Sir Robin Butler, a former cabinet secretary, says that Starmer put Olly Robbins in an 'impossible' position by announcing Lord Mandelson's appointment as ambassador before security vetting had been conducted
Sir Robin Butler, a former cabinet secretary, says that Starmer put Olly Robbins in an 'impossible' position by announcing Lord Mandelson's appointment as ambassador before security vetting had been conducted
Excuses, excuses.
What was "impossible" about Robbins saying "Mandelson has failed the vetting"?
Was there actually ANY point to Mandelson being vetted?
(Other than to ultimately remove Starmer, perhaps.)
Process had to be followed even though the end result of the process was blooming obvious (albeit the failure reasons were even worse than the known obvious ones).
Sir Robin Butler, a former cabinet secretary, says that Starmer put Olly Robbins in an 'impossible' position by announcing Lord Mandelson's appointment as ambassador before security vetting had been conducted
Just as he did with Durham police and Currygate. If they gave him a ticket he would have had to resign. No plod wanted to do that for a stupid covid fine.
Fascinating detail in here from @AndrewMarr9 - virtually suggests that before the latest round of Mandelson scandal some sort of “orderly” coronation moment a year from now between Starmer and Burnham was being worked out by the mayor and the PM…
Retirees sitting at home, waiting to see what nonsense is about to come from the PM's mouth. Meanwhile, the postal vote ballot papers that dropped through the letter box this morning are sitting on the coffee table, waiting to be completed.
Toast or merely current bun though he may be, none of the conditions for a replacement are yet met. Potential contenders all need time to resolve or put some space behind their various hindrances, the party needs to work out who it might be able to rally around, and the time needs to be attractive enough for the replacement - whereas right now there is a whole year of bad news for Labour and the economy lined up that Starmer may as well be left to soak up, because anyone new would be foolish to get lumbered with it.
Yes, I expect SKS to survive this year, 2027 or 2028 is another matter though. Streeting is very ambitious and clearly wants the top job before the next general election and Burnham, if allowed by the NEC to stand for a parliamentary by election before then, would also be a contender
Streeting does, as you say, seem to be ambitious. However, you could walk though his deepest thoughts and not get your feet wet. He neither has a well worked out ideology of his own, not does he have mentors or gurus around him- there is no clear and practical sense of what he wants to achieve in politics, only a shallow, vaguely entitled sense that as an east end guy who got to Cambridge he should somehow be in power. Trouble is that he has done little-to-nothing outside of politics. I think he would fail even more quickly than some of his predecessors.
Streeting is probably the most electable of the Labour alternatives to Starmer though, certainly more than Rayner or Ed Miliband and unless and until Burnham returns to parliament
Sir Robin Butler, a former cabinet secretary, says that Starmer put Olly Robbins in an 'impossible' position by announcing Lord Mandelson's appointment as ambassador before security vetting had been conducted
Excuses, excuses.
What was "impossible" about Robbins saying "Mandelson has failed the vetting"?
Yeah that’s also total bollocks
No privacy is invaded just by saying “no, failed”. Details aren’t necessary but the basic outcome is crucially important for the PM given the security and political implications
If Starmer survives this it means something is very wrong with our system
Retirees sitting at home, waiting to see what nonsense is about to come from the PM's mouth. Meanwhile, the postal vote ballot papers that dropped through the letter box this morning are sitting on the coffee table, waiting to be completed.
Retirees sitting at home, waiting to see what nonsense is about to come from the PM's mouth. Meanwhile, the postal vote ballot papers that dropped through the letter box this morning are sitting on the coffee table, waiting to be completed.
Where might those crosses not be placed?
The timing is sub optimal for Labour.
Yep, far worse than the SNP in Scotland and the Murrell trial. They were lucky that trail was scheduled for after the elections!
Fascinating detail in here from @AndrewMarr9 - virtually suggests that before the latest round of Mandelson scandal some sort of “orderly” coronation moment a year from now between Starmer and Burnham was being worked out by the mayor and the PM…
God I am good.
Burnham needs to win a seat first and that’s not a given . And this looks like some story put out by Burnham fans .
