Day 3 of the leadership sideshow

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: The IDF began what it called a “limited, localized and targeted” ground operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon — Israel’s first ground invasion of the country since the bloodshed of 2006. Lebanon’s health ministry told the BBC at least 95 people were killed in air strikes on Monday, while two Palestinian officials told Reuters an Israeli strike hit a refugee camp in an attempt to target a Fatah commander. Fears are growing that a bigger incursion is imminent … that Brits in Lebanon will soon be trapped … and that the Middle East is tipping into a wider regional war. Plenty more on this below.
Good Tuesday morning. This is Dan Bloom at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.
HUMP DAY: It’s Day Three at Tory Leadership Conference(™), and while actual war simmers in the Middle East and Whitehall kicks off its own Very Important Leadership Race, the four Conservative rivals are still fighting a frenzied battle for airtime. Journalists in Birmingham may be ground down by all the repetition, but this race is still anyone’s to win — as shown by a dramatic poll that landed in the last hour.
Badenoch’s bad news: Robert Jenrick has virtually closed the gap with Kemi Badenoch among the Conservative Party grassroots and is now just 4 points behind her in a hypothetical head-to-head, says a YouGov survey of 802 Tory members for Sky News. The margin (52-48, obvs) is down from a whopping 18-point gap in August.
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That Brexit ratio … also applies if MPs keep Badenoch off the ballot and push James Cleverly into the final two with Jenrick, the other scenario being chattered about in Birmingham. On these numbers Jenrick would get 52 percent, Cleverly 48.
Beyond the members: A Savanta poll for Newsnight put Badenoch on the lowest net favorability with either Tory voters or the public, +23 and -11 respectively. Narrow margins here.
NO ESCAPE: All three of Badenoch’s rivals are starting morning broadcast rounds right now (timings below) before another day of wall-to-wall appearances round the ICC — and with spin operations to match. Playbook has lost count of the number of frenetic and occasionally drunken briefings by officials against rival candidates and in favor of their own. Some were still trying to spin your author into the early hours of this morning. Guys, give it a rest.
ROBERT JENRICK: The frontrunner (sort of) will don his flak jacket for an hour-long Q&A on the main stage at 2 p.m. by GB News’ Chris Hope, including Tory members’ pre-vetted questions. Perhaps he’ll be asked about the growing backlash to his campaign video which claimed: “Our special forces are killing rather than capturing terrorists, because our lawyers tell us that if they’re caught, the European court will set them free.”
On the attack: One military official tells the FT’s Lucy Fisher it was an “outrageous accusation,” while a Labour source tells the Guardian he should say sorry for a “ludicrous attempt to politicize our special forces.” A rival camp told the Times it was “incendiary.” 
On the defense: Jenrick’s team insists he was simply reflecting what ex-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the Telegraph last year, when he said the U.K. was often “forced into taking lethal action” due to the “lunacy of being unable to render people across borders or arrest people in countries whose police forces are unacceptable.” Which sounds a bit more nuanced, but hey, why split hairs?
Jenrick is also … facing questions about the nature of £75,000 in donations by Phillip Ullmann (see the Guardian). But on the plus side he’s giving away caps that say “I love Bobby J.” Just, erm, don’t tell him about the slang meaning.
KEMI BADENOCH: Her 5 p.m. fringe grilling by Spectator Editor Fraser Nelson should be blockbuster viewing (well, by conference standards) after her spirited show of self-defense on the main stage on Monday afternoon. Several papers lead their coverage on her drawing a link between the treatment of her comments on maternity and that of Margaret Thatcher — she told the News Agents’ Emily Maitlis the row was “confected” and it makes the front of the Times. The Sun goes in on some more meaty policy; Badenoch apparently bowing to back a migration cap.
Here we go again: All eyes on Badenoch’s X account after the FT headline: “Kemi Badenoch says U.K. minimum wage is harming businesses.” Full quotes via PA.
