Happy Betwixtmas to you and yours

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By ROSA PRINCE
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Good Wednesday morning. This is Rosa Prince.
HAPPY BETWIXTMAS: Happy day after Boxing Day but not quite New Year, otherwise known as “Betwixtmas.” Rishi Sunak is relaxing in his Yorkshire constituency home, Keir Starmer is putting his feet up, and the residents of SW1 are fanned out around the country for a few days of R&R wherever they call home. I’m not gonna lie to you, there’s not a lot happening. So let’s start by rounding up Boxing Day, then taking a canter through what little passes for news today, before indulging ourselves in a Playbook quiz.
HOW SW1 SPENT BOXING DAY: Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves baked a Christmas cake for sister Ellie Reeves … Foreign affairs committee Chair Alicia Kearns’ family donned matching Grinch PJs … Tory MP Duncan Baker braved the Cromer Pier Boxing Day dip … Alba’s Neale Hanvey had haggis for tea … Labour’s Rupa Huq spotted Dr Who DVDs at Ealing shopping center … Siobhan McDonagh went to the south London derby and met a Womble… Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting watched Vera …
And more: Tory peer Nick Herbert went to the Thurlow Hounds’ Boxing Day meet … Alison Thewliss watched North by Northwest while her SNP colleague Chris Law enjoyed Brief Encounter … former Lib Dem Leader Tim Farron went to see Kendal Town … Kevan Jones snapped his dog Biff eyeing the leftover turkey … Stella Creasy dragged her kids round a Christmas trail … Albert Owen took his dog Charlie for a walk … and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt spent the day on the blower to Thames Water. 
BACK TO THE POLITICS: As the Tories enter 2024 on the hunt for policies that will turn their fortunes around, ministers are said to be mulling the end of inheritance tax — reports the Telegraph — and help for first time buyers, says the Times, which also carries a poll with both good and bad news for Rishi Sunak.
Inheriting the earth: Fresh from turning the taps back on, Jeremy Hunt is said to be considering axing inheritance tax in this spring’s budget, in a move which would go some way to soothing feverish Tory backbenchers. The Tele’s Ben Riley-Smith says No. 10 is also looking at increasing the tax threshold and reducing the basic tax rate. But IHT is said by party insiders to be the preferred option, as the plan least likely to be matched by Labour, potentially opening a “tax dividing line” going into the election. 
Remember: Hunt and Sunak kicked the wheels of an IHT cut pretty hard ahead of the Autumn Statement, but ruled it out on the grounds that so few people actually pay it — only around 4 percent of estates. But as Numbers 10 and 11 seek a game-changer offer, the view is that the move would be popular with aspirational Tory voters.
Go for it: The Telegraph’s leader says the chancellor should plump for all three tax cuts.
No crib for a bed: The Conservatives will go into the election with a concrete promise of help for first-time home buyers, Michael Gove tells the Times’ Oliver Wright. Among the options being considered are incentives for longer-term fixed mortgages and the return of the help to buy scheme. 
Bad news all round: Both would-be vote-winning policies should be considered in the context of the Times’ latest poll showing only 6 percent think the Conservatives have done a good job in government while half say they would never vote Tory in any circumstances.
But but but: Keir Starmer can’t relax; the same poll shows support for Labour is soft, with 43 percent saying the party is unfit for office. Almost one in five voters say they are unsure whom to vote for, with just 15 percent saying they are certain to choose Labour. In better news for Starmer, Labour leads the Conservatives in every policy area, including traditional Tory strengths such as law and order and immigration.
HOW WESTMINSTER BECAME PESTMINSTER: If it felt as if Westminster was rocked by one scandal after another in 2023, that’s because, well, it was. In a piece for POLITICO, my colleague Esther Webber explores why that might be — and what’s being done about it.
HOUSEKEEPING NOTE: No one from the government or opposition will be on the broadcast round this morning — and, events depending, there’s no minister due on the airwaves until after the new year. There is one Lobby briefing this week, the last of 2023, at 11 a.m. today.