Fascinating detail in here from @AndrewMarr9 - virtually suggests that before the latest round of Mandelson scandal some sort of “orderly” coronation moment a year from now between Starmer and Burnham was being worked out by the mayor and the PM…
God I am good.
Burnham needs to win a seat first and that’s not a given . And this looks like some story put out by Burnham fans .
It assumes labour mps will wait that long to lance the boil
Fascinating detail in here from @AndrewMarr9 - virtually suggests that before the latest round of Mandelson scandal some sort of “orderly” coronation moment a year from now between Starmer and Burnham was being worked out by the mayor and the PM…
God I am good.
Burnham needs to win a seat first and that’s not a given . And this looks like some story put out by Burnham fans .
Wherever he stands whomever is best placed is going to hoover up the stop Burnham vote and one failure probably ends his hopes entirely. A 'you're not wanted' result
On the upside can I say that Belfast - which I toured this morning with increasing incredulity - is astounding. And not entirely in a good way
I’ve heard of the extant peace walls and expected to see a couple. There are hundreds. Everywhere. And they are sometimes 30 feet high. Mile after mile. And the murals are pugilistic and the graffiti is brutal - “all huns are targets” is one juicy example I saw in several places
The peace here is still deeply fragile. It wouldn’t take much to shatter it. It reminded me of a prosperous Kosovo with better food choices, much nicer parks, worse weather
West Bank - not Belfast. And the walls are higher. And their 'Troubles' have been going longer with little sign of it stopping.
Retirees sitting at home, waiting to see what nonsense is about to come from the PM's mouth. Meanwhile, the postal vote ballot papers that dropped through the letter box this morning are sitting on the coffee table, waiting to be completed.
Where might those crosses not be placed?
In my case retirees on a ship nearly on final approach to Vigo thinking my phone says its 4.12pm what happened to the 3.30 statement.
Before realising that the expresso martini and no lada had addled my brain sufficiently that I had forgotten local time had moved on.
A bit like UK politics in the soon to be post SKS fans era
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
Fascinating detail in here from @AndrewMarr9 - virtually suggests that before the latest round of Mandelson scandal some sort of “orderly” coronation moment a year from now between Starmer and Burnham was being worked out by the mayor and the PM…
God I am good.
Burnham needs to win a seat first and that’s not a given . And this looks like some story put out by Burnham fans .
Wherever he stands whomever is best placed is going to hoover up the stop Burnham vote and one failure probably ends his hopes entirely. A 'you're not wanted' result
Yes but given Burnham polls better than Starmer, Farage, Polanski and Kemi in polls of UK voters, there are unlikely to be many stop Burnham voters apart from 2024 Conservative and Reform voters who wouldn't vote Labour anyway. Plus the Tories and Reform won't stand down to allow the other a free run against Burnham either
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
Or Boris overriding security concerns to put put Lebedev into the Lords.
The interesting issue now is less “did SKS personally know the UKSV recommendation?” and more “did Olly Robbins simply operate the old system exactly as designed?”. On the public record so far, that looks quite possible. The 17 Apr No 10 paper itself says there was departmental discretion to grant clearance despite a negative UKSV recommendation, and Jones told the Commons last September that ministers were told only the final outcome, not the underlying vetting findings. If so, Robbins may have done what the system contemplated: take the political decision as fixed, apply mitigations, grant clearance, and keep the detailed vetting result tightly held. If that is right, No 10 is now trying to hang Robbins for behaving more or less in line with the process they themselves previously described. Which in turn makes SKS’s “full due process was followed” line look less like a careful truth and more like an over-confident political gloss on a process he had not properly nailed down.
The difficulty with that argument is the newly disclosed advice from Case, which explicitly says the Prime Minister should be made aware of any issues raised during the vetting process. If we accept your premise - that Robbins was operating the “old system exactly as designed”- and set it alongside Case’s position (“issues of which you should be aware”), it points to a lack of internal consistency within the civil service on how vetting is supposed to work. In other words, Case’s view directly challenges the idea that detailed vetting findings ought to be tightly held; he is clearly saying they should be escalated to the PM.
