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Sunday Crunch
By MASON BOYCOTT-OWEN
Good Sunday afternoon, Crunchers. This is Mason Boycott-Owen, here with your weekend dose of politics news ahead of another big week of meetings that could lead to a Ukraine cease-fire.
THINGS TO KNOW
PEACE WEEK? It’s a potentially huge week for the future of Ukraine, as U.S.-led talks involving the war-torn country get underway in Saudi Arabia. Ukraine’s European allies are holding their breath and trying to make sense of Donald Trump’s thinking — while Britain’s government is trying to flesh out a plan to keep the peace (while looking pretty busy on the domestic front, too). Here’s what you need to know.
Key moments: Ukrainian and U.S. reps sit down for talks in Saudi Tuesday, with Trump expected to spend this week persuading Ukraine and Russia to agree to a phased cease-fire. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy says he’s “fully committed to constructive dialogue.” The Sunday Times reports that the U.K. will finalize plans for a European peacekeeping force this week. “Senior British sources” tell the paper that the U.S. and Ukraine are set to sign Trump’s controversial mineral rights deal (meant to get signed on the day of that massive Oval Office bust-up between Zelenskyy and Trump, remember) ahead of Tuesday’s crunch meeting in the Gulf state.
Army moves: Tony Radakin, Britain’s chief of the defence staff, will meet key European military bigwigs on Tuesday in Paris, with John Healey joining a meeting of defense ministers Wednesday.
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Recap: The Lancaster House summit a week ago saw Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron kick start plans for a “coalition of the willing” of allies to police any deal in Ukraine.
So who’s in the gang? We still don’t exactly know, with Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden refusing to give any names when quizzed on today’s media round. Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg his country was “happy to contribute in one way or the other but we have not made choices.” However, we do know that willing countries could come from outside Europe, after suggestions last week that Canada wants in.
Maybe Australia? On Saturday, Starmer spoke to Aussie PM Anthony Albanese. A read-out from Downing Street said that Starmer welcomed Albanese’s “commitment to consider contributing to a Coalition of the Willing for Ukraine.”
No conscription: McFadden told Sky’s Trevor Phillips that the U.K. would not be introducing conscription, despite the suggestion from Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs that European countries should follow his lead and do so. Poland’s looking to build a 500,000-strong army, too.
Don’t react: In a rather meta exchange with Phillips, McFadden said the government had taken the decision not to react to things Trump says or does when coming on TV shows. This is known as “news” in the trade, so it will be rather tricky to keep the industry afloat if McFadden’s idea catches on.
But a little bit of reaction: McFadden did bend slightly when chatting to LBC’s Lewis Goodall. He said that “we can’t cling onto old assumptions” when asked if Trump will always be a reliable ally.
View from the Pentagon: This week’s Sunday Times long-read from Tim Shipman (before he jumps ship to the Spectator) is full of details of Defence Secretary Healey’s meeting with his U.S. counterpart Pete Hesgeth last week. U.S. ambassador Peter Mandelson dubbed the face-to-face a “triumph” — and Hesgeth was reportedly able to say that the current cut-off of military aid and intelligence-sharing to Ukraine is only a pause.
Not soon enough: For Ukraine, the pause needs to end soon, after Thursday saw Russia launch a large-scale missile attack on Ukraine’s energy systems. Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, warned “this is what happens when someone appeases barbarians,” in a not-too-subtle dig at Trump this weekend.
Five eyes, five issues: Shipman notes five concerns among Britain’s spooks at GCHQ and MI6 over the U.S.’s approach to intelligence-sharing across the Five Eyes nations. Most concerningly are suggestions that Five Eyes countries running assets in Russia or China could have their cover blown by a more politicized, volatile, and potentially leaky U.S. intelligence regime.
Eek: The Mail on Sunday has similar briefings from spooky sources. It has gear on Dan Jarvis, the security minister, meeting with the heads of British spy agencies to talk about the security of U.K. intelligence. There are also suggestions Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand may have to go it alone as *checks notes* “Four Eyes.”
