Meg Russell has done a fantastic job at the @conunitucl.bsky.social since 2015.
In a pretty stormy period for the Constitution - with Brexit, the Miller cases, the suspension of Parliament, Covid & the Johnson/Cummings era - the Unit has been the indispensable place for impartial academic analysis.
Just seen the plural ‘faits accomplis’ in the wild and the day is made.
Nobody should allowed near political office who wants to appoint a “chief of staff’”.
Really: the last civil servant you want to be against on a matter like this.
Ain’t going to be pretty.
Suspect blaming Olly Robbins and the Foreign Office will not end well for Starmer.
Looks like I got this right (apart from the misspelling). The problem arose because of a procedural mismatch: a political appointment was treated as a departmental appointment for the purposes of vetting with no reference back to the person (Starmer) making the appointment when an issue arose. 1/
Hard to believe that Sue Gray would have allowed Starmer to appoint Mandelson (to anything). For someone who is basically honourable and so keen on 'the process' to allow himself to be dominated by political shysters is sad. He'd have won the election if I, or even Kemi, had been his election chief.
Lord John Marbury has a lot to answer for.
If nothing else, the decision to sack Robbins, when he didn't need to, must rank as one of the most absurd acts of political self-harm any prime minister has yet committed. All of this eminently foreseeable.
This is incredibly sad news. Giles has been at the very heart of the UK online legal community from the beginning. He had unparalleled expertise, was the scourge of bad landlords, the most effective public communicator of legal concepts and always made time to help those who needed it.
Prime Ministers who demand that they are brought solutions not problems, end up being presented with even bigger problems.
The very one
I fear you have missed some key information Tim.
Again (with ex government lawyer wig on): nothing in data protection law or otherwise *either* (a) legally obliged FCO to share vetting result with PM or (b) legally prevented FCO from sharing vetting result with PM.
It was a choice either way.
Here vetting result distinct from the personal data.
The PM has since changed the process.
But the PM has sacked Robbins for following the process in place at the time, and for finding a way for putting into effect the PM's public decsion.
And that judgement call has to be seen in context of a PM publicly announcing a key political ally as Ambassador to the US, despite PM being warned by Case that the vetting had to take place before announcement.
If Robbins thought the risks shown by vetting were manageable, he was serving the PM.
So far, the position appears to be:
There was no legal/constitutional restriction on FCO on reporting the vetting result to PM.
But!
There was also no legal/constitutional obligation on FCO to report the vetting result to PM.
It was a judgement call: a question of accountability, and politics.
Good morning, and welcome to another day of law and process being used to obscure and evade questions of politics and accountability.
Often politicians and political pundits tut-tut at issues of law and process being raised in political contexts, but many of them are happily doing it themselves.
Netanyahu claimed last week that Magyar invited him to Hungary.
Today Magyar said that Netanyahu will be arrested if he enters Hungary:
“I made it clear to the Israeli PM — we will not back down... If a state is an ICC member and a person who is wanted enters that territory, they must be detained”
Fwiw.
The Prime Minister should have resigned when House of Commons voted that he (and his cabinet) could not be trusted with "national security" decisions on the release of the Mandelson papers.
If House of Commons has no confidence in a PM to do that, they have no real confidence in PM at all.
Neither rough nor ready: perfect.
So irksome for you. Best wishes.
Nicely done.
OK. It’s over.
Starmer made it seem a bit boring.
But couldn’t explain why he chose Mandelson, looks on wobbly legal ground re DV process & sacking Robbins, was unconvincing on ignoring cab sec advice to do DV before announcing, & admitted knowing of Kremlin links before appointing Mandelson. /1.
Giles was so generous with his time and so helpful when it came to explaining to journalists very clearly and with quotable precision exactly how a wrong un landlord was being a wrong un. But mostly I just remember thinking he was a really, really kind human who cared about the state of others.
Robbins Nest.
Devastated to learn that Giles died at the weekend. He leaves shoes impossible to fill. One of life’s warriors, dedicated to righting wrongs in an area of law so full of wrongs that his enormous brain and energy was constantly put to use. Thoughts with his family, loved ones and friends. xxx
Yes.
very perceptive point from @barrygardiner.bsky.social on Olly Robbins. Ministers want solutions not problems. I think Robbins thought he had found an acceptable way to achieve PM goal of appointing Mandelson while managing risks