“Issues of which you should be aware” is the killer, especially if issues were found (dear reader, many issues were found), but they never got to the PM’s desk and he accidentally-on-purpose never asked the question.
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
This is so hard for you and labourites
No it's not. I have said all along Starmer should go for gross incompetence. Check my posts.
But for you to peddle the absolute lie that Johnson was not a national security threat after his behaviour in Italy is a mark of someone very unserious.
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
This is so hard for you and labourites
This is a rare occasion where I will stoutly defend @Mexicanpete - he has been eloquently consistent on Starmer. He’s been saying Skyr should go for a while
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
Sir Keir Starmer is bringing the entire apparatus of the state and the Labour Party to bear against one man - Sir Olly Robbins, who until this morning was still a government employee
Here's the list of suggested questions in the Commons that loyal Labour MPs could ask the prime minister this afternoon
That's on top of the fact the government commissioned legal advice over the weekend to establish that there was no legal barrier to Robbins informing the PM about Mandelson's vetting
Just look at the aggression in some of these questions:
It's clear the PM is going for a full-blooded character assassination against the man who until a week ago was one of Britain's most senior civil servants
The curious thing about this is how disinterested people are. No chatter in the office, not even in the top 10 most read articles on the BBC.
I think it’s mainly because the country has entirely given up on Starmer but still, curious. A PM might resign and very few care.
Reminds me of the time Dave (pbuh) announced his resignation and it was the fourth and fifth news item on the 6 o’clock and 10 o’clock news respectively.
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
This is so hard for you and labourites
This is a rare occasion where I will stoutly defend @Mexicanpete - he has been eloquently consistent on Starmer. He’s been saying Skyr should go for a while
On the upside can I say that Belfast - which I toured this morning with increasing incredulity - is astounding. And not entirely in a good way
I’ve heard of the extant peace walls and expected to see a couple. There are hundreds. Everywhere. And they are sometimes 30 feet high. Mile after mile. And the murals are pugilistic and the graffiti is brutal - “all huns are targets” is one juicy example I saw in several places
The peace here is still deeply fragile. It wouldn’t take much to shatter it. It reminded me of a prosperous Kosovo with better food choices, much nicer parks, worse weather
Imagine living in one the houses facing the peace wall.
Given that Mandelson was leaking confidential information when he was in Brown's cabinet, I'd like to know whether he was doing the same as Ambassador.
“Above all this suggested question - which uses the words of an Epstein abuse victim to condemn Mandelson and defend the prime minister - is causing anger among Labour MPs:
'Mr Speaker, earlier today NBC released an interview with hospice worker Rachel Benavidez, who was 22 years old when she first became one of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse on his New Mexico ranch
'For 27 years she has been waiting for crimes committed against her to be recognised, and NBC, I quote: 'Until we are heard, until survivors are heard and believed, then I don't think there's ever going to be any justice.'
'Does the prime minister agree that we owe it to the hundreds of victims like Rachel to put them first in these debates, and that he was absolutely right to sack someone like Peter Mandelson who refused to believe those victims'”
Starmer plumbing new depths every day. He appointed Mandelson in full knowledge that Lord Yummygate remained friends with Epstein AFTER Epstein’s sex crime conviction
Given that Mandelson was leaking confidential information when he was in Brown's cabinet, I'd like to know whether he was doing the same as Ambassador.
Is anyone looking at this? If not, why not?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump’s administration had asked for Mandelson to be appointed as US ambassador.
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
Have you made up a new Boris sex party?
Would you prefer if I called it an "exotic" party? I am fine with that.
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
This is so hard for you and labourites
This is a rare occasion where I will stoutly defend @Mexicanpete - he has been eloquently consistent on Starmer. He’s been saying Skyr should go for a while
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
Have you made up a new Boris sex party?
Would you prefer if I called it an "exotic" party? I am fine with that.
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
This is so hard for you and labourites
This is a rare occasion where I will stoutly defend @Mexicanpete - he has been eloquently consistent on Starmer. He’s been saying Skyr should go for a while
And he’s entitled to a differing opinion on Boris
If Boris was back as Tory leader he would now surely be forgiven and trounce Starmer and Labour by a landslide? Labour would probably come third with Reform falling to second.
