London Playbook PM: Ch-ch-ch-ch-Chagos

Good afternoon. This is Mason Boycott-Owen.
— Britain handed back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius—Labour and the Tories blamed each other.
— Voters gave politicians dire reviews following conference season. 
— The row over Keir Starmer’s freebies rumbles on.
— Boris Johnson found an interviewer.
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CH-CH–CH–CH-CHAGOS: After two weeks of briefings and infighting, we finally have a news proper news story as the government announced today that the U.K. would pass sovereignty of the disputed Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
History lesson: The chain of islands, then part of Mauritius, have been a British colony since 1814. Its inhabitants were originally brought to Chagos as slaves, and were expelled at the request of the United States in the 1960s and 1970s so a military base could be built on one of the islands. Here’s Noah Keate’s writeup of today’s historic announcement.
Long time coming: Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth hailed the agreement as a “seminal moment” which would “address wrongs of the past,” with disputes over ownership having rumbled on for decades. 
Caveat: The U.S. military base on Diego Garcia will remain under U.K. and U.S. jurisdiction for at least the next 99 years to allow the base to keep running. A statement from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the “historic agreement,” adding that the U.S. was “pleased to see the successful outcome of this diplomatic effort.”
Well pleased: President Joe Biden was also happy with the deal. In a statement, he said of the deal: “It is a clear demonstration that through diplomacy and partnership, countries can overcome long-standing historical challenges to reach peaceful and mutually beneficial outcomes.”
Question mark: It’s been 27 years since a British overseas territory last changed hands, when British rule in Hong Kong ended in 1997, and this early move by the new Labour government to get the deal signed off naturally raises questions over other territories. Foreign Sec David Lammy met with Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo last month. Meanwhile, just this week, Argentina’s Vice President Victoria Villarruel attacked current agreements over the Falkland Islands as “contrary to the interests of our nation.”
Tories are angry: Tory leadership contenders lined up to condemn the move. Robert Jenrick accused Starmer of helping China, by handing the islands to an ally of Beijing, while James Cleverly went full Donald Trump on X, saying: “Weak, weak, weak! Labour lied to get into office. Said they’d be whiter than white, said they wouldn’t put up taxes, said they’d stand up to the EU, said that they be patriotic. All lies!” 
They’re angry too: Kemi Badenoch said the government either didn’t understand global security or didn’t care about it. And Tom Tugendhat blamed the foreign office and even his own party, saying it was “disgraceful” that negotiations had taken place on the Tory watch. The negotiations were indeed started under Liz Truss’ premiership — and who was the foreign secretary at that time? James Cleverly. He’ll be furious when he finds out.
Fightback: Jonathan Powell, the former aide to Tony Blair who helped negotiate the deal as Keir Starmer’s envoy, told the BBC’s World at One Britain had treated Chagossians “shamefully” in the 1960s, and defended the deal against Tory criticisms. “I do think these comments from the Tory leadership candidates are a bit silly. James Cleverly was leading these negotiations not that many months ago,” he said, adding: “For people the people who were involved in that negotiation to start criticizing the outcome of something they couldn’t achieve is absolutely ludicrous.”
Pew pew: Asked whether the criticisms were because the Conservatives wanted a different deal, he said: “No. It’s not because of that … it’s because they are trying to score points in their desperate attempts to win the leadership.” Burn.
PLAGUE ON ALL THE PARTIES: Conference season is all but over (apart from Plaid Cymru’s jamboree in Cardiff next week) and we brace for the two-and-a-half-month sprint to Christmas, MPs hoping to enjoy a quiet weekend may be brought back down to Earth by polling showing the public, er, isn’t huge fans of any of them, Noah Keate writes in.
Seeing red: In confirmation, if needed, that Labour’s honeymoon is in the rearview mirror YouGov polling issued today showed 57 percent disapprove of the new government’s record, up one percentage point from mid-September, with only 18 percent approving, down three points. 
To add insult to injury: Separate YouGov polling asked voters which descriptors they felt applied to each party. More than a third (36 percent) saw Labour as “dishonest” while 31 percent thought its MPs were “only interested in themselves” and 27 percent felt the party “has unworkable policies.” Just 22 percent thought the party was “interested in public service.”
Feeling blue: Despite their unusually jolly conference, Tory smiles may turn upside down after glancing over the same polling. A whopping 56 percent thought they were “only interested in themselves,” exactly half felt they were “dishonest” and a third believed they were “unprofessional.” Just 22 percent had a “very” or “somewhat” favorable view of the party compared to a 69 percent “very” or “somewhat” unfavorable rating.
