Jason Stein, special adviser, political: A return to Team Truss in a strategy role for Stein, who worked as her spokesperson while she was in the Treasury under Theresa May. Split his time since then working for Amber Rudd … FGS … Jeremy Hunt’s first leadership campaign … Prince Andrew … Before joining the Liz4Leader campaign this summer. A former cabinet minister said policies announced over the summer recess had been “incredibly weak”. Thank god it’s ending: “I can’t exaggerate how many leaflets we have received from Liam Fox and Richard Graham,” one Labour staffer texted Playbook yesterday. “Richard literally had a staffer going to each office today to hand another leaflet.” Many of Johnson’s remaining senior advisers were formerly close to the levelling-up secretary, Michael Gove – they include “the two Henries”, Cook and Newman, and the deputy chief of staff, Lady Finn.

Be the first to learn the latest updates on pharmaceutical supply-chain and vaccination strategy and access long-reads that give you a deep-dive into trending Health Care topics. Request a trial of Pro Health Care now to learn how Pro makes your life as a Health Care policy professional easier.** IN LABOUR LAND Standing for Labour: Comedian-turned-politician Eddie Izzard has launched a bid to become a Labour MP in the safe seat of Sheffield Central, the Mirror reports. BEYOND THE M25 Over in No. 11: Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said he was working on finalizing the energy bills plan last night. Playbook welcomes him to Westminster’s night owls’ collective. Politics Live (BBC Two 11.15 a.m.): Tory MP Laura Farris … Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle … The Guardian’s Jessica Elgot … City AM editor Andy Silvester … Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Pat McFadden … Paymaster General Ed Argar. Former Foreign Office press secretary Simon McGee is an old hand around Whitehall. He has served as a communications adviser to four Cabinet ministers and head of media for three government departments. He also organised government communications around the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Mr McGee worked for Boris Johnson at the Foreign Office and was a leading figure behind a fly-on-the-wall BBC documentary about the department. Before entering Whitehall, McGee was a journalist for the Mail on Sunday, the Sunday Times and the Yorkshire Post. John Bew, foreign affairs

John Bew, foreign affairs

Also on Times Radio breakfast: Executive Director of the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute Seth Baum (8.45 a.m.). Adam Jones, political director of communications: The Team Truss veteran will take on the political half of the split-up director of comms role. Has been running comms for the PM since May 2020, while Truss was still trade secretary. Previously wrote speeches for HSBC.

I've calmed down a lot," says Simon, ready to go with the flow and to play one acoustic self-penned song, The Circle, for the video above. "I haven't been out 'for the evening' for years now. I go out for 'afternoons'," he adds with the air of a man who can't quite believe what he's just said. One of the ways Johnson could solve the issue of the staff exodus is to second a senior political strategist from an agency on a short-term basis until the ship can be stabilised – if that is possible. One of the problems in making hires so far is that it is risky for any senior political operator to quit a private sector job when Johnson’s future in No 10 is so insecure. Worth noting: To seasoned observers the nature of this reshuffle has been extraordinary — what was very nearly the full list of appointees made its way into the Sunday papers and the moves were firmed up before ministers were called in to see the PM. Gordon Brown’s former spin doctor Damian McBride points out that his first Cabinet in 2007 was appointed in a similar behind-closed-doors way — albeit without making it into the papers in advance.In one corner: Allies of IDS said he turned down an offer to join Truss’ Cabinet as Commons leader to stand for the chairmanship of the committee. Known for his hawkish stance toward Beijing, Duncan-Smith was sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party for accusing it of committing genocide against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang (the CCP claims this is “lies and disinformation”). Windfall claxon: In a sign of quite how far Truss has been willing to shift the dial already since the summer, the government announced last night it will cap the revenues of electricity companies. The business department calls the move a “temporary cost-plus revenue limit” for renewable and nuclear electricity generators. Labour’s Ed Miliband thinks the government “has finally accepted the principle of Labour’s call for a windfall tax on excess profits of electricity generators.” Chapeau to the FT, which first got wind of the move last week. Julia Hartley-Brewer at breakfast (talkTV): Education committee Chairman Robert Halfon (8.05 a.m.) … Defense committee Chairman Tobias Ellwood (9.05 a.m.).

HIGH NOON: Cabinet ministers will line up on the Commons front bench at lunchtime as Truss faces off against Labour leader Keir Starmer for her first session of PMQs. Given it’s all anyone normal cares about, Playbook would expect Starmer’s questions to focus on energy bills and the economy. STRIKING NEWS: As Truss gets down to work, she faces an immediate problem: Half the British workforce appears to be going on strike. POLITICO’s Graham Lanktree has the details of all the walkouts. LIZ’S LIEUTENANTS: It’s not just the Cabinet that’s had a proper clear-out — No. 10 has been wiped of Boris Johnson’s allies, with senior posts filled by predominantly young Truss loyalists. Playbook reporter Andrew McDonald has drawn up pen portraits of the appointees. CASHING IN: Dyer also has a fun piece based on some number-crunching of which ministerial jobs produce the best post-ministerial earnings. His analysis — which finds that the median parliamentary under-secretary earned more after leaving government than ministers and secretaries of state — is based on more than 170 jobs taken up by former ministers since 2010. Behind the scenes: Queues of waiting Cabinet ministers-to-be began to form in No. 10 as Truss paused her reshuffle to hold calls with foreign leaders — first Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and then U.S. President Joe Biden. Official No. 10 pictures went up late last night. The Times Lobby team has a fun read on how Truss’ first day panned out.The last time Ocean Colour Scene played in Birmingham it was an acoustic gig barely three months ago in the refined surroundings of Symphony Hall on Sunday, May 29 A fracas broke out and the gig had to be abandoned, with the band issuing a statement later saying "We would like to thank all our brilliant and loyal fans for making what should have been our favourite concert of the tour last night [May 29] in Birmingham. Shelf-life: Tory MPs, presumably hostile ones, have reportedly been sharing this piece in the Economist reflecting on Truss as the PM with the shortest grip on power in British political history. “Take away the ten days of mourning after the death of the queen, and she had seven days in control. That is the shelf-life of a lettuce,” the magazine writes.

Ms Porter ran the Truss leadership campaign alongside Mr Fullbrook. She first worked with Ms Truss as an adviser while she was at the Department for Environment, Foodand Rural Affairs. An alumna of the Institute of Economic Affairs, she has most recently run FGS Global, a crisis management firm. UKRAINE POLL: Sixteen out of 22 countries surveyed by Datapraxis and YouGov for the Open Society Foundations believe that peace in Ukraine can only be achieved with the withdrawal of Russian troops. In the U.K., 77 percent express this view. The vast findings are published in this report.Telling the story of the modern FCO meant sitting down with Waldman and his producer Chris O’Donnell and thrashing out potential story avenues. We debated overseas missions known for certain types of work, such as consular or conflict; the personal challenges faced by ambassadors, such as being based in a remote country or on a frontline; the relationship between ministers and officials; the FCO responding in times of crisis or natural disaster abroad; multilateral bodies; and topical foreign policy challenges. We also needed to set up a mini casting operation to establish who might be willing to, and capable of, taking part.