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.
🇪🇺🏳️🌈⚖️🇭🇺 A legal earthquake - CJEU finds Hungary to have violated EU law on multiple counts with its anti-LGBT+ legislation (as expected) but also for the first time in history, in an EU law-reshaping precedent, finds Hungary to violate Art 2 TEU in a self-standing manner.
It gets worse: No 10 also tried to get Matthew Doyle - a close friend of Mandelson - a job working for him in DC.
Remember - Doyle was asked by PM to investigate Mandelson's responses about links to Jeffrey Epstein & concluded he was "satisfied".
A *clear* conflict of interests.
🔥Oliver Robbins reveals that No 10 tried to get Matthew Doyle, Keir Starmer's former aide, a posting as an ambo in March 25.
He was under "strict instruction" not to discuss with then foreign sec.
Lord Doyle, awarded peerage by Starmer, was suspended after he publicly supported a sex offender.
While I am firm in my belief Starmer should go, and soon, isn’t it weird we’ve got sucked into a side argument over the process for a security clearance for Mandelson, the turning down of which had nothing to do with Epstein? It’s the British political class at its worst, I think.
Worried all this Peter Mandelson business is going to distract from whatever the hell Keir Starmer's policy agenda is, and could undermine confidence in him with his supporter.
Telegraph newspaper editorial on Mandelson's appointment in December 2024 versus editorial today
Your comment caught my eye. Thank you — I’ll read the NYT piece. You might not have seen Edwin Heathcote’s FT review: giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
A real shift is underway. Witness Meloni's speech to Italy's parliament. She criticised past PMs for for being "satisfied with a pat on the back or an endorsement tweet" by US presidents, adding: "history is knocking at the door, and Europe must not fail this test.”
www.ilfoglio.it/politica/202...
British politics are in a depressing state and anybody who feels gleeful about recent events, perhaps because they enjoy the excitement of seeing the world burn, or because they dislike one of the people involved, is a short-sighted moron.
edstone spontaneously arising from the water while thus spake zarathustra plays
I had not fully appreciated just how furious his own MPs are with the PM
Economic tipping points are notoriously hard to forecast, but the next one is likely approaching. For several Asian economies in the near term, and for Europe down the road, if the Middle East War remains unresolved, the shock is moving quickly toward physical energy scarcity.
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By far the most impressive I’ve seen from Badenoch. I’d be very surprised if she doesn’t lead the Tories into the next election - they will love this.
Absolutely spot-on from @hannahkeenan.bsky.social, who reminds us that "process is no substitute for judgement"
This is, quite obviously, rubbish.
But more generally - what sort of person thinks this is a good way to sell their increasingly politically contentious new technology to the public and politicians?
Watched from a far, the Mandelson affair really looks like both a fundamental f'up in the system reflecting very badly on the system around the PM, and an enormous distraction from the real-world problems facing the UK while so much in the world is burning.
FT Exclusive: Stockholm’s military intelligence head said Moscow is systematically manipulating data to fool Ukraine’s western allies into believing its economy has withstood the strain of its lavish war spending and western sanctions. ft.trib.al/uloekqX
Check out my latest column for @financialtimes.com:
The S&P 500 keeps rising...the market appears to be adopting an Earnings Before Iran, Tariffs and Dubious Announcements (EBITDA) approach: as.ft.com/r/d23a0e69-d...
Obviously, it's hasn't been good in a while.
Nick Aldworth, former national coordinator for counter-terrorism, describes policing the Jewish High Holy Days as among the Met’s largest annual operations, comparable in scale to New Year’s Eve and Notting Hill Carnival.
Which is mad.
NEW: Richard Tice failed to pay almost £100,000 in corporation tax, benefiting his investment company which made large donations to Reform UK.
First time Reform's deputy leader's tax affairs can be directly linked to finances of Nigel Farage's party.
Two takeaways from the “Hormuz Summit” involving 40 nations which at the Elysée Palace yesterday. The most significant fact may be the near unanimity of view of the leaders of the Big Four western European countries: France, UK, Germany and Italy. 1/
www.lemonde.fr/internationa...
Anglo-Saxon Crypt, Ripon Cathedral. An extraordinary survivor from St Wilfrid's original AD 672 church.
📸2025
Recently finished Dan Wang’s excellent ‘Breakneck: China’s quest to engineer the future’ and was reasonably taken with his Engineer State vs Lawyer State taxonomy to differentiate countries that get big stuff done fast & those that are v good at stopping things happening, but protect rights.
Early reports coming in of another arson attack on a Synagogue in Britain last night - this time Kenton United Synagogue.
This the third attempted firebombing of a Jewish building in London this week.
However I do really enjoy the moment in a political scandal when we all laser focus on the specific moment when the wheels came off. So I do need to question how Olly Robbins has managed to convince so much of today's press that it wasn't his job to tell anyone what he found out because.. vibes
You always get a lot of angry replies here if you complain about the Greens blocking solar farms or power grid upgrades. Maybe they should stop instigating pile-ons and start instigating pylons.
My sympathies on this are with Starmer, for a change. This was a political appointment for which he was ultimately responsible. He really should have had all the information made available to him. But Robbins wanted to retain as many of his prerogatives as possible over diplomatic appointments. 2/
Exclusive: The head of the civil service, Antonia Romeo, and Cat Little, the Cabinet Office permanent secretary, had known since *March* about Mandelson's vetting failure, but did not inform Starmer until Tuesday evening.
Latest Guardian revelation w/ Paul Lewis, @pippacrerar.bsky.social