Conservatives Stand Tommy Robinson-Supporting Candidate Who Called Boris Johnson a ‘Traitorous Scumbag’ Nathan Smith said the former Conservative leader would be "jailed the second we take power" as he backed far-right Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe as "the only MP fighting for us"

Harrow Conservatives (again). Doesn't get any prettier, does it? bylinetimes.com/2026/04/20/c.... #harrow #conservatives #london

Telegraph newspaper editorial on Mandelson's appointment in December 2024 versus editorial today

"The foreign secretary's office, were under constant pressure [to appoint Mandelson]" Olly Robbins tells MPs.

Says there was "constant chasing" and "very frequent" phone calls from Number 10 to rush his appointment through

"The position taken from the Cabinet Office was that there was no need to vet Mandelson," says Olly Robbins

I really don't think that was the reason.

"I walked into a situation in which there was already a very, very strong expectation, coming from number 10, that [Mandelson] needed to be in post and in America as quickly as humanly possible," Olly Robbins tells MPs.

"There was a generally dismissive attitude to his vetting clearance"

I mean realistically it will have to be after the locals, but the party really can't go into another set of elections after this with him in charge

And he didn't even wait around to read it! He just appointed him anyway

There was literally nothing in the developed vetting that he hadn't already been told by PET and anyone who'd read anything about Mandelson for the last 20 years

I mean that's literally what happens in many cases. Councillors are party's main activist base and still having a seat and wanting to retain it is a major motivating factor

Indeed, as Olly Robbins will likely point out today

In some ways the medium
Is less important than the person doing the communicating. He's just fundamentally incapable of it and it's the main reason his ratings are amongst the worst of any PM

Draconian no. But there should be greater regulation of ownership and misinformation

“Peter Mandelson should never have been appointed. This has been a very damaging episode for the government” - Energy Secretary Ed Miliband

What media reform has he proposed? What strategy to circumvent those outlets by social media has he implemented? He has to tell the government's story himself. That's his main job as PM. He's barely even tried

With no councillors or activists left to campaign for them? That's not going to work

This is the argument that ensures Farage as PM

Exactly. Striking how his supporters don't get that all they're doing is helping to ensure what should be the unlikely outcome of Farage as PM

Lol

So what's Starmer's answer to those things then? Because so far it has been to do absolutely nothing

You first

Labour has 400+ MPs. Do you really think there's not a single one of them who could do a better job?

Not this badly. They're struggling to reach 20% in the polls. There's no precedent for how badly they're doing. The locals are going to be a disaster

The Case for Replacing Keir Starmer If Labour MPs don't act soon then they risk losing their century-long position as the dominant party on the left of British politics

Reform really should be an absolute gift to a sitting government. Deeply target-rich opposition leader who is badly tainted by Trump. Back rank of even more unlikeable characters. Real nervousness among voters about them.

That Labour is still doing so badly shows exactly why Starmer needs to go

The Mandelson fiasco reveals the true nature of Starmerism This is a prime minister who does not understand the difficult trade-offs involved in governing

Keir Starmer famously said there was "no such thing" as Starmerism. He was half-right: there is no such ideology. There is however an approach to managing and running the country that is core to so many of the government's difficulties that we probably should call 'Starmerism'. In tomorrow's paper:

Not by me it wasn't

This Osborne?

His nicknames were "the Prince of Darkness" and "the Dark Lord".

He was repeatedly sacked from government for lying.

His connections to Epstein and Russia were widely reported for years.

Yet Starmer still trying to claim he was somehow kept in the dark about Mandelson being a wrongun. Come on

Conservatives Stand Tommy Robinson-Supporting Candidate Who Called Boris Johnson a ‘Traitorous Scumbag’ Nathan Smith said the former Conservative leader would be "jailed the second we take power" as he backed far-right Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe as "the only MP fighting for us"

🔴EXCLUSIVE: The Conservatives are standing a candidate who:

- Praised Tommy Robinson
- Said man who Robinson allegedly assaulted “deserved it”
- Said far-right MP Rupert Lowe is “the only MP fighting for us”
- Called Boris Johnson a “traitorous scumbag” who “will be jailed the second we take power”

Conservatives Stand Tommy Robinson-Supporting Candidate Who Called Boris Johnson a ‘Traitorous Scumbag’ Nathan Smith said the former Conservative leader would be "jailed the second we take power" as he backed far-right Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe as "the only MP fighting for us"

🔴Conservatives Stand Tommy Robinson-Supporting Candidate Who Called Boris Johnson a ‘Traitorous Scumbag’

Nathan Smith said the former Conservative leader would be “jailed the second we take power” as he backed far-right Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe as “the only MP fighting for us”