Boris at least cheers the nation up and has oodles of charisma, Starmer probably doesn't even cheer his own family up. His honest lawyer of integrity act before the last general election has now been destroyed and he looks dodgy as hell and blames everyone else but himself when things go wrong
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
This is so hard for you and labourites
This is a rare occasion where I will stoutly defend @Mexicanpete - he has been eloquently consistent on Starmer. He’s been saying Skyr should go for a while
And he’s entitled to a differing opinion on Boris
If Boris was back as Tory leader he would now surely be forgiven and trounce Starmer and Labour by a landslide? Labour would probably come third with Reform falling to second
Starmer says he's changed the process so that public announcements are not made until vetting is completed, which is exactly the process that Simon Case put to Starmer in the first place.
As expected, SKS is now resting almost entirely on the narrow point that he did not knowingly mislead Parliament. His defence is no longer that the process worked, but that the civil service failed to tell him the one fact that made his earlier assurances unsustainable.
Given that Mandelson was leaking confidential information when he was in Brown's cabinet, I'd like to know whether he was doing the same as Ambassador.
Is anyone looking at this? If not, why not?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump’s administration had asked for Mandelson to be appointed as US ambassador.
Didn't they attempt to block him because they thought he was too close to the EU?
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
This is so hard for you and labourites
This is a rare occasion where I will stoutly defend @Mexicanpete - he has been eloquently consistent on Starmer. He’s been saying Skyr should go for a while
And he’s entitled to a differing opinion on Boris
If Boris was back as Tory leader he would now surely be forgiven and trounce Starmer and Labour by a landslide? Labour would probably come third with Reform falling to second
No. The Boriswave
As I said Reform would still come second, holding their 2024 vote with a few more because of that but Boris would win enough middle ground swing voters who voted for him in 2019 and Labour in 2024 to win most seats at least.
I would expect a Boris led Conservatives to be first, Farage and Reform second, Starmer Labour third or even fourth behind the Polanski led Greens
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
This is so hard for you and labourites
This is a rare occasion where I will stoutly defend @Mexicanpete - he has been eloquently consistent on Starmer. He’s been saying Skyr should go for a while
And he’s entitled to a differing opinion on Boris
If Boris was back as Tory leader he would now surely be forgiven and trounce Starmer and Labour by a landslide? Labour would probably come third with Reform falling to second
No. The Boriswave
As I said Reform would still come second, holding their 2024 vote with a few more because of that but Boris would win enough middle ground swing voters who voted for him in 2019 and Labour in 2024 to win most seats at least.
I would expect a Boris led Conservatives to be first, Farage and Reform second, Starmer Labour third or even fourth behind the Polanski led Greens
I firmly disagree. Your nostalgia for Boris is misplaced
Creepy old man, sneaks into peoples houses when they are asleep and leaves presents, while stealing food and drink? Bring 'im in sarge, lets make him sweat.
If I was Kemi I would look and point at each cabinet minister on the front bench and simply ask just how can you continue to serve under a PM who puts political expediency above national security
Todays release of Case's advise has to be career ending
As usual you live on cuckoo land
At least Boris only ate cake not like Starmer who put politics before national security
This is career ending
You are not having that.
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
This is so hard for you and labourites
This is a rare occasion where I will stoutly defend @Mexicanpete - he has been eloquently consistent on Starmer. He’s been saying Skyr should go for a while
And he’s entitled to a differing opinion on Boris
If Boris was back as Tory leader he would now surely be forgiven and trounce Starmer and Labour by a landslide? Labour would probably come third with Reform falling to second
No. The Boriswave
As I said Reform would still come second, holding their 2024 vote with a few more because of that but Boris would win enough middle ground swing voters who voted for him in 2019 and Labour in 2024 to win most seats at least.
I would expect a Boris led Conservatives to be first, Farage and Reform second, Starmer Labour third or even fourth behind the Polanski led Greens
I firmly disagree. Your nostalgia for Boris is misplaced
The polling evidence backs me up. A More In Common poll last year had a Boris led Conservatives back in the lead with 26%, Reform would fall to second on 23% with Labour third on 22% (p48)
Starmer will cut a deal with Burnham. Get him into Parliament and anoint him as successor. Heard it here first.
