The sad reality is that everyone knew Mandelson was deeply compromised.
However, he potentially had the skill set and contacts to deal with the POTUS. Rightly or wrongly, the national interest trumped the victims of Epstein.
Sometimes, it's better not to know the contents of a sausage.
… Omnishambles! #wato
Slightly challenged to understand how Starmer can be told Mandelson had “failed vetting” last week
Only for the fired civil servant contradict this ‘advice’ and claim he hadn’t failed
Who then told No10 Mandelson HAD failed? #wato
Turns out Olly Robbins had chartered his own bus to throw Starmer (or Matthew Doyle under) #wato
Yep.
I mean I realise the brighter the daylight, the more electricity photovoltaics will generate.
But can’t stand how these dismissive claims keep getting through & take hold. #r4today
Solar generates electricity in daylight Nick, it doesn’t only work in ‘sunlight’
If you interviewed more experts & fewer commentators, you’d probably know that
#r4today
Love how BP former VP is called in to talk about ending the dominance of gas on the UK energy market …
& of course he insists N.Sea drilling is STILL a solution to the fossil fuelled cost of living crisis
Renewable experts were presumably unavailable #r4today
“Ehhhh, … mama’s marmalade sandwich …. one should coco!”
#Ohgoodgrief #R4today
Sorry, but for almost a week now the BBC, especially #R4today has shovelled the Tory position that Starmer MUST be lying
And yet the most likely explanation (likely to be confirm by Robins) has been that the civil service did what it has form on - they just didn’t tell ministers
Oh joy - it’s Chris Mason’s turn for the funny handshake … sorry, I mean BBC political report
#R4today
I’m as outraged at the outrage as you!!!
I’m so outraged I just can’t wait for #R4Today to tell us who to blame for what we would otherwise dismiss as a modestly dysfunctional oversight at the heart of this outrageously unimportant affair
Listening to Zeffman & Robinson & you’d be forgiven for thinking MPs openly laughing at a PM’s address is an extremely rare & grave affair
He seems to have forgotten the number of times May & Johnson had em rolling in the aisles.
Even Truss managed a comedy turn during her brief time #r4today
This pressure to categorise protest speech & slogans as criminal increasingly sinister
Profoundly condemn these attacks on Jewish people - they have nothing to do with Israel & the IDF’s behaviour
But people need to be able to vocalise protest, or for a few the alternative is terrorism #R4today
Yeh but the electorate doesn’t decide. That falls to Labour members.
And Labour doesn’t want the welfare cuts you think are essential.
They also think (largely) that:
1. Defence spending is overblown hysteria that won’t outlast Trump
2. Defence isn’t strongly linked to UK jobs
#R4today
Is it possible Olly Robbins just has no case?
When the claim is the civil service didn’t tell ministers.
And the senior civil servant at the FO is promptly fired
It’s possible Occam's razor might just apply here?
Nah! #R4today
True … But ‘they can do crime’ when they’re not in gaol is the point.
& the threat of getting caught is no deterrent … or there wouldn’t be any crime, would there?
I’m pretty sure that’s what people who are [ehem] ‘pro-crime’ are really on about
Hannah added: “I get offended when I hear the argument made that it is working class. Working-class people are fed up with gambling companies being able to wreak havoc in people’s lives.”
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Olly Robins definitely taking the blame in today’s Guardian #r4today
Civil servants claim ‘they have a duty not to disclose sensitive vetting info to ministers’
Yet it’s ‘highly unusual’ & ‘Robbins could have informed a senior minister of that fact at least’
It’s looking increasingly like Starmer might be telling the truth - that the civil service chose not to share sensitive info from Mandelson’s vetting with ministers
Will we really have to wait for the May election results for the next round of calls for Starmer to resign?
Nah! #R4Today
Olly Robins definitely taking the blame in today’s Guardian #r4today
Civil servants claim ‘they have a duty not to disclose sensitive vetting info to ministers’
Yet it’s ‘highly unusual’ & ‘Robbins could have informed a senior minister of that fact at least’
The only practicable way to close hotels is to allow migrants to work. #Bbcaq
How’s your ‘human right’ to stand at the side of the road in peaceful support of ending the genocide in Palestine?
Any parliament can easily erode human & democratic rights of its citizens. Having a European Court to appeal to is frankly reassuring #Bbcaq
Heat pump orders up 2x in a month. Solar panel inquiries up 250%. EV leases up 85%.
The Iran crisis has made energy security feel personal.
I understand why: I have solar panels, a heat pump & EV on a flexible tariff. When gas prices spike, my bills barely move.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Tories have peaked outrage already … & doesn’t it sound authentic?!!
The most likely explanation is Starmer, in no small part on advice from McSweeney, had already chosen Mandelson, & the vetting was a foregone conclusion
Doubt it shows anything more than already known at the time #Bbcaq
Perhaps that’s true: it would be a bold statement to give otherwise, and Sir Olly Robbins, the most senior officer in the Foreign Office, was forced out on Thursday night. (It has always struck me as strange that it still counts as a resignation when you’re told you’re doing it.) Even if we take that line on face value, though, it hardly puts the PM in the clear. The most plausible reason a government department would take the near unprecedented step of overruling security vetting is because it was known to be the outcome Number 10 wanted. That, given everything we know, raises questions about Starmer’s judgement. The best one can say is that they were questions that were being asked already. The more damning corollary of that latest Downing Street statement is that the Prime Minister was simply not doing yet another part of his job. It was obvious to any casual reader of Peter Mandelson’s Wikipedia page that his appointment presented significant potential risks. Given all that, the fact Starmer was nonetheless unaware he had failed his security vetting suggests either he was unaware of those risks; or that he never bothered to ask the outcome of vetting. Either explanation casts enough doubt on his competence as to make a strong case for resignation in and of itself. Next month’s local and devolved election results seem all but certain to see
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Starmer’s screwed up for sure.
But it is worth also remembering the civil service has a very long & deep history of withholding,
It’s also conceivable No10 created an atmosphere of ‘not wanting to know’ the sensitive stuff about Mandelson #wato
Anyone know just how many bus routes there are running past Downing Street?
At this rate Starmer’s gonna run out of busses to throw junior staff under
#wato
Hang on Chris Mason,
The ‘chased by a bear’ anecdote was Emily Thornberry’s comments about sir Olly Robbins potentially misleading her select committee,
NOT about Starmer
#R4today
Oh agree
But Starmer just doesn’t seem to have the political dexterity to sidestep these relatively simple issues
- The premature announcement
- No plan to ditch Madelson after the vetting failed
- Reactionary sackings/resignations
He’s inadvertently making himself the story #R4today