A brutal morning round for Nick Thomas-Symonds, who was forced to repeatedly parrot the government’s line that inadequate vetting is to blame for Starmer’s woeful judgement in appointing Mandelson. Even with reams of publicly available material revealing his continued friendship with a convicted paedophile…
He even tried the ‘we should stop talking about this’ excuse for the sake of the victims, telling Sky News:
“The Prime Minister has accepted that he made a mistake in appointing Lord Mandelson… Most importantly, the Prime Minister has apologised about this decision to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, who have to be re-traumatised and go through the memory of their terrible experiences every time we have a public debate around this.”
He later pointed out on the Today programme that “previous Labour Prime Ministers had also taken a chance on appointing Peter Mandelson“. How’d that work out for them?
A release from the Cabinet Office just now:
- “The Mandelson case has also shown more needs to be done and raised further questions about how the direct ministerial appointment process, and wider operation of government, can be strengthened.”
- Government will “look again” at financial interests of ministers and senior officials, lobbying transparency, and “whether the rules on post‑employment activity are fit for purpose in preventing unfair access to, or influence within, government.”
- Ethics and Integrity Commission will review financial disclosure arrangements and lobbying rules.
- Government will review the National Security Vetting system, “including lessons learned from Peter Mandelson’s developed vetting.”
- Ruth Anderson – formerly of Hope Not Hate – will “work on standards policy and to deliver the Government’s agenda on ethical standards and constitutional affairs.”
- Lords Conduct Committee will review the Code of Conduct. Ministers “also exploring whether the Committee can tighten rules on lobbying and paid advocacy to bring the Lords in line with the Commons.”
- Head of Mission and direct appointment processes to be reviewed.
Labour is using this tame first Mandelson dump to get ahead of criticism. And tighten control over Parliament to distract from Starmer’s incredibly poor judgement…
- Starmer was told Morgan McSweeney “discussed Peter’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein which we will go through with you.“
- Mandelson demanded a £547,201 payout when he was sacked. He got £75,000. An official quoted in the files: “Mark did very well to get this settlement down this low with minimal fuss”…
- One concern raised by vetting officials is that Mandelson suggested using Nigel Farage to help improve relations with team Trump which is “contrary to UKG policy“.
- Jonathan Powell said the process was “weirdly rushed.”
- Vetting was “not exhaustive.” What is the point of the Civil Service, just start again folks…
- Official advice to Starmer covered extensive Epstein links and noted ‘reputational risk.’ Starmer appointed him anyway.
- The due diligence report flagged that Mandelson sat on the board of Russian conglomerate Sistema – which owns a defence technology company that produced radar for Russia’s missile early warning system – until June 2017. Three years after Putin annexed Crimea…
- The report also noted Mandelson’s advocacy for closer UK-China relations: He has long called for closer engagement with China and said of US-China relations in 2018: “It is absurd to imagine putting a country of such weight in the naughty corner”…
- Foreign Office Permanent Secretary Oliver Robbins assured Labour ministers the FCDO would bury details of Mandelson’s payout.
- Mandelson’s ‘chief concern’ post-sacking, in emails to the FCDO: “My chief concern is leaving the US and arriving in the UK with the maximum dignity and minimum media intrusion which I think is to the advantage of all concerned, not least because I remain a crown/civil servant and expect to be treated as such. How is the FCDO assisting in this?” Mandelson’s gonna Mandelson…
- The key box note is here:
Read the full document here.
Darren Jones is in the Commons again. This time to speak on the release of the first group of Mandelson Files…
The full statement below:
Continue reading “Darren Jones Speaks on Release of First Group of Mandelson Files”
Darren Jones has confirmed that the first group of Mandelson files will be released after PMQs today, at which time the ‘Chief Secretary to the PM’ will give a statement to the Commons. Starmer will be out of there…
The documents are expected to include the vetting advice on Mandelson’s appointment. Jones told Sky News a second group should come out within weeks:
“So the first tranche will be published this afternoon. A second tranche, they will come later because there’s been further work that we’ve had to across government in response to the Humble Address, which is not quite ready. And we have two other processes that take a bit of time, given the live criminal investigation with the Metropolitan Police and the role of the Intelligence and Security Committee in Parliament that has some oversight of it.
The second tranche, I mean, it’s probably in the weeks, but we’re trying to get through it as quickly as possible. It just needs those approvals from the committee and from the Met Police before we can then come back to Parliament with them.”
Responding to the convenient timing of the release for Starmer, Jones – who hid from the Commons when the first Humble Address was debated – said “it’s just normal scheduling” and that “we have committed to Mr Speaker that they will be published very promptly so that members get the chance to read them before I stand up so that they can ask me any questions about them.“ Give yourself a pat on the back…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