I doubt it, he has made clear he would only approve Burnham to be a parliamentary candidate at the next GE not before. If Starmer has an anointed successor it would probably be Streeting given Rayner and Burnham are clearly plotting most against him and on the other wing of the party
Starmer will cut a deal with Burnham. Get him into Parliament and anoint him as successor. Heard it here first.
You're thinking far too much like someone who has the interests of the Labour party and country first and not an uninspiring, tiresome and tawdry little man laser focussed on his own grubby self-preservation.
As expected, SKS is now resting almost entirely on the narrow point that he did not knowingly mislead Parliament. His defence is no longer that the process worked, but that the civil service failed to tell him the one fact that made his earlier assurances unsustainable.
Starmer says he's changed the process so that public announcements are not made until vetting is completed, which is exactly the process that Simon Case put to Starmer in the first place.
Was that the Simon Case on extended sick leave and duplicitous in countless Tory era scandals.
Last fall, a big storm took down many of the trees along the trail. City workers cleared them off the trail and dumped some of them by the side of the trail. Most died soon after, but not all:
(Below the large tree, you can see another, smaller tree that also survived.)
The trees that survived probably did so because their top ends were in an informal drainage ditch, and so they could get water that way, as well as from the winter rains common here. I'll have to put on my hiking boots and check on that some sunny day.
Mischievous thought: The trees may also have been helped by the carbon dioxide from the many vehicles in the area. I-405, for example, is less than a half mile away. And since I have noticed the tree, I blow a little more carbon dioxide at it, every time I pass by. We each do what we can.
She needs to go harder on the national newspaper bit. I think it was the indie that approached No 10 to say they had information that Mandelson had failed the security checks and it was dealt with by the chief of comms (Tim Allan?). It beggars belief that he did not speak to PM about this.
Comments
Sir Robin Butler, a former cabinet secretary, says that Starmer put Olly Robbins in an 'impossible' position by announcing Lord Mandelson's appointment as ambassador before security vetting had been conducted
What was "impossible" about Robbins saying "Mandelson has failed the vetting"?
Fascinating detail in here from @AndrewMarr9 - virtually suggests that before the latest round of Mandelson scandal some sort of “orderly” coronation moment a year from now between Starmer and Burnham was being worked out by the mayor and the PM…
God I am good.
Retirees sitting at home, waiting to see what nonsense is about to come from the PM's mouth. Meanwhile, the postal vote ballot papers that dropped through the letter box this morning are sitting on the coffee table, waiting to be completed.
Where might those crosses not be placed?
No privacy is invaded just by saying “no, failed”. Details aren’t necessary but the basic outcome is crucially important for the PM given the security and political implications
If Starmer survives this it means something is very wrong with our system
Before realising that the expresso martini and no lada had addled my brain sufficiently that I had forgotten local time had moved on.
A bit like UK politics in the soon to be post SKS fans era
I said from the start Starmer should fall on his sword for an egregious error. It is a shame he didn't on Thursday when the Guardian story broke. Where does the buck stop?
But this utter lie from PB Tories that Johnson was merely ambushed by a cake is unacceptable rubbish.
As for Johnson not being a scandalous national security threat can I remind you of a serving Foreign Secretary attending an alleged sex party sans minders at the home of a KGB Grandee. (You started the whataboutery)?
Or Johnson putting Priti Patel in the Cabinet after she had been sacked by Theresa May for operating a clandestine foreign policy with Israel.
