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan (3.05 p.m.) … Environment Secretary Steve Reed (3.15 p.m.) … Energy Secretary Ed Miliband (3.30 p.m.).
PICK OF THE FRINGE: Coalition for Global Prosperity is in conversation with Development Minister Anneliese Dodds (9 a.m., Leonardo Hotel) … Labour-loving footy bloke Gary Neville, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and EFL Chair Rick Parry are on an English Football League panel (9.30 a.m., ACC Hall 2) … Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall does an IPPR panel on growth (10.30 a.m., ACC Arena Room 9) … Employment Rights Minister Justin Madders and left-wing union chiefs Matt Wrack, Mick Lynch and Fran Heathcote talk Labour’s workers’ rights plan (11 a.m., Revolución de Cuba) … Serco CEO Anthony Kirby is at a Demos panel on how to fix public services (11 a.m., Hilton Albert 5) …
And into lunchtime … Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood does Labour Together’s election review (1 p.m., ACC Arena Room 2) … Health Secretary Wes Streeting attends an IPPR panel on health (1 p.m., ACC Arena Room 9) … Cabinet Office Minister Georgia Gould and the PPI’s Claire Ainsley chat about lessons from progressive governments overseas (2.15 p.m., Hilton Albert 4) … Novara Media’s Aaron Bastani, former Labour Together chief Josh Simons and Chancellor’s PPS Alistair Strathern are at a More in Common panel on Labour’s coalition (2.30 p.m., Museum of Liverpool) … Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall and outsourcing firm Maximus do a Fabians panel on the future of work (2.30 p.m., Maritime Museum) …
Keep going … Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is in conversation with Demos (3 p.m., ACC Auditorium 1C) … Defence Secretary John Healey is in conversation at Policy Exchange (3 p.m., ACC Arena Room 1) … The Refugee Council hosts a panel on the post-Rwanda asylum plan with Home Office Minister Angela Eagle (3.45 p.m., Leonardo Hotel) … Wes Streeting is in conversation with the IFG (4.30 p.m., ACC Hall 2D) … Eco-donor Dale Vince is in conversation with JOE’s Ava Evans (5.30 p.m., ACC External Room K7) … Commons Leader Lucy Powell is on a panel titled “how can Labour reset standards in public life” (5.30 p.m., ACC Arena Room 6) …
And into the night: A Cuba Solidarity Campaign rally features the Cuban ambassador and MPs Richard Burgon and Kim Johnson (6 p.m., The Casa Bar) … the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has its event (6 p.m., Hilton Albert 4) … ditto Labour Friends of Palestine (7 p.m., Hall 2 ACC) … and Creative Industries Minister Chris Bryant is in conversation with PoliticsHome. With wine. (9.15 p.m., ACC Hall 4B).
PARTY PEOPLE: Be warned that most will be invite-only, but drinks dos tonight include … the Irish Embassy reception (5 p.m.) … POLITICO’s Happy Hour (6 p.m.) … Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti is launching her book with Attorney General Richard Hermer (6 p.m.) … Policy Exchange (6.30 p.m.) … Electoral Reform Society (7 p.m.) … Labour Growth Group (7 p.m.) … Gibraltar (7 p.m.) … Britain Renewed with Liz Kendall, Shabana Mahmood and Ed Miliband (7.30 p.m.) … CBI (8 p.m.) … Fabians, with a DJ battle between Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram (8 p.m.) … LabourList karaoke (8.30 p.m.) … Global Counsel (9 p.m.) … Sky party (10 p.m.) … FGS Global (10.30 p.m.).
BIG GUNS: Ex-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace will make his debut at the inquiry into claims that British special forces carried out extrajudicial killings in Afghanistan. Given Wallace’s knack for creating news — and his Tory ex-colleague Johnny Mercer avoiding jail despite refusing to name his sources to the inquiry — it threatens to be a must-watch. It kicks off at 10 a.m. and officials are prepared for the hearing to spill into a second day.
Warm-up act: Wallace got his defense in early with an X thread complaining that a Newsnight producer who asked him questions should listen to his evidence first. No doubt she will, closely. The journalist in question, Hannah O’Grady, already reported last year that Mercer raised concerns with Wallace after another investigation into the Afghanistan allegations was closed in 2019.
Also on Planet Tory: Former GB News and Spectator big cheese Andrew Neil has his first show on Times Radio at 1 p.m. and is due to interview Tory leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch.
