Labour’s rise

The UK Labour Party is moving to claim the political center [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up [here](. The populist right may be on the march across much of Europe, but in Britain signs are the moderate left is making a comeback. Keir Starmer’s reinvigorated Labour Party is leading Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives by double digits as the UK’s two largest parties get ready for what could be their last annual conferences before a general election. He’s pledged to plow billions of pounds into green industries, invest in health care and tax private schools. Yet much of the battle for Britain’s future is being waged on the political right, or at least the center-right. Starmer, as Alex Wickham and Kitty Donaldson write, has risen by [disavowing the policies]( of his more activist predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, and courting business interests frustrated by sluggish growth and lackluster investment. But Labour’s resurgence owes as much to a desire for change after 13 years of Tory rule, including the chaos of Brexit and the resignation of four prime ministers, as it does a reevaluation of the opposition. Socially conservative voters in places like the north of England, who supported Brexit and rallied behind Boris Johnson in 2019, are frustrated by the pace of the promised “levelling up” in less prosperous areas. At the same time, Sunak has been trying to recast himself as a “sensible populist,” as he views the success of farther-right parties in places like Italy. If Starmer does win the next election, he could be facing a much different Conservative Party across the dispatch box. Possible contenders to succeed Sunak are staking out a harder-line agenda that highlights divisive issues such transgender rights and immigration. Time will tell whether that’s a winning strategy as it appears to be elsewhere in Europe. — [Brendan Scott]( Starmer in Blackpool. Photographer: Christopher Thomond/Guardian/eyevine/Redux Global Must Reads With the US on track for a government shutdown, lawmakers in the House and the Senate [made incremental progress]( on rival bills that have little chance of passage in both chambers. President Joe Biden [said it was time]( for House Republicans “to start doing their job” and resolve the impasse before a Saturday night deadline. The billionaire chairman of beleaguered property developer China Evergrande Group has been placed under police control, sources say. The decision to put Hui Ka Yan under so-called residential surveillance is the latest sign that the saga at the world’s most indebted developer [has entered a new phase]( involving the criminal justice system as the property crisis remains a drag on the economy. Overseas sales of Turkish combat drones are booming after their effectiveness was shown in fighting against Russia’s army in Ukraine. Read this rare [interview]( with drone maker Selcuk Bayraktar, who says a new generation of pilotless aircraft will “revolutionize” Turkey’s military influence from the Black Sea and the Caucasus to the eastern Mediterranean and the shores of North Africa. Evo Morales ruled Bolivia for 14 years before losing a referendum on term limits and ultimately fleeing the country in ignominy. Back from exile, Morales is now seeking to emulate Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and [stage a comeback](, but a return to the presidency won’t be easy. Egypt is intensifying talks with the IMF to unblock a $3 billion rescue deal that’s held up over state asset sales and the way the country manages its overvalued currency. This week’s decision to hold presidential elections on Dec. 10-12 means another devaluation is now unlikely to happen in the coming weeks as [authorities walk the line]( between unlocking a second IMF tranche and minimizing the price pain for Egypt’s 105 million population. US Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan stopped short of explicitly calling for a breakup of Amazon.com, but said in an interview that her agency would ask a judge to halt the [company’s “illegal conduct”]( if its antitrust suit succeeds. [Click to watch](: “This case is ultimately about competition,” Khan tells Bloomberg’s Peggy Collins. Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said pressure on the Kremlin’s “military-industrial complex” needs to be ramped up further and indicated his forces [would continue to attack]( Russian targets. Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, offered to let the United Nations into Nagorno-Karabakh as the US pressed him over [the exodus of Armenians]( from the region that’s approaching half of the declared population. Washington Dispatch Tonight, seven Republican presidential candidates [will argue with one another]( over which one of them should replace Biden in the White House. But Donald Trump, the man they must overcome to get that chance, will be nowhere near the debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. Trump, who plans instead to address striking autoworkers in the battleground state of Michigan, continues to bask in an enormous lead in polls after four criminal indictments. Again defying what’s left of conventional political wisdom, he seems to have no intention of bothering with any of the debates. His rivals, however, remain undeterred. Frontrunners can stumble, and Trump could spend much of the campaign season in courtrooms, where he has little control over what happens. Just yesterday, a judge in New York ruled that he had exaggerated his net worth by billions of dollars a year on financial records submitted to banks and insurers. Yet his rivals have another opponent: the calendar. The Iowa caucuses will be held on Jan. 15. One thing to watch today: Weekly mortgage applications data from the Mortgage Bankers Association will be released. [Sign up for the Washington Edition newsletter]( for more from the US capital and watch Balance of Power at 5pm ET weekdays on Bloomberg Television. Chart of the Day As Olayemi Cardoso [takes full control]( of Nigeria’s central bank this week, his biggest challenges will be to restore credibility after eight years of mismanagement, boost confidence in Africa’s worst-performing currency and slow an inflation rate that’s among the highest on the continent. And Finally On a sunny day off the southern coast of Greece last week, two aging tankers nestled next to each other while one pumped oil to the other. As Alaric Nightingale reports, the reason it didn’t show on global satellite tracking systems wasn’t a glitch, but a [deliberate deception]( called spoofing that’s part of a sophisticated system to keep sanctioned Russian fuel flowing. Estimates vary, but at least half of Moscow’s oil is thought to flow out through shadow-fleet tankers. The Turba and Simba tankers in the Laconian Gulf, Greece, on Sept. 19. 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