Misquote *this*! As if to prove how much she hates snappy headlines, Badenoch’s campaign published a 20,000-word, 40-page report last night on the “rise of the bureaucratic class.” It’s not online yet. The Guardian’s Peter Walker pulled out one glorious graphic with two triangles showing how the right is no longer on top but in fact on the left, or something. (It’s about left/right splits no longer being based on wealth.)
Blame the algorithm: Badenoch revealed she, too, has been sucked into an echo chamber at last night’s Centre for Social Justice hustings. “I don’t see anything on my Twitter feed now that doesn’t have my name in it because clearly I’ve been clicking on things that are mentioning me,” she said (writes Playbook’s Sam Blewett). “And Twitter’s worked out this person likes reading about Kemi Badenoch.”
JAMES CLEVERLY: The self-professed “unity” candidate is up at 3 p.m. for his hour-long main stage Q&A. Last night the former home secretary stuck the boot into Rishi Sunak’s “stop the boats” policy, telling Peston it “massively simplified a complex problem” and “set a yardstick for success that was almost impossible to meet.” It makes the Telegraph’s page 1, given all the times Cleverly used the slogan himself.
IDS not buts: Cleverly’s Peston appearance put the wind up ex-Leader Iain Duncan Smith, as he wasn’t waiting in the wings when IDS was ready for him at the CSJ hustings. “He’s doing Peston?!” IDS said, sounding disgusted. But at least the CSJ’s snap poll claimed 29 percent of members backed Cleverly to do the most for social justice. The others were on 24, 24 and 23. A win’s a win, eh? 
TOM TUGENDHAT: The center-right’s flag-bearer has two chunky “in conversation” events (details below) and a release repeating his call to spend 3 percent of GDP on defense by 2030, which he gave to the Mail.
Also claiming a win: Supporters point out Tugendhat turned up to a Conservative Environment Network hustings last night, while Cleverly had former MP Rebecca Pow deliver his pitch instead after he got caught up with other commitments. One TT fan says the room was “very energetic and explosive for Tom.” Sounds like we should stand well back.
GRANT SHAPPS: Er, yes. After being spotted checking his spreadsheets in the Hyatt bar, the ex-minister who lost his seat in July is launching his group “Conservatives Together” at 1 p.m. Some details were already previewed by the Times’ Aubrey Allegretti, and the report will say if an “extra 2 percent of the electorate” (aka 967,000 people) had voted Tory the party would have achieved an outright majority.
One to ponder: Will “CTog” (‘fraid so), like Labour Together, start as a unifying body but become a Trojan horse for centrist thinking to reclaim the reins of the party? We’ll see. Meanwhile, like Allegretti, Playbook hears Shapps is privately eyeing a way back into parliament, whether in his old seat of Welwyn Hatfield or … elsewhere.
NEWS FROM THE PAST: Today will see more glad-handing by Michael Gove, who is attending an event on the Tories’ path back to power — in Room 101, of course. Playbook has barely been able to move for former MPs (list below). Of course they’ve all come out of a heartfelt desire to save their party. The imminent lobbying and public affairs jobs that some of them have lined up are just a happy coincidence.
Striding with pride: Ousted Mel Stride meanwhile has got tongues wagging by meeting all four leadership candidates in recent weeks. Playbook hears Stride is privately assuring colleagues he’s not decided whom to back and won’t announce at this conference — despite a rumor that he could support Jenrick if he’s promised his long-coveted shadow chancellor job. A person on one campaign team said: “We’re desperate to get him … But he and Priti are both massive flirts.”
News from the future: Officials say attendance by members is up 20 percent, though actual membership is only up by a small amount given the anti-entryism rules earlier this summer.
BUSINESS CORNER: The Tories’ business day cost £3,500 — £500 more than Labour’s — and while complaints were more muted than last week (they got to sit on tables with shadow Cabinet ministers) there’s still some grumbling. One company that even turned up to the SNP business day didn’t bother to show for the Tories, my colleague John Johnston texts in to say. CCHQ’s boasts that a 300-person dinner sold out were slightly undermined by messages that went out last week offering people “upgrades” to attend the evening do.
