THE PM’s wife goes for a more casual look as she arrives for the Labour conference yesterday.

Lady Victoria Starmer blended in with other attendees in Liverpool with a white tee, leather-look coat, and tracksuit bottoms.

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It was a far cry from the glamorous designer gowns given to her by party donor Lord Waheed Alli before a backlash made her vow to turn such gifts away.

Dubbed the “Glastonbury for left-wing nerds”, Labour conference looks cover a wide range of styles.

While ministers and aspiring MPs opt for suited and booted, many party members keep it casual in jeans, trainers and the odd Che Guevara t-shirt.

Last week, The Sun reported on how David Lammy defended the PM’s wife.

Victoria accepted dresses from a Labour bankroller because taxpayers won’t cough up for her clothes, claimed the Foreign Secretary.

Lammy insisted the PM’s wife was right to be given pretty dresses by a millionaire donor because the couple needs to “look their best” for the public.

Sir Keir had been found to have breached Commons sleaze rules by failing to declare that Lord Waheed Alli, a Labour peer, paid for a personal shopper and outfits for Lady Victoria.

The millionaire had also given the PM £18,685 worth of work clothes and high-end glasses, which were declared in line with Commons rules.

Mr Lammy told the BBC: “The truth is that successive prime ministers, unless you’re a billionaire like the last one, do rely on donations, political donations, so they can look their best, both in the hope of representing the country, if you’re in the Opposition, or indeed as prime minister.”

Mr Lammy told the BBC that while the Starmer’s “are not broke”, other world leaders receive lavish outfit budgets that the PM can’t access.

The Foreign Secretary incorrectly claimed that in the US the President receives generous taxpayer funding for snazzy suits.

But while presidents do receive the equivalent of £38,100 in expenses allowance, there is no specific clothing budget.

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La Valencia Hotel

Cherished among locals and visitors alike, San Diego Historic Landmark and Preferred Hotels & Resorts member, La Valencia has embodied coastal California charm since it opened in 1926. Originally named Los Apartmentos de Sevilla, the hotel was designed in a Spanish Colonial Revival style – its pink façade inspired by the owners’ vacation to Waikiki Beach in the 1950s. Famed for its 11-story Spanish-tiled tower, Mediterranean-style architecture, and stunning Pacific Ocean and La Jolla Cove views, “The Pink Lady” has served as a glamorous getaway for Hollywood’s elite, hosting many notable guests over the decades, from Ginger Rogers to John Lennon. Nods to the hotel’s rich history are still evident across the property, including beautiful courtyards and an original tile medallion of the Pink Lady of La Valencia in its ocean-facing garden. Throw in Les Clefs d’Or Concierge Services and award-winning California coastal cuisine and it’s easy to see why this “grand dame” remains such an iconic place to stay in Southern California.

The Swimming Pool

La Valencia’s swimming pool is nothing short of breathtaking. Overlooking the La Jolla Shoreline and framed by palm trees and tropical plants, it’s the perfect place to while away an afternoon or entire day on one of the plush sun loungers, which are interspersed with side tables and wide sun umbrellas, enjoying food and beverage service (think ahi poke nachos, Mediterranean flatbread, and seared local bluefin tuna salad, plus Frosé All Day cocktails) from the poolside cabana bar. COOLA sun care products are available, and complimentary Wi-Fi can keep you connected if you need to WFP (‘Work From Pool’). There’s a private hot tub area, too, but much like the rest of the hotel, the entire terrace offers epic Pacific Ocean views. 

Seasonal Guest Experiences

There might be no prettier place to land on yoga mats and salute the sun than La Valencia’s ocean-view El Jardin where the hotel will be hosting an hour-long Vinyasa yoga class every Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. through September 30. Complimentary for hotel guests and $25 for a local drop-in rate, it’s led by Dr. Austin Shutler with mats, towels and bottled water all provided. Mark calendars for Breast Cancer Awareness Month programs in October, which include the hotel’s third annual Pink Tea Series and this year’s Poolside Movie, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ (October 12), with a portion of proceeds from both going to benefit Susan G. Komen San Diego.