The fall of a prime minister with a working majority and a recent big electoral win. In Britain that only happens - checks notes - every few weeks
https://x.com/IAPolls2022/status/2046232097673679159
InteractivePolls
@IAPolls2022
CALIFORNIA POLL - Governor (top 2 advance)
🟥 Hilton: 18% (-1)
🟦 Steyer: 16% (+3)
🟥 Bianco: 14% (+4)
🟦 Becerra: 10% (+8)
🟦 Porter: 8% (=)
🟦 Mahan: 4% (=)
🟦 Swalwell: 3% (-10) - dropped out
🟦 Yee: 2% (-1)
🟦 Villaraigosa: 1% (-1)
⬜ Not sure: 23%
(+/- change vs 3/23-29)
——
Kreate Strategies | 4/12-18 | 900 LV
Evgeny Lebedev: Ministers withhold security advice over Lords seat
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61427468 (from 2022)
I think it’s mainly because the country has entirely given up on Starmer but still, curious. A PM might resign and very few care.
It would be interesting
But for you to peddle the absolute lie that Johnson was not a national security threat after his behaviour in Italy is a mark of someone very unserious.
And he’s entitled to a differing opinion on Boris
Sir Keir Starmer is bringing the entire apparatus of the state and the Labour Party to bear against one man - Sir Olly Robbins, who until this morning was still a government employee
Here's the list of suggested questions in the Commons that loyal Labour MPs could ask the prime minister this afternoon
That's on top of the fact the government commissioned legal advice over the weekend to establish that there was no legal barrier to Robbins informing the PM about Mandelson's vetting
Just look at the aggression in some of these questions:
It's clear the PM is going for a full-blooded character assassination against the man who until a week ago was one of Britain's most senior civil servants
Is anyone looking at this? If not, why not?
“Above all this suggested question - which uses the words of an Epstein abuse victim to condemn Mandelson and defend the prime minister - is causing anger among Labour MPs:
'Mr Speaker, earlier today NBC released an interview with hospice worker Rachel Benavidez, who was 22 years old when she first became one of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse on his New Mexico ranch
'For 27 years she has been waiting for crimes committed against her to be recognised, and NBC, I quote: 'Until we are heard, until survivors are heard and believed, then I don't think there's ever going to be any justice.'
'Does the prime minister agree that we owe it to the hundreds of victims like Rachel to put them first in these debates, and that he was absolutely right to sack someone like Peter Mandelson who refused to believe those victims'”
Starmer plumbing new depths every day. He appointed Mandelson in full knowledge that Lord Yummygate remained friends with Epstein AFTER Epstein’s sex crime conviction
Yes he uses Epstein as some kind of defence
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/26/boris-johnson-security-evgeny-lebedev-perugia-party?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Boris at least cheers the nation up and has oodles of charisma, Starmer probably doesn't even cheer his own family up. His honest lawyer of integrity act before the last general election has now been destroyed and he looks dodgy as hell and blames everyone else but himself when things go wrong
Vetting failed end of Jan 2026
Bloody Christmas
Searching my ship for more popcorn
I would expect a Boris led Conservatives to be first, Farage and Reform second, Starmer Labour third or even fourth behind the Polanski led Greens
Epsrein?
He is neither a pedo unlike Epstein
Or the friend of a pedo unlike Mandleson
FTFY
If he survives May, a big Number 10 reshuffle is required.
https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/media/rpahhzfk/more-in-common-post-election-briefing-3.pdf
Its *very* effective
The irony would be if Starmer did what Boris wouldn't.
No smoking gun
Man who throws person after person under bus he was driving is pathetic
“I never turn on my staff and you should never turn on your staff.”
Of course he was ignored.
Nobody wanted him there.
The Tree That Didn't Die: Two blocks from my apartment there is old railroad bed, converted to a trail for walkers and bicyclists. https://mtsgreenway.org/location/cross-kirland-corridor-trail/
Last fall, a big storm took down many of the trees along the trail. City workers cleared them off the trail and dumped some of them by the side of the trail. Most died soon after, but not all:
(Below the large tree, you can see another, smaller tree that also survived.)
The trees that survived probably did so because their top ends were in an informal drainage ditch, and so they could get water that way, as well as from the winter rains common here. I'll have to put on my hiking boots and check on that some sunny day.
Mischievous thought: The trees may also have been helped by the carbon dioxide from the many vehicles in the area. I-405, for example, is less than a half mile away. And since I have noticed the tree, I blow a little more carbon dioxide at it, every time I pass by. We each do what we can.
Are the PLP really going to let this drag on further?
For how long?