More color: Bloomberg’s Alex Wickham and Lucy White reckon two attendees were let in for free. A CCHQ official suggests these two were the speakers.
Buyers’ remorse I: Three party officials tell Playbook that the ICC only has as many glitzy stands as it does because many contracts had to be signed early in the year — before Rishi Sunak called the election. Some lobbyists are only here because they bought their passes before July too, an industry figure tells my colleague Sam Blewett. Their firm shrunk the team back by half and most planned to leave after a single day.
Buyers’ remorse II: Wincing, one senior business figure tells your author of the Business Day food: “If you had that in a restaurant you wouldn’t be coming back.”
Buyers’ remorse III: The chatter among some senior Conservatives is that whoever wins won’t even be leader by the time the next election is called. “It’s quite possible — and even if they do fight an election they might not be the next prime minister,” concedes one ex-Cabinet minister. They’re backed up by an Ipsos poll shown to Playbook — 28 percent think “none of them” will ever become PM and another 33 percent don’t know.
GETTING OUT OF DODGE: Sunak already left Birmingham on Sunday night, giving up his suite … which is now in the hands of Jenrick, Playbook is told, after complaints that his team and Badenoch’s could hear each other through the Hyatt walls.
REALITY CHECK: Readers should probably note that the Tory conference wasn’t mentioned at all on the BBC 10 O’Clock news (apart from a brief link to Newsnight), while the Mirror, Sun and Express all splash on the BBC’s Strictly apology that your author doesn’t understand. Nice to keep things in perspective. 
CLASSICAL LITERATURE: “You bet it was a plot,” Boris Johnson writes in the latest megabucks serialization of his memoir. “If Caesar had 23 stab wounds from his assassins, I ended up with 62.” The ex-PM’s decision to drip-drip “Unleashed” over conference, followed by a slew interviews from Thursday, gets him another four pages in today’s Mail where he says “we”(!) mishandled the Chris Pincher scandal … admits he was “complacent” and “arrogant” (with caveats) over Partygate … calls Sunak’s decision to water down planning reforms “bonkers” … and comes up with 10 “fixes” to help the Tories win the next election.
FRINGE NEWS: Tory thinker Neil O’Brien said he met a constituent who is scared about going into hospital because she cannot understand her doctor. The Times writes it up.
FOLLOW THE LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES: Robert Jenrick (2 p.m.) and James Cleverly (3 p.m.) are in conversation with GB News’ Chris Hope and party members on the main stage … Kemi Badenoch is in conversation with the Spectator (5 p.m., ICC Hall 4) and speaks at the Conservative Friends of India reception (8.30 p.m., ICC Hall 11) … Tom Tugendhat is in conversation with Onward (2 p.m., Onward marquee) and the CPS (3.10 p.m., ICC Hall 4), and is due at the Conservative Friends of Ukraine and LGBT+ Tories receptions (both 6 p.m.) … Cleverly has a drinks reception (4 p.m., ConHome marquee) … and Jenrick is due at the Blue Beyond and Conservative Young Women reception (5.30 p.m., ICC Youth Zone), ERG reception (6.20 p.m., ThinkTent) and Conservative Friends of India (9.05 p.m., ICC Hall 11).
ALSO ON THE MAIN STAGE: Conservative Councillors’ Association Chair Phil Broadhead, PCC for Sussex Katy Bourne, Essex Council Leader Kevin Bentley and MP Matt Vickers discuss the 2025 local elections (10 a.m.) … and shadow ministers Andrew Bowie and Mims Davies, Scottish Young Conservatives Chair Holly Moscrop and North Tyneside Councilor Olly Scargill discuss the next generation (10.40 a.m.).