New Chef, New Menus

La Valencia Hotel recently appointed executive chef Alex Pailles to redefine the dining experience across its three restaurants: the Mediterranean Room, Med Patio, and glamorous La Sala lobby bar. After a nearly decade-long tenure at The Marine Room, Pailles also brings a wealth of fine dining experience from his time at the Michelin-starred Xerta Restaurant in Barcelona to the fore. Drawing on his Mexican heritage, Pailles has created complex flavor journeys using hyper-local ingredients across dishes, including sweetwater prawns with aroz bomba and a tataki tuna crudo with cactus fruit aguachile, both of which can be found on the Mediterranean Room menu. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with brunch served on weekends, score a table on The Med’s Ocean View Terrace for the prettiest dining backdrop in La Jolla. But for a post-yoga breakfast or early evening glass of Champagne swing by La Sala Lounge and nab a window seat for cinematic views.

The Whaling Bar

 La Valencia Hotel fixture since 1949, historic lounge the Whaling Bar reopened in February after a $1.5 million renovation led by the SDCM Restaurant Group (of Kettner Exchange in Little Italy and standout speakeasies Grass Skirt and Captain’s Quarters). A 20-foot mural and original centerpiece, ‘Whale’s Last Stand,’ by Wing Howard anchors the intimate space, whose Moroccan-style interior and intimate ambiance are reminiscent of a 1940s cocktail lounge. Open daily from 11am to 11:30pm, menus have been created with nods to the original Whaling Bar and feature ‘Martini Hour’ nightcap cocktails like The Whaler (composed with cognac, coffee liqueur and homemade ice cream) alongside lunch and dinner dishes conceived by executive chef Brian Redzikowski that span Osetra Caviar with buckwheat pancakes, a ‘dip’ lobster roll, and Caesar ‘Twinkie’ salad.

Tempting Getaway Packages

When staying three nights or longer, save up to 30 percent off La Valencia’s historic suites with the How Suite It Is package. Located in the original Sevilla wing, the Sunset and Riviera Suites feature ocean-view king bedrooms and living rooms with a sleeper sofa, while the Pacific Suite boasts superb ocean views from its top floor perch on the private Cabrillo Wing along with a primary bedroom, separate living area, and powder room decked out with Art Deco décor. Although August might be National Dog Month, La Valencia’s Pampered Pooches package features everything your pup needs to feel at home year-round. Expect a plush dog bed and dog bowls placed in the room for your stay, welcome treats, plus a keepsake La Valencia monogram bandana and pink La Valencia tennis ball. A daily $25 daily credit for the dog menu, which features gourmet dishes like “steak & eggs” and “chicken & veggies,” and a nightly pet fee waived for up to two dogs, is also included. For more information, visit www.lavalencia.com.

‘Rugby has got to be better than this’

SALFORD STADIUM — When Danny Care and Marcus Smith were warming up as Harlequins’ substitutes during half-time of their away match at Sale on Sunday, and the scoreline was a stultifying 9-8 to the Sharks, you could huddle into your jacket against the swirling drizzle and confidently predict an opening up of the game to come. Wrong.

It was 12-11 to Sale by the end, and all the illustrious Care and Smith did when they came on was kick the ball like everyone else and watch the knock-ons and breakdown penalties pile up.

One mitigating explanation for England stars like Smith is they had either played 40 minutes or none at all in pre-season.

And then there was the weather… although it is not impossible to produce great stuff in the sloshing wet, and the Salford Stadium was no mudbath.

On the day of the autumn equinox, Sale’s director of rugby Alex Sanderson said if he had his time again he would favour summer rugby. “We’ve got to be better, the sport’s got to be better,” said Sanderson, with the crowd of 7,754 in mind. “A gritty, hard-fought win, with ‘win’ being the operative word. A slugfest stalemate. A bit scratchy, a bit tentative.”

The interesting bit for Quins followers is whether it was overall a step forward, using a tighter approach at a venue where they rarely win. They will surely be more daring at home to Newcastle next Saturday.

Curry’s unfulfilling comeback

It is becoming tempting to watch Tom Curry’s every appearance through your fingers, the same way Manu Tuilagi’s horror injury rate became a matter of trepidation on his behalf each time he played.

Curry lasted only 28 minutes of his first club start for Sale since the 2022-23 season – the England flanker featured in the World Cup a year ago, was then told he may have to retire due to a chronic hip injury, and eventually returned for a half-hour substitute appearance in Sale’s losing Premiership semi-final at Bath in June, followed by three more of the same on England’s summer tour.