But but but: Meanwhile, a More in Common focus group with ex-Tory voters who deserted the party in July and found that Kemi Badenoch’s conference speech was most popular. Attendees described her as “sincere,” “energizing” and “personable.” James Cleverly came a close second with those taking part liking his relatability and apparent normality. However Robert Jenrick was slated as “wooden” and Tom Tugendhat was accused of spending too much time criticizing the other side.
ADJUST YOUR SETS: After today’s debacle which saw the BBC cancel its Laura Kuenssberg interview with Boris Johnson, ITV has confirmed that it will do its own sit down with the former prime minister tomorrow at 7 P.M. with Tom Brady asking the questions.
Unleashed: The Guardian writes up extracts from BoJo’s new book, “Unleashed,” in which he claims that the risk to peace in Northern Ireland due to Brexit was exaggerated and used to “trap the U.K. in the EU.”
FREEBIE-GATE PART 107: As the row over Keir Starmer’s love of a free junket rumbles on, it fell to poor Business Minister Sarah Jones to handle the morning round. Asked whether she would be coughing up funds to pay back nice little sweetners from oh-so-generous big firms, she told Times Radio she was looking into whether she should pay back the cost of a ticket to the BBC Proms, adding it “may not be possible” as it was a gift in kind.
As for her colleagues: Asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain if all ministers would now be asked to do the same as the prime minister and pay money back, Jones said it was for “people to look at this individually.” “The principle is how do we make sure we, as a new government, build trust in politics.” she added.
What about staff?: One special adviser told Playbook PM they didn’t know whether they and their colleagues will be ordered to repay hospitality received since joining government. (Current declarations released this week cover the tail end of the last administration.)
CARBON POWER: The government will announce funding tomorrow for two carbon capture and storage projects, with plans to invest £22 billion in the sector over 25 years — the Financial Times has a writeup.
Kerching: POLITICO energy reporter Nick Earl messages in to say that ministers showering money and praise on the industry is good news for big energy players such as BP, Harbour and the controversial biomass giant Drax — which is locked in talks with the government over its own multi-billion carbon capture upgrade plans. Politico UK Pro energy team first reported yesterday that a big carbon capture announcement was on its way.
KEEP MY BANK’S NAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH: Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, hit back at Liz Truss’s claims since leaving office that she was the victim of the “deep state,” saying her downfall was her own fault. In an interview with the Guardian he also said that the Bank could start being “a little more aggressive” in cutting interest rates if inflation keeps falling.
DUBLIN CALLING: The U.K. and Ireland offered kind words to each other after Foreign Secretary David Lammy paid a visit to Micheál Martin, his Irish counterpart in Dublin —the first such visit by a British foreign minister in seven years, POLITICO’S Shawn Pogatchnik writes in to say. Here’s their joint statement pledging to keep repairing damage to Anglo-Irish relations from the Brexit wars.
COOPER ABROAD: Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is attending the G7 in Italy. Her department said that she was planning to meet German, Italian, French and EU counterparts during the next two days.
TRADING POSITIONS? The Labour government attempted to block a legal challenge against the U.K-Australia trade agreement while loudly criticizing it in public, my colleague Sophie Inge writes in to say. The environmental campaign group Feedback, which brought the challenge, claimed the agreement failed to take into account the impact of the deal on the U.K.’s international climate targets. Read the full story here. 
GRIM STATS: The number of single households assessed as rough sleeping increased by 14.2 percent between 2022/23 and 2023/24 to 16,680, government data showed, while the number of households in England needing help with homelessness rose by more than 10 percent to 358,370. 
MIDDLE EAST LATEST: The Israel Defense Forces said targets belonging to “Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters” in Beirut were hit using fighter jets. Hezbollah meanwhile told the BBC a building housing its media relations office in Beirut took multiple hits, although the floor the office is located on was not affected. 
Lebanon responds: The Lebanese army said it returned Israeli fire for the first time in nearly a year of fighting, telling AFP the response was because an “army post” had received a direct hit. Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said 1,974 people — including 127 children — had been killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 8 2023.
While in America: President Joe Biden confirmed Israel was considering an attack on Iran’s oil facilities, though would not say if the U.S. would support such a strike. He told reporters “we don’t ‘allow’ Israel, we ‘advise’ Israel.”  The BBC and Telegraph have useful liveblogs tracking events. 