PICKS OF THE FRINGE: Ex-ministers Francis Maude and Alex Burghart discuss fixing Whitehall with former aide Henry Newman (8.30 a.m., ICC Hall 4) … ousted MP Miriam Cates and Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza do a CapX panel on whether Tories have “abandoned the family” (9.50 a.m., ICC Hall 4) … Jacob Rees-Mogg is on the Daily T podcast (11 a.m., ICC Churchill Theatre) and a Growth Commission fringe on the “stagnant” economy (11.30 a.m., ThinkTent) … Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen interviews ex-West Midlands Mayor Andy Street for his pod (11.30 a.m., ConHome marquee) …
And this afternoon: Ex-MP Grant Shapps launches his new group Conservatives Together (1 p.m., ICC Baldwin) … incoming Spectator Editor Michael Gove and shadow chief sec Laura Trott do a panel on the Tories’ path back to power (1.30 p.m., Leonardo Room 101) … Ben Houchen is in conversation with UK in a Changing Europe (2.30 p.m., ConHome marquee) … 
Keep going … Shadow Foreign Minister Alicia Kearns, Deputy EU Ambassador Isabell Poppelbaum and Ukrainian Ambassador Valerii Zaluzhnyi discuss help for Ukraine (3.30 p.m., ICC Hall 8a) … Shadow DESNZ Secretary Claire Coutinho is at an IfG panel on the future of net zero (3.45 p.m., Hyatt Soprano) … PopCons’ Mark Littlewood interviews historian David Starkey (4.30 p.m., ThinkTent) … and BAE Systems sponsors an interview with Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge (5.15 p.m., ICC Hall 10b).
PARTY PEOPLE: Common Sense Group Chair John Hayes is holding drinks at the headache-inducing hour of 3.30 p.m. … ex-1922 committee Chair Graham Brady launches his book (6 p.m.) … and parties are hosted by the Conservative Environment Network (6 p.m.) … Conservative Friends of Ukraine (6 p.m.) … LGBT+ Tories (6 p.m.) … Irish Embassy (6 p.m.) … More in Common with Shadow Health Secretary Victoria Atkins (6 p.m.) … UK Music/TikTok with Peter Andre (7.30 p.m.) … Bloomberg for diplomats (8.30 p.m.) … inHouse late lounge (10 p.m.) … and of course, the Spectator (10 p.m.).
BRACE, BRACE: Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to call fellow leaders today after nervous diplomacy around Israel’s ground incursion into Lebanon. It makes the front of the Times, Mail, FT, Guardian and Telegraph after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned “there is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach.”
Tick, tock: The FCDO announced late last night that it has chartered its first flight out of Lebanon to leave on Wednesday. Foreign Secretary David Lammy — who chaired his third Lebanon-related COBRA meeting on Monday and had a 40-minute call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken — told British nationals: “It is vital that you leave now as further evacuation may not be guaranteed.”
Scale of the problem: Officials are concerned that some Brits got tickets for flights departing this Saturday — by which time Lebanon could be in the grip of full-scale war. The U.K. has managed to bag seats (fewer than 100) on commercial flights in the coming days — but there are concerns that neither these nor the charter flight get off the ground if things deteriorate too quickly. A military evacuation would follow if this happened, but the level of danger would likely mean British nationals were told to “shelter in place” for a while first.
Crossing their fingers: A U.S. official told the FT they “believe we’ve reached an understanding” with Israel where the action in Lebanon will genuinely be targeted and narrow. But many have their doubts. Playbook is told Foreign Office officials are talking to Israeli officials to urge against further action for fear of escalation.
A conundrum: Lammy echoed allies by saying “the best way forward is an immediate cease-fire.” But that feels more remote as the conflict expands past Gaza to Lebanon and wider Iranian proxies.
Alternative view: Shadow Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell suggested Israel had the right to send its military in to Lebanon, telling LBC’s Andrew Marr: “Israel has the right of self-defense, and they are being shelled by Hezbollah over the border.”
What Israel is trying to achieve: Netanyahu has made clear that his ultimate goal is to undermine Tehran’s clerical leadership, defanging the Iranians who bankroll Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, reports my colleague Jamie Dettmer from Tel Aviv.
Back in London: Mayor Sadiq Khan has warned the crisis could worsen hate crime in the capital and announced £875,000 for grassroots groups to work against “intolerance and extremism.” The Guardian writes it up.