On Sunday, Sanderson speculated Curry’s timing in making a tackle might have been naturally awry as his head struck Harlequins centre Lennox Anwanyu’s hip in the seventh minute. Curry flopped face-first to the floor – an action the independent match doctor must have assessed closely in deciding whether he could carry on – but after a 12-minute break Curry re-took the field.

At half-time Sale decided to withdraw him permanently. The 26-year-old Curry, who has taken a battering from head to toe in an excellent career, was smiling in the winning team huddle at the end, alongside his twin brother Ben.

But it was an unfulfilling comeback, even if Sanderson was predicting more England caps in November if Curry can play in three of the next four Sale matches. “He is surpassing all expectations, post-surgery. We just want to be really positive and believe the best-case scenario; the better truth.”

Saracens’ new wing stars

Saracens’ wings Rotimi Segun and Tobias Elliott took up where the retired Alex Lewington and Sean Maitland left off, with tries in an emphatic away win to disappointing Gloucester.

The departures of Owen Farrell and the Vunipola brothers from Sarries have been more widely noted, and i understands Saracens’ bosses are working to extend the contracts of Mark McCall and the other coaches to 2028, as part of the next phase of succession planning.

But the set-piece was working all right at Kingsholm to bring two tries for Andy Onyeama-Christie. When combined with the Scotland flanker’s strong pre-season showing, he is set to corner increased media coverage and not just because he has let it be known he would prefer us to use his full surname.

Leicester’s new look… and familiar Newcastle

Leicester scrum-half Ben Youngs said of the late, late win at Exeter: “It had Cheika’s personality in a nutshell, which is plenty of fight.” And Olly Cracknell played in the Leicester back row, despite the recent death of his father. “He called me up and said that his family wanted him to play, that that’s what his dad would have wanted,” new Tigers head coach Cheika said.

For last season’s Premiership bottom-feeders Newcastle Falcons there was a familiar feeling in the 24-3 home loss to Bristol: plenty of pressure, and by choosing to play for line-outs over kicks at goal, they had four good positions in the Bristol 22 in the opening quarter or so, but no points scored as they either dropped the ball or were snuffed out by tackles from Ellis Genge and co.

The Bristol boss Pat Lam thinks his Newcastle counterpart is onto something. “You can see what Steve Diamond is trying to do here,” Lam said. But three points in a home match is grim, and while Genge melted Callum Chick from close range with one memorable hit, it helps when the opposition are obvious in what they’re going to do.

England’s scrum-half battle hots up

Not all the runners and riders in the England scrum-half stakes were saddled up – there was no place for the injured Alex Mitchell for Northampton in their opening loss at Bath.

So Ben Spencer took the chance to nose ahead in the race to start against New Zealand in November. Spencer amazingly has just five Test caps for England, but he showed all his strengths in front of watching head coach Steve Borthwick at The Rec, which contrary to some tropes, extend way beyond hoofing the ball downfield.

Spencer scored a smart try through a gap left by Northampton around a maul he said he’d spotted in pre-season – some good research there, considering Saints played just twice, with a variety of players, against Leinster and Bedford.

Mitchell has been superb for the last couple of seasons and will want to hit the ground running when he makes his delayed debut. As it stands, there would be nothing wrong with Spencer starting for England and Mitchell on the bench, with Danny Care out of the picture, and Harry Randall and Gus Warr among those in reserve – though not Sale’s Raffi Quirke, sadly, as he is injured again.

Spencer is a mucker-inner, happy to lay hands on his forwards to make a point, and always alert to the percentage run-pass-kick option.

Ollie Lawrence’s crucial second-half try for Bath had some fans on X grumbling about the officials missing an offside but referee Luke Pearce confirmed to i, after a post-match review, that all had been fine, due to a Northampton knock-on.

Northampton’s attack coach Sam Vesty bemoaned his team being slow to grasp the new version of the so-called “Dupont law”, saying “it was talked about all through pre-season and we have been penalised twice which is pretty dumb”.

Players can no longer loiter with intent under a high ball, as the new interpretation demands a retreat before they can approach the receiving team. The hunch is Saints and others will quickly adjust, after a painful midweek review.

Wallabies in decline… and a famous win for Los Pumas

Amid calls in some quarters for Australia to be stripped of next year’s Lions tour and send it to South Africa instead, the Wallabies showed grit in holding the All Blacks to a 31-28 scoreline in the latest round of The Rugby Championship in Sydney.