IT’S QUIIIIIIZ TIME: Usually Betwixtmas brings little more in the way of intellectual challenge than the pressing problem of whether to consume a third full Christmas dinner in a row, or make the switch to turkey and roastie sangers. Not this year. Thanks to our friends at the History of Parliament Trust, Playbook invites you to dig deep into your knowledge of political history to play … MP or not an MP.
It’s easy: All you have to do is go through the list of famous — or infamous — historical characters and decide if they were ever a member of parliament (either Commons or Lords.) Then click through the link to reveal the answer. Got it? OK, let’s go.
Parliamentarian or not #1: Geoffrey Chaucer (1340s — 1400), author of “The Canterbury Tales.”
Parliamentarian or not #2: Richard (Dick) Whittington (1354 — 1423), lord mayor of London and pantomime star.
Parliamentarian or not #3: Thomas More (1478 — 1535), adviser to Henry VIII turned Catholic saint.
Parliamentarian or not #4: Francis Drake (1540 — 1596), privateer, admiral and circumnavigator.
Parliamentarian or not #5: Christopher Marlowe (1564 — 1593), playwright and poet.
Parliamentarian or not #6: Thomas Fairfax (1612 — 1671), civil war commander in chief.
Parliamentarian or not #7: Isaac Newton (1642/3 — 1726/7), physicist, philosopher and mathematician.
Parliamentarian or not #8: George Stephenson (1781 — 1848), engineer known as the “Father of railways.”
Parliamentarian or not #9: William Henry Fox Talbot (1800 — 1877), photography pioneer.
Parliamentarian or not #10: Charles Dickens (1812 — 1870), author and social critic.
Parliamentarian or not #11: Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847 — 1929), suffrage campaigner.
Parliamentarian or not #12: Ernest Shackleton (1874 — 1922), polar explorer.
Parliamentarian or not #13: Christabel Pankhurst (1880 — 1958), suffragette.
Parliamentarian or not #14: Megan Lloyd George (1902 — 1966), campaigner for Welsh rights.
Parliamentarian or not #15: Constance Markievicz (1868 — 1927), Irish Nationalist campaigner and suffragist.
Harder than it looks, right? Here’s the link again to the answers, and you’ll also find a few fun facts about each of our characters there too. And if the above has whet your appetite for political quizzes and you haven’t already, check out my Playbook colleague Dan Bloom’s fiendishly difficult Westminster pub quiz from a couple of days ago.
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PARLIAMENT: The Commons is out till January 8; Lords return January 10.
STICKY FINGERS: The Lib Dems have scored a veritable Christmas hit with figures showing more than 200,000 incidents of shoplifting went unresolved last year in what the party describes as a “growing crime epidemic.” The “shocking” Home Office stat is up nearly a third on last year. Home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said:“Far too many people no longer feel safe in their own communities and town centers because this government has decimated community policing.” The Express and Mirror both splash on the stats.
Disheartened: Craig Beaumont of the Federation of Small Businesses said shops could not be left to “fend for themselves,” and called police and crime commissioners to make shoplifting a priority. He added: “It’s disheartening to see our under pressure local small and independent businesses lose their hard earned money because crimes are overlooked by the authorities.”
What else the Lib Dems want to talk about: The party is also releasing stats this morning showing patients and visitors spent £146 million in hospital car parking fees last year, up 50 percent on the year before. They described the payments as a “tax on caring.” Health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “The message to the public couldn’t be clearer, voting Conservative is bad for your wallet and bad for your health.”
BY ANY OTHER NAME: Former NatWest Chair Alison Rose’s name will be removed from the government’s review of female entrepreneurship following her defenestration in the wake of the Nigel Farage debanking scandal. More in the Telegraph.
NOT SO CLEVER: James Cleverly’s Christmas wish that we would all forget about his spiking gag gaffe has been punctured by True and Fair Party leader Gina Miller, who called on him to be sacked. Miller tweeted she was “often drugged” during a past abusive relationship, saying it was “beyond appalling” a home secretary would make such a joke. The Mirror has a write-up.
LOOK AWAY, BORIS: In news that will take the shine off ERG MPs’ Christmas, the government admitted in a press release slipped out on Boxing Day that it will not, after all, take advantage of the Brexit dividend to bring back pounds and ounces to Britain’s shops. 