RUNNERS AND RIDERS: After Cabinet Secretary Simon Case finally confirmed his departure (branded, despite his protestations, “Starmer forces top civil servant out of office” by the Independent), we begin a leadership race that could prove more consequential than the Tories’. Playbook has been told that Starmer in principle favors a woman for the job, though aides stress it will be a “proper process.” Interviews will be in the week of Nov. 4. Here’s how the rumor mill is shaping up …
Antonia Romeo: MOJ permanent secretary who faced down Dominic Raab and turned down a No. 10 perm sec job under Boris Johnson. “She really wants it,” says one senior person in Whitehall. “She would be quite a public figure, she’s not one of these people who doesn’t want to be written about.” Others wonder if this would be exactly the problem.
Olly Robbins: The former Brexit negotiator — at advisory firm Hakluyt — has long been known as a favorite of chief of staff Sue Gray, but three well-connected people suggest to Playbook that he has slipped from pole position in recent months. One insider tells the Guardian’s Rowena Mason they think he’s being “lined up for a security role instead.”
Minouche Shafik: The former Bank of England deputy governor resigned only in August as head of Columbia University, where Gaza campus protests make the culture wars on Whitehall look like a doddle. She is described as the closest thing to an outsider by one observer, given her experience in the U.S., though she is already leading a review of international development work for the U.K. government.
Melanie Dawes: Playbook hears the Ofcom chief executive and former MHCLG perm sec has not said privately yet that she wants the job (the FT hears this too). It’d be quite the pay cut from £342,000. But she has long been touted as a possible replacement to Case. Her long civil service career included 15 years at the Treasury. 
Other permanent secretary names doing the rounds … include Defra’s Tamara Finkelstein … MHCLG’s Sarah Healey … DESNZ’s Jeremy Pocklington … the DFE’s Susan Acland-Hood … and DWP’s Peter Schofield. Former national security adviser Steven Lovegrove, who is leading a review into the AUKUS submarine program, has also been mooted to Playbook. The Times team has a good rundown.
Seen as less likely: Former DEXEU perm sec Philip Rycroft, along with John Lewis chair Sharon White, given she’s on the interview panel.
BOX OFFICE AT THE POST OFFICE INQUIRY: Ousted Post Office Chair Henry Staunton is up from 10 a.m. Today’s i splashes on its long-running investigation by Steve Robson into a second IT system, Capture, after a government report found a “reasonable likelihood” it also caused losses to show up in accounts.
GRAYDAY: Downing Street chief of staff Sue Gray took football hospitality tickets at least three times this year, according to the Telegraph’s Neil Johnston.
EYES EMOJI: A lobbyist for FGS Global, which represents fast fashion giant Shein, worked closely with Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the run-up to the election, the Times’ George Greenwood and Peter Geoghegan’s Democracy for Sale Substack jointly report. In mid-June Labour told the FT it had no plans to close a tax “loophole” used by the firm.
SMASH THE GANGS UPDATE: Asylum seekers will keep being housed in hotels for up to three years as the backlog takes longer to clear than hoped, the Times splash reports. A Whitehall source tells Matt Dathan and Steve Swinford: “It certainly won’t be cleared in a year.” That sounds on the money, even if officials were trying to talk down the three-year line last night.
TODAY’S THE DAY! The average energy bill rises by £149 a year from today — just as millions of pensioners lose their winter fuel payment. 
ALSO TODAY: The Tories’ Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act, which bans restaurants from creaming off a slice of staff tips, becomes law today. It fulfills a promise by ex-PM Theresa May in … 2018.
BLACK HOLE NEWS: Teachers have voted to accept their 5.5 percent pay rise, and the 2025-26 pay round has started. Via the Guardian.
ROBOT OVERLORDS: AI Minister Feryal Clark speaks at the Times’ Tech Summit at 9.30 a.m.. She is due to pledge a “digital center of government” by the end of the year to cut NHS waiting lists.
FOR THE DADS: New Labour MPs are pushing Keir Starmer to deliver a promised review on parental leave, telling the Sun’s Martina Bet statutory paternity leave is “cruelly short.”
