Last night it was Glee Club at the Lib Dem conference, where activists use satirical songs to send up opponents (and themselves). According to Politico’s London Playbook briefing, one of the targets was the new guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission on trans rights.
Lib Dem activists sang a pro-trans song at Glee Club – “Let Us Pee,” to the tune of “Let It Be” – to celebrate the passing of a motion rejecting “discriminatory and unworkable” guidance from the equalities watchdog on transgender people.
Earlier yesterday, as Peter Walker reports, the party overwhelmingly passed a motion rejecting the guidance.
As Peter says, the Lib Dems are the Lib Dems the first of the big three parties in parliament to call for a new approach to implementing last year’s ruling that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex only. The Greens have previously done so.
This is quite a good example of the Lib Dems being a party that does not believe anyone should be “enslaved … by conformity”.
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If Andy Burnham wanted to inject some edge into his meeting with Donald Trump later (which he doesn’t), he could bring along a copy of today’s Financial Times. This front page headline speaks for itself.
Mortgages ‘on the front line’ as Iran war deals £840 blow to homeowners
In their story, Sam Fleming, Nathan Brooker and Valentina Romei explain:
British homeowners are paying an average of £840 a year more when they refinance their mortgages, as the rising borrowing costs triggered by the Iran war start to impact consumers’ spending power.
Approximately 1m households have rolled off fixed-rate mortgage deals since February, according to Bank of England data.
On average they are paying between £50 and £70 a month more than the rates that prevailed on the eve of the US-Israeli attacks on Tehran, the BoE’s figures show.
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Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, is delivering his conference speech this afternoon. He has posted a video on social media in advance, which features him walking on Brighton beach and musing on how the Lib Dems are facing “the fight of our lives”.
(It is quite a polished video, but not as memorable as Neil Kinnock’s excursion on Brighton beach.)
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Burnham rejects accusations of complacency over threat from Russia, but says he wants to avoid escalation
At the end of last week Andy Burnham was criticised by Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage for allegedly not responding to the threat posed by Russia with enough urgency. They spoke out after Emmanuel Macron, the French president, summoned all the country’s main political leaders for a briefing on how Russia is now ramping up its aggression towards Nato countries.
Asked about this on his huddle with journalists on his flight to New York, Burnham did not accept that he was being complacent. But he said he did not want to escalate the problem.
He explained:
We are firm, unflinching, in our support for Ukraine. You’ll all remember that my first overseas trip was on the occasion of Ukraine’s 35th anniversary of independence.
We made a very clear demonstration of the UK’s position, one that hasn’t changed through PMs of recent times and won’t change under me.
What we don’t though do is get involved in the escalation, which some might say suits Russia, so we don’t do that. I think that’s the right position to take.
Kanishka Narayan, the minister for AI, is on the trip to New York with the PM. In a video that he recorded on the plane, he says the fact that he is going shows that AI is now “top of the international agenda”. He says his message to the industry has been “take risks seriously”.
Burnham urged by ex-cabinet minister to join allies calling for compulsory, pre-release testing of frontier AI models
According to the overnight briefing from No 10 ahead of his speech to the UN, Andy Burnham will make AI (artificial intelligence) one of the main themes of his visit to New York. Downing Street says:
Major global challenges such as AI, the conflict in Ukraine and security in the Middle East are expected to dominate the agenda of the prime minister’s meetings in New York over the next 24 hours, as world leaders converge on the city.
The prime minister is expected to use the visit to drive forward global work on AI, both to ensure it is being used as a force for good and to maximise opportunities to use the technology to deliver safety and security for people at home.
His speech to the UN general assembly on Tuesday evening is expected to focus on AI, making the case for the international community to harness the technology for good to drive down the cost of living and support a more stable and secure world.
As part of using AI responsibly to support people at home, the prime minister will announce the launch of work between the UK and US on a new AI and Autonomy partnership. This collaboration will help the UK protect critical national infrastructure, from sea lanes to airspace – enabling us to detect threats and deter our adversaries using the latest AI technology developed on both sides of the Atlantic.
