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Beth Rigby
@BethRigby
On this. A Conservative spokesman says: “The PM has just admitted that the official security vetting highlighted Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but he went ahead and appointed him anyway.

“This is the first time the PM has admitted this and it raises very serious questions over Keir Starmer’s shocking judgement.

“The PM is now trying to orchestrate a cover up by having his own government mark his homework. All MPs must now support the Conservatives’ humble address so that we reveal the full extent of this scandal and the shocking failure of Keir Starmer and his operation.”

Wow. This is high-stakes stuff. If Kemi can get Sir Keir's head on a pike (perfectly possible) then we could see her acclaimed as the most accomplished politician of her generation. That could totally change the dynamics, with even Nigel metaphorically having to kiss her ring on bended knee.

It's not necessarily to Kemi's advantage to see Starmer removed and replaced by someone a) better at politics and/or b) more left wing. Much better to let Starmer hobble on, crippled.

Why would she not want Labour to tack left?

Kemi would want Rayner or Ed Miliband to replace Starmer if he was removed yes, she wouldn't want Streeting.

Farage would want Ed Miliband, Polanski would not want Ed Miliband

Is this a game, or is there a country to run?

Do the opposition really want the worst person in charge just so they can have a go later?

The Opposition don't have a say in who becomes PM, so they shouldn't worry too much about it.

Starmer is not good enough at the job, so they should do all they can to remove him.

One good joke and seven bad ones.

I reckon my “Pants Peer” beats them all

You're an enthusiastic marketer of your own wares, I'll give you that.

I'm a postie. I think I'm entitled to some pride in the political pun nicknames that I've coined

It's fine, just ribbing. Your politics are a bit seamy but otherwise you have your moments.

Patronising twat. You’re a f*cking retired accountant

*Chartered*

Woolie fly by, afternoon all.
Is Mandy the end of Starmer? Maybe. A big rebellion on the humble address cover up amendment woukd assist in that.
If it did, don't waste your mobey on Wes as his social media and piccy closeness to Petey will do for his chances short term.
PM Ange by June? Stranger things have happened.

On local elections 26 (if not mentioned) the cancellations are very useful for the Toriea. There are very few councils up they can 'lose control' of outside London (where i expect them to gain 2 or 3 and lose 2) - they retain Broxbourne regardless as elected in thirds, theyve a chance of holding Fareham (half up) and theyll probably lose Newcaste Under Lyme and Walsall with Solihull in the balance. They will lose control of Essex and Hampshire. So the 'damage' will mostly be Scotland and Wales.
Labour, on the other hand, will get butchered everywhere.

Hope all are well

The Tories could also lose Dudley but yes given Labour won the LE in 2022 when most council seats were last up the results should be better for Kemi than last year given those seats were last up in 2021 when the Tories won the LEs.

Unfortunately as you say Scotland and Wales were also last up in 2021 so the Tories will likely see big losses there as will Labour in Wales, though Labour might on a good night make a few gains from the SNP in Scotland as they were 3rd in Scotland behind the Tories in 2021 and Reform will mainly eat into the Scottish Tory vote

They dont have overall control in Dudley HYUFD (33 of 72 seats)

Woolie fly by, afternoon all.
Is Mandy the end of Starmer? Maybe. A big rebellion on the humble address cover up amendment woukd assist in that.
If it did, don't waste your mobey on Wes as his social media and piccy closeness to Petey will do for his chances short term.
PM Ange by June? Stranger things have happened.

On local elections 26 (if not mentioned) the cancellations are very useful for the Toriea. There are very few councils up they can 'lose control' of outside London (where i expect them to gain 2 or 3 and lose 2) - they retain Broxbourne regardless as elected in thirds, theyve a chance of holding Fareham (half up) and theyll probably lose Newcaste Under Lyme and Walsall with Solihull in the balance. They will lose control of Essex and Hampshire. So the 'damage' will mostly be Scotland and Wales.
Labour, on the other hand, will get butchered everywhere.

Hope all are well

The Tories could also lose Dudley but yes given Labour won the LEs in 2022 when most council seats up in May were last up the results should be better for Kemi than last year given those seats were last up in 2021 when the Tories won the LEs.

Unfortunately as you say Scotland and Wales were also last up in 2021 so the Tories will likely see big losses there as will Labour in Wales, though Labour might on a good night make a few gains from the SNP in Scotland as they were 3rd in Scotland behind the Tories in 2021 and Reform will mainly eat into the Scottish Tory vote

Wales will be brutal for them - 15% and 14 seats probably best possible return with something like 11% and 9 or 10 most likely
Scotland they should be aiming for a % and seat return similar to 2011 with min 2 constituency wins (berwickshire and dumfriesshire probably)

Beth Rigby
@BethRigby
On this. A Conservative spokesman says: “The PM has just admitted that the official security vetting highlighted Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but he went ahead and appointed him anyway.

“This is the first time the PM has admitted this and it raises very serious questions over Keir Starmer’s shocking judgement.

“The PM is now trying to orchestrate a cover up by having his own government mark his homework. All MPs must now support the Conservatives’ humble address so that we reveal the full extent of this scandal and the shocking failure of Keir Starmer and his operation.”

Wow. This is high-stakes stuff. If Kemi can get Sir Keir's head on a pike (perfectly possible) then we could see her acclaimed as the most accomplished politician of her generation. That could totally change the dynamics, with even Nigel metaphorically having to kiss her ring on bended knee.

It's not necessarily to Kemi's advantage to see Starmer removed and replaced by someone a) better at politics and/or b) more left wing. Much better to let Starmer hobble on, crippled.

If we accept he's gone before the election, would it be better for Kemi (or successor) to face someone who has had to deal with the usual sh*t that comes with the job and inevitably had some stick, or someone vaguely new and still shiny?

Of course, the most important question might be what is better for the country, and that's much more of a grey area depending on who the replacement might be.

Given the precedent of the previous Parliament you force Starmer to resign asap, and then try to force his replacement to do likewise.

There is nothing like having to change PMs twice in a Parliament in terms of creating a sense of a government party that has lost control and needs to be put out of its misery.

The question is why did Starmer appoint him. It could be because he thought he'd be good at it or more likely I'd suggest to placate Mandelson and stop him interfering in Westminster.

Spot on, Frank. Why, indeed?

We don't yet know the answer to that question. If we had a decent Press, we might find out sooner rather than later. In fact we are more likely to reach an informed opinion on this through following some of the better posters on here.

May take a while though.

The Foreign Office rightly predicted Trump 2.0 would need a non career diplomat as our chap in Washington and Mandy was the best man for the job.

I think a lot of people do forget until the scandal he was seen as doing a job with Trump.

That calls the competence of the Foreign Office into question. If they don't have people in house who can deal with characters like Trump, what use are they?

The French don't have a Mandy equivalent in Washington but their previous ambassador to China.