AT THE COVID-19 INQUIRY: Evidence in the health care module continues from 10 a.m. with witnesses including NHS England national ambulance adviser Anthony Marsh.
COAL DUDE: Energy Minister Michael Shanks is attending the closure of Britain’s last coal power plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar. Writing in NottinghamshireLive, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said it’s time to “mark the incredible contribution of coal to our energy supplies.”
NEW PRESIDENT DAY: Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum is inaugurated today, with Latin America Minister Jenny Chapman in attendance. Chapman will also be signing a memorandum of understanding with Mexico’s Agriculture Minister Julio Berdegué.
THE BIG 100: Former President Jimmy Carter has turned 100, marked by a benefit concert and the construction of 30 new homes by the charity Habitat for Humanity. Read more on POLITICO. 
WHAT WESTMINSTER *REALLY* THINKS ABOUT THE U.S. ELECTION: Just like its British namesake, it’s riven with feuding and boasts a shooting range. But this is Westminster, Massachusetts — an 8,000-population town that POLITICO’s Emilio Casalicchio visited as part of his new mission to interpret the presidential race for Brits.
Emilio found … a town cleaved down the middle including two rival supporters living next door — with the pro-Trump house in patriotic paraphernalia. “I don’t think people are ripping each other’s faces off, but it’s definitely politically charged out there,” said one store owner.
Oh, and … few in Westminster, Massachusetts know much about British politics. One said of Boris Johnson: “I see that name but I don’t f*cking click on it.” The Fox News-watching crowd is aware of Nigel Farage. And one pro-Trump voter said about the PM: “Keir Starmer is a frikkin’ leftist, like Kamala!”
And back in the *real* Westminster: A YouGov poll for Betfair today says 22 percent of Brits (including 60 percent of Reform voters) would back Donald Trump if they were voting in the U.S. election — up from 12 percent four years ago.
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No government round. 
Tory leadership candidate James Cleverly broadcast round: Sky News (7.15 a.m.) … Bloomberg radio (7.35 a.m.) … LBC (7.50 a.m.) … 5Live (8.05 a.m.) … BBC Radio Essex (8.25 a.m.) … BBC Radio WM (8.38 a.m.) … BBC Radio Kent (8.45 a.m.) … BBC Radio Lincolnshire (8.52 a.m.). 
Tory leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat broadcast round: LBC (7.20 a.m.) … Sky News (7.30 a.m.) … GB News (7.50 a.m.). 
Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick broadcast round: Today (7.50 a.m.) … GMB (8.30 a.m.). 
Also on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: Former member of the Israeli Parliament Einat Wilf (7.10 a.m.) …  Fuel Poverty Action’s Jonathan Bean (7.40 a.m.).
Also on Times Radio Breakfast: Former Downing Street Director of Communications Guto Harri (8.15 a.m.) … Iranian-American academic Mohammad Marandi (08.05 a.m.) … former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi (8.35 a.m.) … Tory peer William Hague and former Scottish Labour Leader Kezia Dugdale (9.05 a.m.)
Also on Sky News Breakfast: UNICEF Deputy Representative for Lebanon Ettie Higgins (8.15 a.m.) … political biographer Anthony Seldon (8.15 a.m.) … adviser to JD Vance James Orr (9.30 a.m.). 
Politics Live (BBC Two 12.15 p.m.): Conservative MP John Lamont … former Tory MPs Tom Pursglove, Miriam Cates and Steve Baker … the New Statesman’s Rachel Cunliffe.
POLITICO UK: What Westminster really thinks about the U.S. presidential election. 
Daily Express:  BBC apology to Amanda in Strictly bullying row. 
Daily Mail: World holds breath as Israel set to invade Lebanon.
Daily Mirror: Strictly: the verdict.
Daily Star: The Matrix is real and the Bible proves it.
Financial Times: Israel’s forces poised for imminent ground assault in Lebanon, says US.
I: Post Office second IT scandal linked to wrongful convictions. 
Metro: Vindicated.