Not to panic! Fresh from his trip to the States, Healey has written for the Sunday Telegraph, where he is gushing about how great and important America is, despite Trump’s actions and words in recent days.
Incoming row? He adds that Trump may demand more money from Five Eyes partners. The U.S. intelligence budget of around $100 billion is about ten times the size of the other four nations combined, according to “insiders.”
Not now, nuclear subs:The Sunday Telegraph reports that the cost of Britain’s nuclear submarines has risen by £5 billion, with the Ministry of Defence blaming inflation.
POLICY BLITZ: After what felt like Labour’s first week of sustained good press since the start of its time in office, the government is getting back to playing the hits: announcing cuts and blaming it all on the Tories.
Civil service cuts: McFadden, Starmer’s enforcer in the Cabinet Office, was on the morning round selling his plans to sack civil servants and NHS staff. The plans will be unveiled on Monday, per the Sunday Telegraph.
What’s the plan, Pat? The Sunday papers have plenty of the overnight detail, with the Sunday Times leading on plans to make it easier to sack failing civil servants, reducing a ballooning £16.6 billion salary bill and divert the savings into frontline services. The Sunday Telegraph front page puts it less kindly: “Useless civil servants will be pushed out to cut Whitehall wage bill.” The Mail on Sunday says officials will be “paid to quit.”
How many should go? McFadden told Laura Kuenssberg on her Sunday morning BBC show that he wouldn’t give a specific figure of how many civil servants should be axed — but argued the current Whitehall set-up is too big and that the government’s approach will try to get more “bang for our buck.”
Alternative takes are available: The FDA union for top officials branded the latest idea a “soundbite, not a credible plan for change,” with officials being told to focus on delivery at the same time as resources are slashed. The Tories are dismissing the whole thing as “weak and anaemic.”
Unideal landing:The Observer’s write-up says that the reforms will be seen as following Elon Musk’s DOGE bloodbath of U.S. civil servants in recent weeks.
Remember how it went last time? Labour’s last foray into talking tough with the civil service didn’t go very well, with Starmer accused of using “Trumpian” language about the blob. And right on cue, TUC boss Paul Nowak told Times Radio this morning that the “Trumpian language is not helpful.”
Get in the office: In a somewhat lighter touch than when Jacob Rees-Mogg went around putting passive aggressive notes on civil servants’ desks telling them to get into the office, McFadden said he personally thinks there is “value to being in the office” as it “generally a good thing” where you can learn better from colleagues.
NHS cuts: The Sunday Times meanwhile reports on plans from the head of NHS England to make it easier for providers to sack people, including through a new national voluntary redundancy scheme. Health Sec Wes Streeting is separately looking at plans to overhaul the funding model for procedures, the Sunday Telegraph reports.
Welfare cuts: Following Monday’s civil-servant bashing, Liz Kendall will take up the bashing of people on disability benefits later in the week, with a speech from the DWP boss expected to include plans to make it harder for claimants to qualify for and keep payments.
Details:The Sunday Telegraph says the number of check-ups on benefit claimants will increase under the plans. The Sun on Sunday gets a preview of some of the proposals, with workers who lose their jobs set to be prioritized over those who have never had one.
REFORM ROW: Nigel Farage’s Reform U.K. has been reeling over the weekend after the party suspended its MP Rupert Lowe on Friday and referred him to the police. It comes after he allegedly made threats of physical violence against the party’s chairman. Lowe strongly denies the “untrue and false” allegations.
Inside view: The Sunday Times’ Harry Yorke has a deep dive into Lowe’s time in Reform, lifting the lid on the infighting that has boiled over in recent weeks and that has seen Lowe and Farage trade verbal blows in the press.
In his words: Farage has written for the Sunday Telegraph where he admits that the public spat with Lowe has dented his party’s sense of unity, which could be bad news for what had been its steady rise in the polls. The paper has a big read on the row.