INQUIRY 2: Phase 7 of the Post Office inquiry begins, with evidence from YouGov’s Gavin Ellison and Post Office non-exec director Saf Ismail from 9.45 a.m. Stream here. 
RETURN TO SENDER: The Post Office board asked six times for pay boosts for its (now-departing) CEO Nick Read — whose salary was £415,000 excluding bonuses at the time, reports the Times’ Tom Witherow.  
LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL: Mayor of London Sadiq Khan leaves Liverpool today for New York to promote London at the U.N. General Assembly, New York Climate Week and the Climate Pledge Summit.
SPEAKING OF UNGA: Make sure you’re up to date with what’s happening at the U.N. General Assembly this week by signing up for Global Playbook — in your inbox each morning through Saturday.
**Be part of the conversation at the Financial Services UK Summit, happening November 28. Gain insights into the future of financial policy and regulation in the City of London, with high-impact discussions and debates. Secure your spot now!**
MAYOR MARE: West of England Metro Mayor and Labour MP Dan Norris is expected to face a ban on running for reelection as mayor in the coming weeks, as part of Labour’s second jobs crackdown. ITV reported it first.
REPRIEVE FOR SCHOLZ (FOR NOW): German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) were on course for a narrow victory over the far-right Alternative for Germany in a closely watched state election in Brandenburg, east Germany, my colleague Matt Karnitschnig reports. A loss would’ve likely dashed Scholz’s hopes for another term as chancellor and prompted calls for a snap election.
MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Israel’s chief of the general staff warned he was preparing for a new stage of fighting in the next few days, without giving details (via Reuters), after Hezbollah fired around 100 rockets into northern Israel and one of its top leaders said it was now in an “open-ended battle,” according to the AP. Shortly before Playbook went to pixel, Israel said it was “conducting extensive strikes” on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. CNN has live updates.
ONE TO WATCH: Former U.S. President Donald Trump is hosting a rally at Indiana University in Pennsylvania at 8 p.m. U.K. time, as a poll from NBC News shows Vice President Kamala Harris is in front of him by 5 percentage points. Meanwhile, Trump’s golf-course assassination suspect Ryan Routh is expected to appear in court for a bond hearing.
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves broadcast round: Times Radio (7.05 a.m.) … Sky News (7.15 a.m.) … BBC Breakfast (7.30 a.m.) … LBC (7.50 a.m.) … Today (8.10 a.m.) … 5Live (8.20 a.m.) … GMB (8.45 a.m.).
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones broadcast round: CNBC (7.15 a.m.) … Bloomberg (7.35 a.m.) … BBC Radio Lancashire (8.22 a.m.) … BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (8.45 a.m.) … GB News (9.05 a.m.).
Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Gareth Davies broadcast round: GB News (8.50 a.m.) … TalkTV (9 a.m.) … Sky News (9.20 a.m.). 
Also on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: Labour peer Sally Morgan (7.05 a.m.) … More in Common Director Luke Tryl (7.10 a.m.) … Royal College of GPs Chair Kamila Hawthorne (7.40 a.m.) … Conservative MP and leadership contender Robert Jenrick (8.20 a.m.). … former Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson (8.50 a.m.) … Labour MP Jake Richards (9.20 a.m.).  
Also on Times Radio Breakfast: Jake Richards (7.45 a.m.) … Journalist and Starmer biographer Tom Baldwin (8.05 a.m.) … Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald (8.45 a.m.).
Also on Sky News Breakfast: Former national security adviser Mark Lyall Grant (8.15 a.m.) … Mary Lou McDonald (8.30 a.m.).
Andrew Neil on Times Radio (1 p.m.): Shadow Housing Secretary and leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch and Alan Johnson.
POLITICO UK: Rachel Reeves is running Britain really.
Daily Express: Even Labour’s union backers want fuel cuts scrapped. 
Daily Mail: Now Rayner hires £68,000 ‘vanity photographer.’
Daily Mirror: We will get YOUR money back.
Daily Star: The future is orange.
Financial Times: Reeves to deny plan for austerity after criticism of Labour’s gloomy rhetoric. 
i: Reeves urged not to return to austerity, as Labour faces winter fuel revolt.
Metro: Red flags at Labour conference.
The Daily Telegraph: Reeves — UK must accept hard times or risk ruin.
The Guardian: Labour to investigate £600m Covid contracts given under the Tories.
The Independent: Reeves tries to lift Labour gloom with pledge on austerity. 
The Sun: Dance floored.
The Times: Good times ahead if we seize them, says Reeves.