Weighty problem: Boris Johnson launched a consultation into the return of imperial measures as a jolly wheeze to mark last year’s Platinum Jubilee — which has now concluded that the “appetite was not there” to dump metric measures. Former Business Secretary and ERG-er Jacob Rees-Mogg weighed in (ahem) in the Times: “It is hard to see why this harmless little measure is not being implemented especially as our largest trading partner, the United States, still uses imperial units. It is typical of the rather bureaucratic and dull approach this government likes to take.”
But but but: From today you will however be able to buy your Twixtmas tipple of wine by the good old honest English pint, with vintners free to sell prepackaged still and sparkling vino in 568ml pint measures. Enterprise Minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “Our exit from the EU was all about moments just like this, where we can seize new opportunities and provide a real boost to our great British wineries and further growing the economy.” 
Morocco calling: Morocco’s Ambassador to the U.K. Hakim Hajoui tells the Express his country could be the “gateway” to Africa for a post-Brexit Britain, with Boris Johnson said to be behind growing links between the two nations.
EXPOSED: The U.K. has no plans to deal with a range of threats including a rogue missile strike or the sabotage of underwater critical infrastructure, Shadow Defense Secretary John Healey warns in an article for the Times. He adds that a Labour government would carry out an “under the hood” strategic defense and security review in its first year in office. 
SLOW PROCESS: Rwanda is processing fewer than 100 asylum applications a year, according to data compiled by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The IPPR’s Marley Morris told the Times the figures showed the government’s Rwanda deportation scheme was “fanciful.” 
Talking of which: Tory Chair Richard Holden has an article in the Express pouring scorn on Labour’s immigration plans, following reports that Keir Starmer is considering a form of off-shore processing, describing the apparent change of heart as “transparent political game playing.”
BROKEN BRITAIN: The number of victims waiting more than two years for their court case to be heard has doubled since 2021, the Sun’s Noa Hoffman reports.
THE END OF WHATSAPP? The former head of GCHQ David Omand called for an end to government by WhatsApp, in evidence to an inquiry into strategic thinking ordered by the liaison committee. The Guardian’s Rowena Mason has the story.
TIRED OF WAITING: Nearly two in five cancer patients are waiting for at least two months to begin treatment, with the number not beginning treatment within the NHS’s 62-day target almost trebling since 2015, Hugo Gye in the i reports.
THE YEAR THAT WAS: POLITICO has released our list of the 20 most-read stories of 2023. The two wars on Europe’s doorstep, the Elon Musk show, Beijing’s Stalinist purge — and a pair of stolen sunglasses — all caught our readers’ attention.
HOW RUDE: David Trimble was “extraordinarily” rude to Tony Blair during the Good Friday Agreement negotiations, according to a briefing paper written by an Irish civil servant and newly released by Ireland’s national archives — the Guardian has more.
SWEDISH DELIGHT: Turkey’s parliament gave approval for Sweden to join NATO, bringing the Scandinavian nation a step closer to joining the military alliance. My POLITICO colleague Louise Guillot has more. 
UKRAINE UPDATE: The Russian warship destroyed in a surprise Ukrainian attack was blown up by a British missile — more from the Times. 
Now read this: In the first year of the war, Russia and Ukraine regularly exchanged prisoners of war. But in the second, Moscow has been using POWs as tools in a political game with Kyiv, seeking to inflame tensions in Ukrainian society, reports POLITICO’s Veronika Melkozerova.
GAZA UPDATE: The Israeli military has moved into central Gaza, according to satellite photographs obtained by the New York Times.
STRIKING OUT: The U.S. attacked the Iranian-backed militant group Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, hours after Americans were injured in a drone strike on a U.S. airbase, in a move described by the Iraqi government as a “clear hostile act.” Here’s the BBC’s write-up.
IN THE USA: Donald Trump’s lead over Joe Biden extended to 4 points, in the latest Daily Mail poll. The Mail also reports that Biden is off today for a week’s Caribbean holiday.
IN NORTH KOREA: Leader Kim Jong Un convened a gathering of his central ruling party, state media reported Wednesday night. Reuters has more.
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POLITICO UK: How Westminster became Pestminster.
Daily Express: End scandal of rip off hospital parking charges.
Daily Mail: Dozens of under-5s referred to NHS gender service.