I agree with Nigel: Farage deputy Richard Tice was on the morning round today saying that the right decision about Lowe had been taken. He told Sky’s Trevor Phillips that the party couldn’t “tolerate this any more.”
Poll tumble: Farage may be right to be wary about the polls. The Mail on Sunday writes that following the Reform UK leader’s comments taking a pop at Zelenskyy for the White House row with Trump, he has taken a dive in the polls and is less popular than Starmer and Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch.
QUICK-FIRE CATCH-UP
PALESTINE ACTIVISTS: The Sunday Times goes big on an investigation that found defense companies supplying the British military are being sabotaged by pro-Palestine activists. The Palestine Action group claimed responsibility for 356 actions since 2020, causing millions of pounds’ worth of damage.
Big Ben breach: On Saturday a pro-Gaza activist took just ten seconds to breach Parliament security as he climbed up Big Ben’s tower holding a Palestine flag. The Sun on Sunday writes it up, flagging that the incident raises huge security concerns.
SPIES: If you are a dweeb like Crunch and enjoyed the “SKANDAL!” documentary about Wirecard, then you may remember Jan Marsalek, the company’s boss who is on the run. Well, he’s been … very busy. The Telegraph has an excellent investigation on it all.
ANOTHER THING TO WORRY ABOUT: North Korea has released its first pictures of a nuclear-powered submarine under construction.
LOCKING UP YOBBOS: So-called yobs face being banned from town centers and jailed for up to two years under new policing laws that MPs will vote on this week. The Sunday Mirror splashes the plans.
MEDIA ROUND
Ayesha Hazarika with Times Radio Drive (Times Radio, 4 p.m. on Sunday): Labour MP Uma Kumaran … Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty … SNP MP Graham Leadbitter … the Mail on Sunday’s Anna Mikhailova.
Westminster Hour (Radio 4, 10 p.m. on Sunday): Tory MP Neil Shastri-Hurst … former Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe … the FT’s Lucy Fisher.
**What's the state of play of the delayed AR7s, nuclear energy's role in decarbonization, flood preparedness and the U.K.'s path to the looming 2030 targets? Find out with us on March 27 and join us for crucial debates for the green future of this country at the Energy & Climate UK Summit – apply for your pass now.**
WEEK AHEAD
MONDAY 10
UKRAINE: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Crown Prince MBS in Saudi Arabia.
BLOB: Civil service shake-up plan is unveiled in a Pat McFadden speech.
COMMONS: Education questions, policing bill second reading,
COMMITTEES: Cabinet Office officials are quizzed by the Public Accounts Committee on cyber resilience … space boffins speak to the Lords’ U.K. Engagement with Space Committee.
TECH: Science Secretary Peter Kyle addresses the techUK conference.
TUESDAY 11
UKRAINE: The U.S. and Ukraine are expected to start peace talks in Saudi Arabia. European defence top brass meet in Paris to discuss Ukraine.
COMMONS: Justice questions, employment rights bill amendments.
COMMITTEES: Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill … Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer speaks to the Foreign Affairs Committee on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
WEDNESDAY 12
UKRAINE: Defence Secretary John Healey meets defense chiefs in Paris.
TARIFF: U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs on steel come into force.
COMMONS: Wales questions, PMQs, employment rights bill amendments.
COMMITTEES: Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill … Republicans Overseas speak to the Lords’ International Relations and Defence Committee on U.K.-U.S. relations … Europe Minister Stephen Doughty is quizzed by the Lords’ International Agreements Committee.
THURSDAY 13
COMMONS: Business and trade questions, farming debate.
COMMITTEES: The health department’s top civil servants face the Public Accounts Committee for a session on their end-of-year report and accounts.
TERRORISM: Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Jonathan Hall publishes his review on the classification of terrorism.
FRIDAY 14
COMMONS: Private members’ bills.
ECONOMY: Latest GDP figures.
Writing Monday morning Playbook: Sam Blewett.
Thanks: To Matt Honeycombe-Foster for giving Crunch some Sunday sparkle.
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