UKRAINE UPDATE: NATO’s new Secretary-General Mark Rutte called for Western nations to allow Ukraine to strike military targets deep inside Russia. Visiting Kyiv just 48 hours after succeeding Jens Stoltenberg, Rutte said Ukraine’s right to self-defense “does not end at the border,” adding that targeting Russian weapons before they could be used against Ukrainians “can help save lives.” My colleague Stuart Lau has further details.
IN SINGAPORE: Former Transport Minister S. Iswaran was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to charges of accepting gifts from people he had official business with. AP News has a writeup.
IN GEORGIA: Legislation banning same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples and changing gender on identity documents are among the measures in an anti-LGBTQ+ bill signed into law. The legislation echoes similar laws in Russia, as the ruling Georgian Dream party drifts closer to Moscow and away from the West. European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell said the legislation would “derail” Georgia’s chances of joining the EU. My colleague Seb Starcevic has more.
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LEADING THE NEWS BULLETINS: Channel 5 News (5 p.m.) leads on the search for missing woman Victoria Taylor … Channel 4 News (7 p.m.) focuses on the war in Lebanon.
Tom Swarbrick at Drive (LBC, until 6 p.m.): Transparency International UK Chief Executive Daniel Bruce (5.05 p.m.) … Tory leadership contender Tom Tugendhat (5.50 p.m.).
Drive with John Pienaar (Times Radio, until 7 p.m.): Former Foreign Office Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan … More in Common’s U.K. Director Luke Tryl … former Labour adviser Matthew Laza … former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Jim Townsend.
BBC PM (Radio 4, 5 p.m.): Lawyer Philippe Sands.
News Hour (Sky News, 5 p.m.): Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. for Management and Reform Mark Wallace (5.45 p.m.) … Chatham House Middle East analyst Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi (6.30 p.m.) … Israeli political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin (6.45 p.m.).
The News Agents (Podcast, drops at 5 p.m.): Former Defense Secretary Grant Shapps.
Dewbs and Co (GB News, 6 p.m.): Former Labour MEP Siôn Simon.
Tonight With Andrew Marr (LBC, 6 p.m.): Special Envoy for U.K.-Mauritius negotiations on the Chagos Islands Jonathan Powell … Labour MP Kim Leadbeater … Shadow Defense Minister Danny Kruger.
Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge (Sky News, 7 p.m.): Jonathan Powell (7.05 p.m.) … former Labour adviser Andrew Fisher … former Tory SpAd Henry Newman.
Question Time (BBC iPlayer 8 p.m. and BBC One, 10.40 p.m.): Scotland Secretary Ian Murray … Scottish Education Cabinet Secretary Jenny Gilruth … Shadow Minister for Veterans Andrew Bowie … Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain … columnist Iain Macwhirter.
Patrick Christys Tonight (GB News, 9 p.m.): Tom Tugendhat.
Newsnight (BBC Two, 10.30 p.m.): Former Tory adviser Samuel Kasumu.
TWEETING TOMORROW’S PAPERS TONIGHT: Allie Hodgkins-Brown.
REVIEWING THE PAPERS TONIGHT: Times Radio (10.30 p.m.): HuffPost’s Kevin Schofield and former Tory MP Julie Kirkbride … Sky News (10.30 p.m. and 11.30 p.m.): The Courier’s David Clegg and the Telegraph’s Madeline Grant.
ENERGY: Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Energy Sec Ed Miliband will unveil carbon capture investment.
IN MEMORIAM: Crossbench peer and anti-racism campaigner Herman Ouseley died aged 79. Ouseley was chair of Kick It Out for 25 years — he founded the campaign to tackle racism and discrimination in football. Labour MP Diane Abbott called Ouseley a “pioneer at the top levels of local government.” Sky News has more information.
NEW GIG: Emma Gawen has been made managing director of Public Digital, having previously led the Americas division for the firm.
Job move: Congratulations to Jennifer-Anne Scott who is leaving Sky News to head up Labour’s press operation in the East Midlands.
ALSO ON THIS DAY: For all who celebrate, it’s “Mean Girls” Day. If you know, you know.
WRITING PLAYBOOK TOMORROW MORNING: Sam Blewett.
THANKS TO: My editor Rosa Prince, reporter Noah Keate and the POLITICO production team for making it look nice.
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