With this poll and the Yougov one yesterday, not much sign of the Mandelson affair cutting through despite it being rumbling for a week now

Pretty sure the last picture was taken in Tenbury Wells, about 20 miles from where I live

Yes sort of my point

Tend to agree, but am also aware from a previous life how many people on bail for very serious offences get conditional bail before sentencing

- Denies UKSV were only "leaning against" clearance for Mandelson, saying the vetting body "clearly recommended against" and that this should have been communicated to the PM

Last week we were told either Starmer must have known and was lying or should have known Mandeslson failed vetting and must resign

This week Robbins told us Mandelson didn't fail vetting and that Starmer not only didn't know, but wasn't allowed to know the result, but Starmer must resign anyway

Last week we were told either Starmer must have known and was lying or should have known Mandeslson failed vetting and must resign

This week Robbins told us Mandelson didn't fail vetting and that Starmer not only didn't know, but wasn't allowed to know the result, but Starmer must resign anyway

He also never saw or asked to see the written document showing Mandelson had failed.
He only had a verbal briefing, which he said wasn't pass or fail, saying it shouldn't be and that the results shouldn't be passed onto the PM or other ministers
I disagree with this, I assume Starmer dud aswell

That to me where Robbins let himself down. He said there was pressure, but didn't know which individual(s) it came from and never asked
He was a senior civil servant, he should have enquired

Emily Thornberry doesn't seem convinced that if Robbins was under so much pressure, he didn't:

a) look at the contents of the vetting doc

b) tell someone he'd cleared Mandelson despite there having been red flags. "I don't think I felt under any obligation to tell anybody".

Yes and according to one of the reports authors Gabriel Poground related to the previous story last week re at least £92k in withholding tax.

This latest story relates to £100k corporation tax that was not paid and there’s no suggestion anyone ended up compensating for this somehow later on.

Any chance they talked about Tice not paying £100,000 in tax owed?

OMFG I had to go and check that this ACTUALLY happened.

Since when does the BBC ever do chyrons with a political party's branding, rather than their own? Not to mention this is during a pre-election campaign purdah.

(h/t @iainsol.bsky.social)

Agree, it was clear

Although number 10 said today the job offer to Mandelson was "subject to obtaining clearance".

I've never applied for, let alone got and an Ambassador's job, but I have got other jobs which were subject to relevant checks

The year on year comparison is 9352 (2025) vs more than 6077 in 2026 by 18th April in both years, after the 600 arrivals of 18/4/26 are counted
bsky.app/profile/jonf...

BBC also doesn't report on the latest finding that Tice failed to pay £100,000 tax

There's a pattern here

BBC reports "more than 600 people crossed the Channel on small boats on Saturday, making it second busiest day so far this year".

BBC reports "Over the past three years, crossings have increased" while omitting 33% year on year fall this year
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

'Last year Richard Tice said Angela Rayner should resign if she had any moral decency after she'd underpaid stamp duty, should he also resign then by his own standards?'

Answer, dear reader, was there none.

Starmer has been almost anal in his belief and following of rules based order, so suspect he wouldn't have appointed Mandelson

Agree and we've had that debate for months, most agree it was a mistake. The latest allegation was very specific that Starmer had knowingly misled Parliament, from everything that's come out so far it appears he didn't

So how long does the media continue to beat Starmer for the initial mistake?

Agree, decluttering generally can be difficult to do on an emotional level, but liberating when done

I still make sandwiches at home to eat in the airport and on the flight

I convince myself it's because I don't like airport food, but this thread has me thinking if that's the real reason

Ed Miliband to double down on net zero with measures to combat Iran energy shock As fossil fuel prices soar ‘the era of clean energy security must come of age’, energy secretary will say

Excellent news, speeding up the warm homes plan and expanding the use of solar on public land, plus 'delinking gas and electricity prices will be very useful to drive home the message that renewable are not only good for the environment, but also for your pocket
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

This is a good site to show both polling average and trends over time
electionmaps.uk/polling/vi

Video of Muslim women calling for Brighton beach to be dog-free is AI – Full Fact A fake video that appears to show two women wearing niqabs saying “the UK has too many dogs” has been viewed over 1.7 million times, with many people seemingly thinking it is genuine.

A video viewed over 1.7 million times appears to show an interview with two Muslim women saying people shouldn’t bring dogs to the beach.

It’s generated a huge amount of negative engagement and comments, but it’s fake. It’s been created with AI.

Let's see what coverage this gets on the BBC and Sky News this morning...not holding my breath

What should have happened: the REIT paid no tax but the Tice companies holding shares in the REIT paid £98k tax on the dividends they received. What actually happened: none of the companies paid any tax.

Our new report: Richard Tice signed accounts wrongly claiming £98,000 of tax exemptions

A 🧵 with the evidence:

This looks less like avoidance and more like evasion, or have I misunderstood it?