But the Australians’ low ebb was emphasised as Fiji beat Eddie Jones’s Japan 41-17 in Hanazono to win the Pacific Nations Cup and climb above the Wallabies at ninth in the men’s world rankings.

And meanwhile Argentina beat South Africa 29-28, so the Pumas have now beaten the Springboks, All Blacks and Wallabies in the same Rugby Championship, and there are pundits who would like to see Argentina included as a future Lions destination.

The truth much more often is retrenchment over expansion – see the new “old style” tours agreed between South Africa and New Zealand from 2026, knackering the Rugby Championship every two years.

Nail-biters in the URC

A weekend of close scorelines in the URC, with only one margin of more than two points, as Cardiff, Dragons, Leinster, Munster and Ulster made winning starts, and Scarlets drew away to Treviso.

ITV’s highlights overhaul

Topsy Ojo and David Flatman bade an online farewell to fans of the ITV Premiership highlights show on Sunday, with the broadcaster now showing an hour-long show Gallagher Premiership Unleashed, said to be putting TikTok stars front and centre, instead of “Flats and Topsy”’s wit and wisdom from playing for England.

The first airing is from 11.45am on Wednesday, so aimed at students and home birds, maybe, although of course no TV programme is pegged to a time, in reality, and the nod is to trying to find a new audience. “It was a great run, so thank you @premrugby for the memories and the sandwiches,” Flatman tweeted. “Now it’s onwards with the kings and queens of @rugbyontnt – chuffed to be on the team x.”

One event to start: I’m in New York this week and I hope to see lots of you on Wednesday and Thursday at our Future of Asset Management North America event at etc.venues 360 Madison. We have a great line-up of speakers, including Salim Ramji, the new CEO of Vanguard, Neuberger Berman’s George Walker, and Franklin Templeton’s Jenny Johnson. Register here and use the code AMNL10 for a 10 per cent discount.

And one scoop: Sandra Robertson, who has run Oxford university’s £6.5bn endowment fund since it was founded almost two decades ago, is stepping back as chief investment officer of Oxford University Endowment Management and will be replaced by deputy-CIO Neamul Mohsin.

In today’s newsletter:

• Steve Cohen steps back from trading at hedge fund Point72

• BlackRock and Microsoft plan $30bn fund to invest in infrastructure

• Nuclear fuel prices surge as west rues shortage of conversion facilities

How Steven Cohen ran a hedge fund like a baseball team

Steve Cohen used to charter a yacht in the Mediterranean with friend and art dealer Larry Gagosian. But he never really switched off. 

“We’d be in the middle of a wonderful dinner in Italy and he’d have to race back to the boat to trade,” said Gagosian, recalling how the hedge fund billionaire would have screens installed below deck to create a de facto trading floor. 

“I said, Steve, I love you, and I love taking trips with you, but it’s not the most relaxing.” 

However, after an investment career spanning almost half a century, Cohen, 68, announced last week he was stepping back from trading at Point72, the hedge fund he set up a decade ago, to focus on running the firm. 

Point72 rose from the ashes of an insider trading scandal at its predecessor SAC Capital that cost $1.8bn to settle — the largest ever for insider trading — with Cohen subsequently barred for two years from managing external investors’ money. 

In this profile, Costas Mourselas and I explore one of the hedge fund industry’s great comeback stories, from the cut and thrust atmosphere at SAC, where the returns seemed to good to be true (they were) to the Point72 of today, a business employing 2,800 people and running over $35bn in assets. 

“Steve treated the business like a baseball team — if your shortstop is not performing then you trade him for someone else,” says one person who worked with him at SAC. “There’s no personal relationship, it’s just business.” 

Cohen is as known for his ownership of the New York Mets and his world-renowned art collection as he is for his trading prowess. The collection is worth more than $1bn and includes works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Alberto Giacometti. What distinguishes Cohen as a collector, says Gagoisan, is that he “is just as interested in seeing a new artist as going after a trophy. That’s not always the case.”

For Gagosian, his friend’s shift from player to coach may mean their holidays can resume. “We stopped chartering boats together,” he said. “Maybe now we’ll do it again.”