The press release implies that Burnham, at least on this trip, will be more interested in how AI can used to threaten Russia than in how steps can be taken to stop AI wiping out humanity. The press notice also says “the UK’s Ministry of Defence Rapid AI Delivery Taskforce and the US’s Department of War Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office work together on artificial intelligence and autonomy”.
Sam Coates from Sky News points out that many leading countries, as well as the European Union, yesterday backed a call from the Finnish government for compulsory safety testing of all the most advanced, frontier AI models before they are released. But the UK did not sign up, he says. He reports:
This Finnish initiative – pushing compulsory testing of Frontier AI models before release – has the backing of the leaders of Australia, Canada, Germany, the EU, Bahrain and Singapore. https://presidentti.fi/en/a-call-for-control-of-frontier-ai-models/ It’s dated yesterday 21/9. The UK will have been asked.
But Andy Burnham has not signed – and appears at the UN general assembly today to be taking a different - arguably weaker - path. Burnham is going to the UN arguing almost exactly the opposite impression: that Britain is uniquely placed to lead international AI governance, mediate between the US and China and make AI a centrepiece of its 2027 G20 presidency.
And there’s no mention of Britain backing compulsory pre-release testing of AI, unlike the other countries. The language in the press release is much more watery: he wants to ensure AI is used “for good” but avoids specifics.
Darren Jones, chief secretary to the PM when Keir Starmer was in Downing Street, has said the government should not be shunning this initiative. He says:
It’s great to see @alexstubb providing this leadership and bringing other countries together to call for pre-deployment testing.
The list of signatories to the ‘Call for Control of Frontier AI Models’ are the United Kingdom’s natural allies.
The UK has special access to American AI models through the AI Security Institute, which is partly why the UK Government will want to remain in lock step with the United States.
But I don’t see any reason why the UK can’t sign up to the Finnish proposal. I encourage our government to do so and to offer to broker agreement on its application with the United States.
No 10 confirms Manchester to host next year's G20 summit
The comment from Andy Burnham criticising Donald Trump from 2017 quoted earlier (see 9.58am) referred to the prospect of Trump visiting Manchester during his state visit. In fact, he never went near the city. But next year he may be there, because No 10 has announced that it will host the G20 summit.
In its report on the story, the Manchester Evening News says:
The move to host the G20 in Manchester was reportedly set up months ago after Andy Burnham became prime minister, using his first phone call with Mr Trump to invite him to the city, and which is said to have been accepted by the American President.
It is understood that planning has already started for the enormous gathering, which will require the biggest security operation the city has ever seen …
Work on hosting the summit in Manchester had begun before Mr Burnham took office but the prime minister has been an enthusiastic cheerleader for the city since entering Downing Street, including establishing the No 10 North operation in the city centre.
UK to give support to Saudi jets in attempt to counter Houthi fighters
In his huddle on the plane to the US, Andy Burnham also confirmed that the UK has agreed to provide defensive air support to Saudi Arabia to help counter Houthi fighters. He said:
We have received a request from Saudi Arabia for military support and … I agreed to that request for defensive air-to-air refuelling.
Presumably that means Burnham won’t be agreeing with the recent report from the Campaign Against Arms Trade and the Transition Security Project saying “Britain should pay reparations to the people of Yemen for its role in crimes committed against them by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and their coalition allies during the Yemeni civil war.” It says:
By our calculations, a windfall tax on profits made by two leading British arms companies from weapons used by the Saudis during the war could raise up to £3.9bn. With the British state matching this sum, a reparations payment of £7.8bn would help address the urgent humanitarian needs in Yemen – which British policy has helped to create – and provide a foundation for Yemen’s economic recovery.
Burnham plays down past critical comments about Trump, saying it's right to 'move beyond' them
Speaking to journalists on his flight to New York, Andy Burnham played down suggestions that previous critical things he has said about Donald Trump could cause a problem when they meet later.
As with almost everyone on the left of politics in the UK, Burnham has a longish record of saying disobliging things about the US president. In 2017, as mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham said that as a “matter of principle” he would not meet Trump because of the “hateful, extremist material” he posted online. After Trump backed his supporters who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 to try to overturn the presidential election result, Burnham said: “Any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now.” Only last year he accused Trump of bringing “instability to the world”.