LIVERPOOL WEATHER: There’s a yellow warning for rain, so pack your coats and try to get those conference coffees undercover. High 16C, low 12C.
SW1 JOB MOVE: Former Deputy Cabinet Secretary Helen MacNamara will chair the Future Governance Forum think tank from October 2024. The New Statesman was given the announcement here. 
SPOTTED: At the ram-packed IPPR and Labour Together conference party at Revolución de Cuba — not to be confused with Revolution, where rival Labour insider think tank TBI was hosting its reception — No. 10 political strategy chief Morgan McSweeney, with journalists crowding around to catch a word with him … Health Secretary Wes Streeting … Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy … Leader of the Commons Lucy Powell … Science Secretary Peter Kyle … Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden … Labour Together’s Jonathan Ashworth … Labour MPs Josh Simons, Gordon McKee, Yuan Yang, Chi Onwurah, Deirdre Costigan, Emma Reynolds, Tim Roca, Keir Mather, Mike Tapp …  former Tory SpAd turned 5654 lobbyist (and sponsor) James Starkie … Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy … Guardian pol ed Pippa Crerar … IPPR’s Harry Quilter-Pinner … Labour Together’s Terrie McCann, Bel Guillaume, Charles White and Alex O’Connor … and tons of Lobby hacks. 
Also spotted … eating fish finger sandwiches and sliders in a nondescript room in the ACC for News UK’s Labour conference party … Home Secretary Yvette Cooper … Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden … Health Secretary Wes Streeting … Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson … Trade Policy Minister Douglas Alexander … Labour MPs Al Carns and Liam Byrne … Sun Editor Victoria Newton and deputy James Slack … Times Editor Tony Gallagher … Sunday Times Editor Ben Taylor … Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar … Sunday Express Editor David Wooding … The Sun Publisher Dominic Carter … News UK COO David Dinsmore … Times Radio Editor David Friend … President of Broadcasting News UK Scott Taunton … No. 10 comms director Matthew Doyle … iNHouse’s Katie Perrior … ACPO Senior Director Jo Tanner.
Also spotted: At the Spectator party in the Mersey suite of the Pullman with two blue fabric torches: Chancellor Rachel Reeves … Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell … Industry Minister Sarah Jones … Nature Minister Mary Creagh … Jon Ashworth and the New Statesman’s Andrew Marr, each ducking out of their own parties early … Matthew Doyle taking a call in the corner … Downing Street press secretary Sophie Nazemi … No. 10 SpAds Tom Lillywhite and Donjeta Miftari … SpAds Anthony McCaul, Owain Mumford and John Stevens … Power couple SpAd Nick Parrott and Starship VP Lisa Johnson … Crossbench peer John Woodcock … PLP Secretary Matthew Faulding … NEC member Abdi Duale … National Gas CEO Jon Butterworth … the Spectator’s Fraser Nelson, Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman … Starmer biographer Tom Baldwin … News Agents host Emily Maitlis … Sky’s Jo Coburn … Broadcaster Rachel Johnson … and Sun Political Editor Harry Cole, walking out with a bottle of Sauvignon.
Also spotted: Former Vote Leave supremo Matthew Elliott circling the Pullman bar. 
Also spotted … sipping cocktails and dancing to Things Can Only Get Better at the Tony Blair Institute drinks: Frontbenchers Peter Kyle, Pat McFadden and Tulip Siddiq … Ministers Janet Daby, Matt Rodda, Nick Thomas-Symonds, James Murray, Hamish Falconer, Alex Davies-Jones, Sarah Jones and Abena Oppong-Asare … backbenchers Meg Hillier, Danny Beales, Chris Curtis, Jake Richards, Paula Barker, Stephen Morgan, Mary Creagh, Stella Creasy, Simon Lightwood, Adam Jogee, Alex Barros-Curtis, Henry Tufnell, Uma Kumaran, Tan Dhesi, Gordon McKee, Kate Dearden, Callum Anderson, Tom Hayes, Claire Hazelgrove, Becky Gittins, Mark Sewards and John Slinger … Labour peers Dianne Hayter and Jacqui Smith … Sky’s Katy Dillon … SpAds Matt Pound, Tom Webb, Rosy Roche, Vicky Salt, Nicola Bartlett, Billy French, Callum Tipple, Natasha Collett, Francis Grove White, Josh Williams and Tash Brewis … Labour’s John Lehal and Vanessa Bowcock … former NZ Prime Minister Chris Hipkins … former French Minister for Europe Clement Beaune … Irish Ambassador Martin Fraser … TBI’s Emma McNicholas, Andrew Cook and Ryan Wain.