Read our full story here. And don’t miss this 2006 New Yorker article on the “$40mn-elbow”, one of the more bonkers tales I’ve ever heard. Casino magnate Steve Wynn had agreed to sell Le Rêve,” Picasso’s 1932 portrait of his mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter, to Cohen and had worked out a deal. But as Wynn was showing the painting to friends the night before the exchange, he accidentally put his elbow through it . . . 

BlackRock and Microsoft plan $30bn fund to invest in AI infrastructure

Energy is emerging as one of the biggest barriers for companies looking to exploit the recent advances in artificial intelligence, writes Brooke Masters in New York. The biggest digital companies are already warning of severe capacity bottlenecks in coming years because AI computing power requires far more energy than previous technological innovations.

BlackRock announced last week that it is joining forces with Microsoft and MGX, the Abu Dhabi-backed investment company, to address that problem with one of the biggest investment vehicles ever raised on Wall Street. The three groups will serve as general partners on the Global AI Investment Partnership, which will invest in data centres and the energy infrastructure needed to support them.

The partnership seeks to raise up to $30bn in equity investments and leverage to support up to an additional $70bn in debt financing. Nvidia, the fast-growing chipmaker, will advise on AI factory design and integration.

The fund will be managed by Global Infrastructure Partners and marks its first big fund since the private infrastructure investment group agreed to be acquired by BlackRock for $12.5bn earlier this year. That deal is due to close next month. 

“The country and the world are going to need more capital investment to accelerate the development of the AI infrastructure needed,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, told Brooke. “This kind of effort is an important step.” 

The fund marks the latest vehicle created by a large asset manager to meet the ever-growing demand for energy to power generative AI and cloud computing. Earlier this year Microsoft agreed to back $10bn in renewable electricity projects built by Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management. 

“Mobilising private capital to build AI infrastructure like data centres and power will unlock a multitrillion-dollar long-term investment opportunity,” says Larry Fink, BlackRock chief executive.

Nuclear fuel prices surge

The price of fuel for nuclear reactors has surged much faster than that of raw uranium since the start of 2022, in a sign of the bottlenecks that have built up in the west following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, writes Harry Dempsey in London.

Enriched uranium has more than tripled in price to $176 per separative work unit — the standard measure of the effort required to separate isotopes of uranium — since the start of 2022, according to UxC, a data provider.

Demand for uranium has been driven by a revival in atomic power in recent years. However, Russia plays a significant role in the multi-stage process of turning mined uranium into the fuel for a nuclear reactor. This includes converting yellowcake — uranium concentrate — into uranium hexafluoride gas, enriching it to increase the concentration of the type of uranium used for fission, and then turning the enriched uranium into pellets that go into reactors.

Uranium hexafluoride has jumped fourfold in price to $68 per kilogramme in the same period, indicating that conversion is the biggest bottleneck in the nuclear fuel supply chain, analysts said. In contrast, uranium ore has only doubled in price.

“The conversion and enrichment prices are reflecting a much bigger supply squeeze due to the Russia-Ukraine war and other factors,” said Jonathan Hinze, chief executive of UxC.

“Uranium alone does not tell the whole story when it comes to price impacts in the nuclear fuel supply chain.”

Five unmissable stories this week

Steven Eisman, best known for betting on the collapse of the US housing market, has been put on indefinite leave of absence by his employer Neuberger Berman after saying he was “celebrating” the destruction of Gaza.

Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson has brushed aside Wall Street worries that Donald Trump’s plans to raise tariffs will harm the economy, calling for the US to “decouple” from China.

Vanguard gave investors in a handful of its funds the chance to vote their shares last year, part of a revolutionary push to give people a say in the governance of America’s largest companies. Almost half of investors opted to let Vanguard do it for them after all.

Private equity is doing badly — however you measure it, writes Lex. Undeterred, private equity firms are aggressively pushing to include language in loan documents to increase payouts on deals. 

The UK’s state-backed pension scheme Nest has agreed a tie-up with insurer Legal & General and Dutch pension fund manager PGGM to invest up to £1bn in build-to-rent properties.

And finally

The latest FT Magazine is a must-read Guide to the Business Lunch. It features our favourite business lunch restaurants in London, why lunchtime gossip is ripe for a comeback, and a review of Sweetings, the City’s last canteen. Plus I interviewed Jesus Adorno, the maître d’ at the legendary Le Caprice, on his memories from almost four decades of ego management, extreme discretion and Diana, Princess of Wales.