Burnham did not apologise for any of these comments, or retract them, but he told reporters it was time to move on. He also pointed out that Trump had been dismissive of him recently, describing him as “the mayor of a town”.
Burnham said:
Politicians say things throughout their career, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in, and I did say to the president in our first phone call, I said Mr President, Manchester isn’t ‘some town’. I said ‘this is Manchester’.
And so yes, the right thing to do is to have a laugh about it, isn’t it, and move beyond it.
Asked if he could trust Trump, Burnham said:
When you come into this job, you realise how deep this relationship is. We trust our allies. Of course, we do.
Asked if he trusted Trump personally, Burnham replied: “Yes.”
(This is one of those comments best understood by applying the Mandy Rice-Davies principle, rather than taking it literally.)
Politico has a bit more colour on the huddle in today’s London Playbook.
Burnham’s first huddle with the Lobby pack on the government jet, where he sat chatting for 38 minutes in jeans, a suit jacket and his blue Joseph’s Goal wristband. It was a more discursive affair than under Starmer. The newbie PM was so disappointed that no hacks asked him to diss Danny Dyer — see here for the very sweary context— that he volunteered the line anyway. “I’m not sure I know who he is,” said Burnham. “Is he the father-in-law of a West Ham player?”
Burnham fails to rule out Brexit reversal being in next Labour manifesto
Andy Burnham has opened the door to fighting the next election on the UK rejoining the EU, but said his immediate priority was continuing to rebuild bridges with European allies. Pippa Crerar has the story, which is based on what Burnham told journalists as he spoke to them in what reporters call a “huddle” on his flight to New York.
UK not ‘on the slide’, Burnham to tell UN as he gears up for first meeting with Trump
Good morning. Andy Burnham is at the United Nations general assembly today and in a speech to the world (or, technically, to people in the hall and anyone watching on TV at around 2am UK time), he will say that Britain is not “on the slide”.
Speaking to reporters on the plane to New York, Burnham said:
The plan for Britain is about ‘what is our direction over the next 10 years and how do we make life more affordable for people’. That is my main priority, that’s what people are looking for.
I hear people saying the country is on the slide – we’re the fastest growing in the G7, there’s lots to be proud of, there’s a lot right with the country and I’m going to give a really upbeat message when I speak.
But the story of the day will instead focus on Burnham’s meeting with someone who does think the UK is “on the slide”, or at least claims to think that. “Your country’s in trouble. You’re on the edge of disaster,” Donald Trump told a GB News reporter recently.
In her overnight story ahead of the meeting, Pippa Crerar, who is on the trip with Burnham, says Burnham is going to adopt a middle-of-the-road approach to the US president when they meet. She says:
Government sources told the Guardian that Burnham would try to pursue a “third way” in his relationship with the US president, neither as adversarial as the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, nor as publicly fawning as [Keir] Starmer’s early approach, and relying on the strength of his personality.
This is a reference to Starmer offering Trump an unprecedented second state visit when they first met at the White House. Theresa May also found herself pimping the monarch at her first meeting with Trump. There were good reasons for both offers at the time, and they bought both newbie PMs some goodwill from the White House monster, but it did not last and both those encounters are now recalled as moments of national embarrassment. As long as today’s meeting is cordial, Burnham will probably be happy with something more low-key.
It is hard to know what can be achieved in any meeting with Trump because he is so unpredicable. Later Burnham has another meeting with a president which will get far less coverage, but may turn out to be more consequential. The PM is meeting Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, for the first time and, with the prospects of the EU-UK reset in jeopardy, there is a lot to discuss.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: The final day of the Lib Dem conference in Brighton starts. The debates this morning will include one on the Lib Dems’ water policy.
2.30pm: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, gives his keynote speech at the conference.
Around 4.45pm (UK time): Andy Burnham is due to meet Donald Trump at the UN in New York.
Late afternoon/early evening (UK time): Burnham has bilateral meetings with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, and others.
Late evening (UK time): Burnham co-chairs a meeting on the Middle East with other leaders including Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Mark Carney, the Canadian PM.
Around 1.50am (UK time): Burnham gives his speech to the UN before flying back to the UK.
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