Daily Mirror: NHS parking scandal gets worse.
Daily Star: Five New Year storms.
Financial Times: Banks axe 60,000 jobs as Wall Street reels from deal drought and crunched fees.
The i: Sunak plots election trap for Starmer on spending.
The Daily Telegraph: No 10 plans to end IHT ahead of election.
The Guardian: Ex GCHQ chief warns ministers over ‘government by WhatsApp.’
The Sun: Cashback with a bang.
The Times: Tories to woo first time buyers.
WESTMINSTER WEATHER: Windy with light rain, as Storm Gerrit rolls in. High of 12C.
LONG READ HEAVEN: Betwixtmas is the perfect time to catch up on all those long reads everyone was talking about and which you pretended to have plowed through but secretly put on the backburner while you spent your commute doomscrolling X. Here’s Playbook’s baker’s dozen of the best (with lots of help from ace Playbook reporter Noah Keate). 
The year in long reads: In February, Katy Balls in the Spectator asked: “After Sturgeon: what’s the future for Scotland — and the Union?” … My POLITICO colleague Graham Lanktree’s account of the history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, “The mystery of King Charles’ missing diamond,” was a gem in May … Also in May, the FT ran Jennifer Williams’ investigation into Teeside Mayor Ben Houchen’s connections to a controversial property deal “Trouble in Teesside: a Tory rising star and a divisive property deal” … And in the same month the Atlantic’s Helen Lewis stared into the soul of the Tory right at the National Conservatism Conference to explain “Why Conservatives feel like losers” … 
And breathe: CNN boss Chris Licht’s hubris in allowing the Atlantic’s Tim Alberta to follow his disastrous first year in charge heralded his downfall days later; the piece, “Inside the Meltdown at CNN,” was published in June … Also in June, we had Harry Lambert’s discussion in the New Statesman of the dangers and opportunities posed by AI, “Is AI a danger to humanity or our salvation?” … The Times’ Alice Thomson conducted a deeply moving interview with Peter Kyle in September: “Peter Kyle: It was 5am. A woman said, ‘Your partner is dead’ ” … 
Still more: Tom McTague wrote a masterful investigation/analysis for Unherd on Tony Blair and his Institute for Global Change, “Inside Tony Blair Inc.” in August … In the i in October, Rob Hastings explored the criminal justice system: “Britain’s crumbling prisons are denying victims justice — but the system can be fixed” … For POLITICO, someone called Rosa Prince peered into Suella Braverman’s psyche: “Suella Braverman is the most hated woman in British politics … and far nicer than you think” in November …
Final stretch: Also in November, we had Alex Bilmes’ long profile and interview with Keir Starmer for Esquire, “Keir Starmer’s Waiting Game,” … the Economist’s (unbylined) longread arguing: “Lawmaking in Britain is becoming worse” … And Jonathan Freedland spoke to those caught up in the Israel-Gaza conflict for the Guardian: “‘It’s not yet post-traumatic stress disorder … we’re still in it’: Israel, a nation at war.”
NOW WATCH: There are some cracking Betwixtmas movies on telly today. Check out: 42nd Street (Sky Arts 10.45 a.m.) Dambusters (Channel 5 1.10 p.m.) … The Longest Day (ITV 4 3.30 p.m.) … Ghostbusters (BBC1 3.50 p.m.) … Catch Me If You Can (Channel 4.10 p.m.) … Meet the Fockers (Channel 5 10.25 p.m.)
WRITING PLAYBOOK THURSDAY MORNING: Eleni Courea.
BIRTHDAYS: Cabinet Secretary Simon Case … Colchester MP Will Quince … Tory peer William Astor … Mayor of Leicester Peter Soulsby … Tory peer Brian Griffiths … Labour peer Irene Adams … Tory peer Jeffrey Sterling … Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee … Sky News political correspondent Liz Bates … Sky News Digital Politics Assistant Editor Alan McGuinness … Public First Director Vinous Ali … POLITICO’s Tim Ball and Nicholas Vinocur … POLITICO advisory board member Shéhérazade Semsar de Boisséson.
PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT: My editor Zoya Sheftalovich, reporter Noah Keate and producer Seb Starcevic.
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