The Daily Telegraph: Netanyahu warns Iran: You’re in our sights. 
The Guardian: Israel has begun ground attacks on Hezbollah inside Lebanon, says US.
The Independent: Starmer forces top civil servant out of office.
The Sun: I’ve won. 
The Times: Migrants to be stuck in hotels for three years.
BIRMINGHAM WEATHER: Cold, wet and rainy. Don’t forget your brolly … again. High 13C, low 10C. 
SPOTTED … at Sky News’ party eating cupcakes adorned with the faces of leadership candidates, where — unlike at Labour — no one was on the decks … Former Housing Secretary turned Speccy Editor Michael Gove … Shadow Cabinet ministers Andrew Griffith, Claire Coutinho, Alicia Kearns, Mel Stride and Chris Philp … Robert Jenrick’s wife Michal Berkner kissing the sugary ode to her husband … former SpAds Cameron Brown, Rhiannon Padley, Harriet Smith and Jamie Njoku-Goodwin … former Downing Street comms heads James Slack and Guto Harri … former No. 10 chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith … former Deputy PM Thérèse Coffey … Sky’s Steph Schwarz, Jon Craig, Beth Rigby, Sophy Ridge, Mhari Aurora, Ali Fortescue, Darren McCaffrey and Sam Coates … CBI’s Rain Newton-Smith … CCHQ comms guy Richard N. Jackson … and Mail on Sunday pol ed Glen Owen tucking straight in to a Kemi cupcake.
Also spotted … crammed into the Botanist for the GB News party with a live singalong: Leadership candidate Robert Jenrick, who jumped the queue with his entourage and had some choice words for firms that refuse to advertise on the channel …  Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Gareth Davies … Conservative MP Gavin Williamson … Badenoch aide Dylan Sharpe, among those who left for Sky because the queue for the bar was too long … former MPs Michael Fabricant, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Steve Tuckwell and Jonathan Gullis … pol eds Chris Hope, Robert Peston and Chris Mason … and GB News CEO Angelos Frangopoulos.
Also spotted … at the Telegraph’s conference party in the Hyatt … Former election supremo Isaac Levido … all four leadership contenders plus oodles of their aides … Telegraph Editor Chris Evans, various other execs and the Lobby team including pol ed Ben Riley-Smith … GB News’ Chris Hope … former Conservative MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg, Penny Mordaunt and Grant Shapps … MPs Richard Holden, Laura Trott, James Wild, Ed Argar and Nick Timothy … and Tory peers Tina Stowell and Natalie Evans.
Also spotted … Downstairs in the Sonata Room, making do with hummus and celery sticks at News U.K.’s rival party … again, all four leadership candidates and, again, oodles of aides … the Times Editor Tony Gallagher … Sunday Times Editor Ben Taylor … Sun Deputy Editor James Slack … Times Radio Program Director Tim Levell … News U.K. Head of Broadcast Scott Taunton … ex-MPs Matt Warman and Jonathan Gullis … Shadow Health Secretary Victoria Atkins … the Times’ Steve Swinford and Geri Scott … TimesRadio’s Ollie Cole and Kate McCann … the whole Times and Sun Lobby teams … the Sunday Times’ Tim Shipman and Gabriel Pogrund … Talk’s Peter Cardwell.
Also spotted … at the POLITICO reception sponsored by Intuit: Politics Live presenter Jo Coburn … Radio 4 presenter Sarah Montague … Labour peer and broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika … former super SpAd Sheridan Westlake … CCHQ’s Danielle Boxall, Richard N. Jackson and Caspar Michie … Conservative MP Richard Holden … Former MPs Robert Buckland and Matt Warman … Intuit’s Michael Kennedy and Paul Lindsay. 
GOT THEM GROOVING: The leadership candidates’ playlists for ConHome’s silent disco included “Don’t You Want Me” on Robert Jenrick’s … “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” on James Cleverly’s … “Don’t Stop Believing” on Kemi Badenoch’s … and “Major Tom (Coming Home)” for, er, Lieutenant Colonel Tom Tugendhat. One reviewer messages: “From the outside it looked kind of f*cked up, but on the inside it was great. Basically a metaphor for the Tory party right now.”