Also spotted … battling through the rain to the Museum of Liverpool for the New Statesman’s reception: Yvette Cooper … Wes Streeting … Solicitor General Sarah Sackman … ministers Luke Pollard and Matthew Pennycook … Matthew Faulding … UCL Professor Mariana Mazzucato, credited with inspiring the “missions” … TUC’s Nicola Smith … journalist Marie Le Conte … the Telegraph’s Kamal Ahmed … the BBC’s Nick Robinson … and the NS team including George Eaton and Andrew Marr, who joked: “We’ve all been gifted our clothes tonight — in our case from Oxfam.”
Also spotted … at the YouTube party at the iNHouse lounge: Labour MPs Jonathan Davies, Alan Gemmell, Andrew Gwynne, Emma Hardy, Blair McDougall, Alex McIntyre, Michael Payne, Jon Pearce, Gregor Poynton, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Tim Roca, Tom Rutland, Oliver Ryan and Christian Wakeford … SpAds Amy Richards, Ben Nunn, Caitlin Roper and Sophia Kewell … Labour’s Caitlin Otway, Freddie Feltham, Jack Sauverin, Tess Sheerman, Caitlin Chalmers, Charlotte Beeden, COO John Lehal, Matt Langford, Tom Lillywhite, Vanessa Bowcock, Nik Rutherford and Abby Tomlinson … former No. 10 comms director Amber de Botton … satirist Chris Morris … former Labour Cabinet Minister James Purnell … and hacks and iNHouse employees galore.
Also spotted … drinking Nandy Shandy and Double Lammy cocktails at Woburn Partners’ reception at Salt Dog Slims: Lucy Powell … Tulip Sadiq … Wes Streeting … Labour MP Emma Hardy, Melanie Onn, Sally Jameson and Stella Creasy … Labour peers Ayesha Hazarika and Rosie Winterton … Jonathan Ashworth … broadcaster and former Labour MP Gloria de Piero … Observer Chief Leader Writer Sonia Sodha … James Slack … GB News CEO Angelos Frangopoulos … Sky’s Sophy Ridge and Sam Coates … Political Editors Chris Hope, James Tapsfield and Robert Peston … Sunday Express Editor David Wooding.
And finally … People having an actual party at Dawn Butler’s Jamaica Party. Clip via Femi Oluwole.
HEARTBREAK HOTEL: Spare a thought for the Times Radio team, who went back to their hotel rooms on Saturday night to find other people were already in them.
CRAZED WITH POWER: “It is now treason to throw glitter on me,” Keir Starmer joked at a Yorkshire reception. “We’ll lock you in the Tower.” H/t the Mirror’s conference diary.
NEW GIG: After a stint as diary editor at the Evening Standard, Ethan Croft is joining the Telegraph in October as a political correspondent.
FOOTBALL FEVER: The Labour conference Lobby vs. MP footie game drew 3-3, with player of the match given to new Labour MP Jake Richards — as voted for by the Lobby in a show of cross-team cooperation (or because he assisted with two of their goals). The MPs’ goals were scored by Justin Madders, Jack Abbott and aide Joe Dharampal-Hornby. The Independent’s Archie Mitchell and guests Ruan Tremayne and Matt Lavender got them in the back of the net for the Lobby. 
NEW NEWSLETTER ON THE BLOCK: Journalist Will Hayward is leaving WalesOnline and will be writing a regular column on Welsh politics for the Guardian. He’ll also be launching a newsletter on the topic.
NOW READ: The House Mag’s Tali Fraser has some cracking detail on how Labour HQ is already preparing for the next election — including offering MPs digital content packages of up to £1,850 per month to work with “social media creators” and “local influencers.”
WRITING PLAYBOOK PM: Andrew McDonald.
WRITING PLAYBOOK TUESDAY MORNING: Sam Blewett.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: City of Chester MP Samantha Dixon … Lib Dem peer Floella Benjamin … U.K. Ambassador to the U.S. Karen Pierce … U.K. Ambassador to Italy Ed Llewellyn … Labour peer Jenny McIntosh … retired Tory peer Joan Hanham … Crossbench peer Colin Low … Former Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price … Former UKIP MEP William Legge … BBC correspondent Hilary Andersson … former Labour adviser Emma Barnes … barrister Cherie Blair.
PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editors Zoya Sheftalovich, Jack Blanchard and Alex Spence, diary reporter Bethany Dawson and producer Catherine Bouris.
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