Matt on Starmer

Just Dan Hannan quoting Enoch Powell on the subject of immigration [two dark screenshots]....

Hannan has previously said multiple times over multiple years that he *disagreed* with Powell on immigration [white screenshot - example from 2018].

So that's that then.

Great stuff from @lewisgoodall.com

Just Dan Hannan quoting Enoch Powell on the subject of immigration [two dark screenshots]....

Hannan has previously said multiple times over multiple years that he *disagreed* with Powell on immigration [white screenshot - example from 2018].

So that's that then.

Mahmood seems to have gone nuts. Fire her now.

A small point from the Mandelson/Robbins saga. Refom and many Tories argue for a civil service than can be more easily bent to the will and whims of their elected political masters.

This is precisely what happened here.

I've learn (not least from Jill Rutter on Sky) that Yes he did.

I'm now leaning this way too (for what it's worth). The saga has shattered the image of the dull but highly competent technocrat.

Most importantly, I suspect Starmer himself feels this. Last time around when he said he had really beaten himself up about the Mandelson decision – that was telling.

One summary is that the Right's 'free speech' crusade hasn't landed out of nowhere - it was provoked. And yet it has itself radicalised and is now the mirror of the worst excesses of its target.

Put another way: the Right may have a point, but they are (or have become) the worst people to make it.

Storyville - Speechless: 2. The Pendulum Swings Part two of a documentary that delves into the heart of the culture wars and freedom of speech conversations that have exploded on US campuses over the last ten years.

BBC Storyville on the US/UK culture wars and why we need to start talking again.

(Three hours-long documentary in two parts.)

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Unbelievably, Keir Starmer can now be compared to Boris Johnson The Prime Minister was once a man with a reputation for integrity and decency

It is preposterous and honestly rather shameful for Starmer to act so upset over the Mandelson affair. He is basically attacking Robbins for doing precisely what he wanted him to do inews.co.uk/opinion/unbe...

She passed. :-)

Matt

...The question of FCDO "discretion" on vetting seems highly important.

Downing St has noted it (see below) & Robbins' testimony confirmed he exercised it.

Downing St likely feels Robbins should have ALSO exercised some discretion by informing the PM and others that it had been exercised...

'My wife likes Olly Robbins. Oh he really is the most awful man....'

'We both like him.'

'Oh! Oh! RoBBINS! Olly RoBBINS! I thought you meant that awful man, what's his name, oh,
Olly Robinson. Ah! Painful'

'How about a Waldorf Salad.'

[I keep being reminded of this.]

I wonder who’s going to be sacked for sacking Robbins?

It does feel like a case of unfair dismissal (but I've been unable to follow it closely this morning).

Did Starmer fire Olly Robbins without getting Olly Robbins' side of the story?

Yes I'm sure it'll be that. Democracy really is tedious at times.

Allegation that Morgan McSweeney phoned previous FCDO Perm Sec Sir Phillip Barton, and told him "just fucking approve it" re: Mandelson's vetting ..!

I hate it when MPs do this. Like they just need to hear themselves ask that particular question.

oh hang on, 4 fronts - that someone in no 10 was angling for a head of mission, ie diplomat, job Matthew Doyle (head of comms sacked by PM, v much not a career diplomat, bonkers idea ) which suggests they saw diplomatic service as somewhere you could park people you sort of owed one.

Tanner talking to M about James Bond's suitability for active service after his time out of the service. M overruled Bond's bad test results because she trusted Bond based on his past performance.

'I didn't know Mandelson passed the tests?'

'He didn't...'

[Cue 'James Bond chord']

The key point from Olly Robbins is that, in his view, Mandelson did *not* technically fail vetting - the vetting outcome was the FCDO decision on whether to grant, not any UKSV recommendation as part of that process...

So far Olly Robbins has dropped govt in it x 3 - that Cabinet Office suggested Mandelson might not even need vetting, that No 10 pressured him to get on with it, that publicly rejecting M on vetting grounds wd be v awkward - & himself in it on maybe 1 (dsn't sound like he recorded much of this...

🚨 Olly Robbins is currently giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee.

"I've been a civil servant for a quarter of a century. I could recite the code to you and I believe it, along with probably the Book of Common Prayer. It's one of the two things I kind of can hold in my memory"

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

Olly Robbins says No 10 wanted Mandelson in Washington as soon as possible and there was “constant pressure” to get him in place as soon as possible pre-inauguration

He also says that Cabinet Office didn’t think vetting was even necessary for Mandelson

But Robbins says the Foreign Office insisted

Cheers

Starmer may be in a lot of trouble, but watching Susanna Reid pontificate about it (and talking over her guests) is enough to make me want him to stay. #GMB