Also spotted … gossiping away in the Onward marquee in an unflattering blue light: Guest speaker Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen, who said the party can win if it stops “all the infighting and the chaos and by-elections and sex scandals” … new Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty … Tory MP and Substacker Neil O’Brien … Spectator publisher Freddie Sayers … the Tony Blair Institute’s Nathan Boroda … podcaster Dino Sofos … and ex-Tory MP Amanda Solloway asking former Chief Whip Gavin Williamson whether they should go to the silent disco.
Also spotted … enjoying canapés and Prosecco at Policy Exchange’s reception in the ballroom of Birmingham’s Grand Hotel … Director Rupert Oldham-Reid … Tory peers Susan Williams, Stephen Parkinson, Anne Jenkin, Ross Kempsell, Charles Moore and Francis Maude … Former Deputy Prime Minister Thérèse Coffey … and former No. 10 SpAd Andrew Gilligan.
Also spotted … at the i’s reception with Airbnb at the iNHouse lounge: Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen … the BBC’s Chris Mason and Henry Zeffman … Conservative MPs Saqib Bhatti, Stuart Andrew and Wendy Morton … Onward’s Seb Payne … the i’s Hugo Gye. 
BACK FOR MORE: Andrew Parsons, the former taxpayer-funded No. 10 photographer to Boris Johnson, is doing Tom Tugendhat’s photography at conference.
Also back for more: Andrew Boff, who was frogmarched out of the last Tory conference for heckling Suella Braverman’s speech, has returned for his 48th conference in Birmingham.
Just can’t get enough: The group of former MPs seen heading to Reflex nightclub. It’s not quite Michael Dugher’s night at the casino at Labour last week. 
WAKEY WAKEY! A former No. 10 SpAd to Rishi Sunak had to be roused by three journalists after falling asleep until 2.30 a.m. in the Radisson Blu lobby. He wasn’t even staying there.
ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL: Remember the high-profile broadcaster seen complaining on the phone about the quality of their conference hotel? Seems they may have got an upgrade. They were spotted having breakfast Monday morning in a swankier hotel.
PENNY DROPS ANOTHER ROYAL ANECDOTE: Sword-carrier Penny Mordaunt is still dining out on her royal links as a former lord president of the Privy Council. Last night she reminisced to a Duke of Edinburgh reception about two “very far-left Labour MPs” who told Prince Philip they had been union officials. He replied: “So, bugger all then?”
GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER … Good luck and godspeed to all the former MPs spotted at Tory conference, including: Michael Ellis … Penny Mordaunt … Anne-Marie Trevelyan … Jonathan Gullis … Paul Scully … Anthony Browne … Jake Berry … Kevin Foster … Heather Wheeler … David TC Davies … Jack Brereton … Lee Rowley … Michael Fabricant … Grant Shapps … Jacob Rees-Mogg … Liz Truss … Miriam Cates … Damian Green … Alex Chalk … Felicity Buchan … Vicky Ford … Stephen Hammond … Matt Warman … Chris Loder … Graham Brady … Ranil Jayawardena … Greg Hands … Gary Sambrook … Aaron Bell … Steve Baker … Paul Holmes … Robert Buckland … Michael Tomlinson … Marcus Jones … John Redwood … Chris Clarkson … Nick Fletcher and Eddie Hughes.
WRITING PLAYBOOK PM: Andrew McDonald.
WRITING PLAYBOOK WEDNESDAY MORNING: Dan Bloom.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Former Prime Minister and Conservative peer Theresa May … former Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson … crossbench peer and former Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell … crossbench peer Susan Greenfield … Conservative peer James Bethell … Scottish Employment and Investment Minister Tom Arthur … former U.S. President Jimmy Carter turns 100.
PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editors Zoya Sheftalovich, Jack Blanchard and Alex Spence, diary reporter Bethany Dawson and producer Dean Southwell.
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